Avatar

The long awaited film from Writer,  Director, Producer, James Cameron.  

The story plot line kind of goes along a line of,  Jake Sully a Marine that has lost the use of legs, is a genetic match, and biological twin brother of a research scientist that is dead.  A team of scientists, working for a mining company on a distant planet have duplicated and replicated a genetic being from this planet with the technology that allows an electronic transfer of control and brain activity from the human. They need Jake!  Jake is promised new legs that somehow for the right money he can be re-tooled so to speak. When unconnected from the Avatar, it falls to ground lifeless, and as it is made from both human and Na'vi genetics, hence only Jake will fit the Avatar.  

The Planet apparently has a very valuable metal.  So valuable that the Earthlings are willing to go to war over it if they have to.  The Avatars are of course supposed to do research, gain the confidence of the native people and thereby facilitate their moving or removal.  Instead, Jake's life is saved by one of the females of this new land, Pandora, and in the process of fulfilling his mission to infiltrate and gain their confidence I think he just has a simple case of Stockholm syndrome.  He becomes one of the Na'vi.  This of course is going to send us into all sorts of directions as the movie starts to grapple with war,  religion, environmental science and the proselytising to the audience of specific values.

First I have complement the wonderful graphics and CGI technology.  The story itself, is not all together a ground breaking idea.  Jake Sully played by Sam Worthington is a likable guy, certainly not a front stage marquee grabber, then I don't think anyone in the movie is at this point in their careers although Zoe Saldana's star has been rising.  Both Sam and Zoe Saldana, who plays Neytiri of the Na'vi, do good jobs with their parts and have a pretty good on camera chemistry.  What takes front stage is all the work form the set decorators, special effects, make up and graphics people in transporting us to this fictional world. There is quite a bit of time setting the stage and the mood, and even more in the mythology and religion of the natives.  If the movie was written better it might have been ground breaking.  For some reason , no matter the issue I seem to avoid movies that are pushing a specific political agenda.  Sadly I have missed some pretty good movies and documentaries just because the politics were just too overt.  I think I am a movie goer that enjoys being entertained and not preached to.   Sometimes, as in the case of Avatar I endure the message hoping the adventure is more valuable.  In the case I found the land a little to much like a fantasy land and just not relatable in terms of any modern physics or things we do know. The Earth people are clearly made to be the villains.  Well... we are destroying our planet as I write this!  

If anyone especially stood out it was the veteran actor Stephen Lang.  At 57 years old, maybe 56 when filming, this guy is in remarkable shape, and plays the crazy war monger to the T.  Giovanni Ribisi and Sigourney Weaver although they are excellent actors, had parts that frankly could have been done by any number of people, not that I am saying anything negative about their performances. Their roles just lacked the fleshing out of a solid character and support roles.  The parts were just not that demanding.  Lets not forget Michelle Rodriguez, helicopter pilot with an attitude and mouth.  The part looks like it was tweaked for her raunchy character types, and she won't disappoint anyone.  She has a way of winning us over,  just not taking any crap in the  characters she has played!  Joel Moore's lanky physical characteristic and comic relief had just the right touch and blend as a quirky scientist and fellow avatar.  

So as there is so much to like about this movie, and in spite of many ground breaking filming and CGI methods, I have to give it no more than a 3 out of 4.  Even after all the wonder of the first hour and 1/2 of the film, the balance of the film and plot seem all to Hollywood and formulaic. 

From LinZ

I finally saw Avatar in 3D today. Too many friends said I should and that I would like it. Granted  I like scifi, though this is more fantasy than scifi.  It is flashy, the technology is wonderful to watch,graphics and images are very imaginative, the 3D isn't very. But I was bored stiff about 3/4 of the way through. So predictable. I would rather have spent $8 on some really good  chocolate.