A Paraplegic Marine dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission becomes torn between following his orders and protecting the world he feels is his home..
Director: James Cameron
Writer: James Cameron
Stars: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver |
Storyline
When his brother is killed in a robbery, paraplegic Marine Jake Sully
decides to take his place in a mission on the distant world of Pandora.
There he learns of greedy corporate figurehead Parker Selfridge's
intentions of driving off the native humanoid "Na'vi" in order to mine
for the precious material scattered throughout their rich woodland. In
exchange for the spinal surgery that will fix his legs, Jake gathers
intel for the cooperating military unit spearheaded by gung-ho Colonel
Quaritch, while simultaneously attempting to infiltrate the Na'vi people
with the use of an "avatar" identity. While Jake begins to bond with
the native tribe and quickly falls in love with the beautiful alien
Neytiri, the restless Colonel moves forward with his ruthless
extermination tactics, forcing the soldier to take a stand - and fight
back in an epic battle for the fate of Pandora.
Movie Reviews
"Avatar"
is not the next "Star Wars" or "Lord of the Rings." It might be the
next "Matrix," though. Or, perhaps more accurate, the next "Matrix
Revolutions." It's technically groundbreaking craftmanship put to work
on a story that was played out after "Return of the King." There are a
lot of bad guys, a lot of good guys, and sooner or later they're all
gonna meet on the battlefield. The little details are not-so-shockingly
unimportant, since nothing could stop, change or even, really, comment
on the unstoppable trajectory of this film's story.
It's the
future. An Evil Corporation is parked on distant planet Pandora, mining
the planet of all its precious minerals. The native population, big blue
humanoids called the "Na'vi," aren't too happy about this. The
corporation has hired scientists to create avatars of Na'vi bodies to be
controlled by human brains, in order to communicate to the Na'vi
that...they better move, lest be bulldozed by the evil Col. Qautrich
(Stephen Lang).
Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is flown in to
Pandora because his twin brother, who had an Avatar made specifically
for him, is dead. The coincidence is an obvious plot device so that we
can have a newcomer to Pandora to share in our amazement. Oh, and he's
paralyzed, so running around in his new alien body is rather freeing for
him.
I don't feel as if I need to continue with the plot
description. You know what'll happen. You've seen "Dances with Wolves"
and "The Last Samurai." Heck, even "Dead Man." The Na'vi represent
nature, the (all-American) corporation represents destructive
technology. Quatrich has a Southern accent and says things like, "we
have to fight terror with terror." The Na'vi are clones of Native
Americans - filtered through the imagination of a white liberal. It's
all very obvious.
The question, of course, is whether or not it's
entertaining. Well...sometimes. It certainly looks good. Some sequences
- especially those with the winged beasts - are eye-popping. Lang makes
a fun villain. Pandora is more derivative than original, it reminded me
most of Skull Island in Peter Jackson's King Kong. All the monsters
have a plastic-y look to them that make them feel too well-done. The 3D
is distracting at times and I had a headache before the movie was over.
But
there are scenes and individual shots that pop with ethereal beauty.
It's worth seeing for that reason, but I don't think it'll be as fun
after multiple viewings. The great thing about "Star Wars" was the
characters: Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, R2-D2, Darth Vader,
Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda and so on. They embodied the other-worldliness of
the story, taking the weight off the effects.