All Show No Substance (but so entertaining)
NEIRAD enilno edition
From the same director that brought us one of the best movies of all time, “Titanic,” comes a new film unlike any other. After spending a whopping $500 million to produce this movie, “Avatar” is said to be worth every million. A riveting array of special effects and thrilling events make up this $73 million-dollar pre-Christmas blockbuster.
This three-dimensional movie is better than “Star Trek,” more thrilling than “Star Wars, “and has special effects that even outshine “The Dark Knight.” Personally I thought this was an unbelievable movie for several reasons. First let me give you some background on director James Cameron’s latest flick "Avatar."
“Avatar” begins when the viewer is introduced to former Marine, Jake Sully (played by Sam Worthington) who is wheelchair bound. Sully’s real dream is to get his life back on track, which is how he finds himself on the way to a moon called Pandora containing a mining colony controlled by the military. The only problem though is that these humans are not the only ones living on Pandora.
Tall and blue are understatements of the eye-grabbing appearance of the other creatures inhabiting Pandora called Na’vi. The only reason the humans come into contact with these creatures is because of the massive deposit they find of extremely valuable minerals, in which the humans know they can make a fortune. Colonel Quarich (played by Stephen Lang) has told Sully that he will need to disguise himself as a Na’vi to learn about their society in hopes to help the human’s destroy the Na’vis of this region on Pandora.
If Sully succeeds he will get the one thing back that would mean more than anything to him and truly change his life: use of his paralyzed legs. Sully is transformed into a Na’vi and begins his journey into the initially verboten Na’vi territory. However, when Sully falls for a beautiful princess named Neytiri (played by Zoe Saldana) he wonders if taking the land away from these creatures is the right thing to do. Sully’s motives are questioned as he must finally make a decision on whether he values his life more as a human, or a Na’ve. Will true love prevail?
Personally there are no words to describe the amazing 3-D effects that go along with the graphics and crystal clear images viewers see when watching this film. If anything it is worth seeing just to experience the simulating flights through the air as the humans attack the Na’vi society or even the majestic appearance and complexion of each Na’vi character that has its own unique characteristics.
The only thing I would say about this movie was its lack of plot; the story was so caught up in the special effects and the war being fought between these two groups that I felt the story line never fully developed. It was kept somewhat simple and general. That may explain why Cameron chose to cast relatively unknown actors with the exception of Sigourney Weaver. They were not immediately recognizable, but nevertheless these newcomers did a great job to carry a film that last two hours and 40 minutes. (Yes, it is long film, so settle in for a thrilling visual ride)
The ending will leave viewers wanting more, which suggests this is not the last “Avatar” installment to hit the multiplexes. For a movie made by the same director as “Titanic”and “Terminator”, I must say this is another Cameron cinematic work that will follow in the footsteps of these legendary predecessors.
