Title: Avatar
Director: James Cameron
Running time: 2 hours 41 minutes
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action
Humans found a rare and precious metal called Unobtainium in a distant planet called Pandora, 4.3 light years from Earth. Unfortunately, a large deposit of this metal is at the bottom of a Na'vi colony, one of the residents of the Pandora. In order to gain their trust and to communicate with the Na'vi, scientists develop Avatars, genetically builts human-Na'vi hybrids. The humans would then link their minds with the Avatars and will take full control of their new body. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) are the few chosen to interact with the Na'vis. However, their time for peaceful reconciliation is running out as the army led by Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) is bent on using extreme force to 'pursuade' the Na'vi to find somewhere else to live.
This is a good movie... unfortunately, since it is directed by The James Cameron, people have higher expectations on him, which made this into a mediocre movie. If this were directed by some unknown director, people would have given him the director of the year title. The movie is basically well-rounded, good storyline (although cliched), good characters, good 3D technology and good creativity.
However, if one were to dig deeper, this is actually a movie about self searching. It is about a human who find his true self in another form. Thus, it is supposed to be an emotional movie. In this area, this movie failed. There were multiple scenes where I expected myself to burst into tears because it has the perfect setting and perfect timing... however, the director (or the writers :P) failed to hit the right spots. For a movie supposedly filled with emotions, there were only two scenes that almost hit the right mark. I'm not sure if it's because of the main characters being animated subjects or because I was too busy reading the subtitles (yes, the Na'vi speak in another language, although they do speak English sometimes). And I must say I was surprised I didn't find any English subtitles when the Na'vi was speaking in their local language... instead it was translated into Malay subtitles... but it was quite accurate as far as I can tell.
The acting were superb... though I would say that it's more due to the superb crafting by the animator. Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), one of the Na'vi was really good in showing feral emotions of a local barbarian :P. Her screaming, screeching, hissing were all beautifully done that made you for the moment believed that this is a real character.
The graphics were of course very well done... although beautifully crafted graphics are quite a norm nowadays, but I must commend on the creativity of the graphics designer... the alien world is a sight to behold. I especially love the night time luminescence. If there were such a place on Earth, it would be the most popular tourist spot on Earth. The creatures of Pandora, although is obviously based on the creatures on Earth, is also beautifully done with some nice upgrades done on them. However, at times, it was obvious the sceneries were overlaid with actual forests and it makes a stark difference. The animated scenes were lush and colorful while the background, which is actual scene, is plain and unappetizing. They should have just created everything in the animator :P.
One of the thing that I don't understand is about the lenopteryx (Toruk). This creature is supposedly the most powerful (symbolically and physically) flying creature in Pandora. However, when flying next to a ikran, it is not that much bigger in size. I mean, two or three ikran would have easily overpowered this creature. There were quite a number of plot holes too which I shall not reveal here... you won't really notice them unless you have a keen eye like mine :P. However, I also like the concept of the mass neural network... basically, Pandora is a super big server and every life forms on it (plants and animals) have an USB port. The Na'vi can connect with this network by using their own personal USB :P
(spoilers start)
This is also one of the few rare movies that humans lost to aliens. And I really hate that. I have no qualms of humans losing to humans, but humans losing to aliens? And I really hate the main character for that since he is the turning point for human's loss... all for an alien girl... yuck! :P. And I have thought that the Na'vis would consummate their love by joining their neurons, instead it is still the good old human intercourse :P. And they could have improved the emotional moment by extending the scene on when Mother Nature herself took part in fighting off the invaders... the scene was so short, that it was over by the time the emotions started to build.
(spoilers end)
I think that this movie is worth your time to watch though I have figured out the storyline like 10 minutes into the movie, it is still has great entertaining value. It isn't as good as Titanic though... I know not all love Titanic, but it is arguably one of the most successful movie in the history of movie making. What makes Titanic successful are due to three things:- the forbidden love, three hour movie and Leornado DiCarprio. Avatar has forbidden love and it is also a three hour movie but it doesn't really have a character that teenage girls can moon over. And also, it is difficult for one to feel anything when the Avatar's forbidden love is about two aliens instead of two humans... and three hour movie nowadays is not really as rare as it was a decade ago. This movie would be successful, but unlike Titanic, if someone were to bring this movie up 10 years later, only the rare few would remember this movie.
Observation:If you watch the movie you'll notice an insect that will turn round and round (not just the wings but the whole body too!) when flying... while it looks beautiful, it is just impractical that the insect flies like that... how can it determine it's location when the whole world is spinning around?
Bottomline: It's worth a watch
Bamboo Ranking: 4.0 / 5.0
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