Avatar (2009)
Country: US/GB
Technical: col/1.78:1/3D 162m
Director: James Cameron
Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang
Synopsis:
Humans eager to exploit the mineral wealth of a planet called Pandora despatch operatives among the native Na-vi people in the guise of their 'avatars', genetically bred bodies shaped like the aliens themselves, though easily detectable by them, with the purpose of learning their ways and getting close enough to persuade them to make way for diggers should the need arise. A paraplegic marine is thus enlisted when his brother is killed, and becomes so captivated by his new physique and the native girl who trains him that he takes sides against the military.
Review:
If ever there were a B movie story all dressed up and blown up and nowhere to go, this is surely it. On the face of it a successful attempt to go one better than the Lord of the Rings films in creating an alternative world, 3-D and all, and at the same time an all too topical parable about the importance of protecting our own forests in the face of corporate greed, the film needs only a scratch below the surface dazzle to reveal a hybrid parentage of its own: The Emerald Forest via Dances with Wolves with a dash of Starship Troopers thrown in (but without the irony). There is no denying the technical accomplishment of what it took Cameron years to achieve, so that one cannot even begin to see the joins or guess what is real and what is fake; but after half an hour's exposition, an hour's worth of Me-Jane-You-Tarzan jungle shenanigans and a final hour of armageddon-style conflict, one is made neither to cry nor smile nor even to have one's pulse race, so devoid of real peril have these computerized domains become. It is telling that the movie's one true innovation, to deliver a happy ending via the defeat of the human race, is made somewhat hollow when one pauses to consider that it is only by virtue of our marine protagonist's gung-ho rallying cry ('We'll send them a message they will never forget'), and suddenly in the midst of Na-vi victory one is left thinking irresistibly of George W. Bush. (As a point of further interest, the term avatar is used by video game players to denote the character who represents them in the virtual world of the game.)
Country: US/GB
Technical: col/1.78:1/3D 162m
Director: James Cameron
Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang
Synopsis:
Humans eager to exploit the mineral wealth of a planet called Pandora despatch operatives among the native Na-vi people in the guise of their 'avatars', genetically bred bodies shaped like the aliens themselves, though easily detectable by them, with the purpose of learning their ways and getting close enough to persuade them to make way for diggers should the need arise. A paraplegic marine is thus enlisted when his brother is killed, and becomes so captivated by his new physique and the native girl who trains him that he takes sides against the military.
Review:
If ever there were a B movie story all dressed up and blown up and nowhere to go, this is surely it. On the face of it a successful attempt to go one better than the Lord of the Rings films in creating an alternative world, 3-D and all, and at the same time an all too topical parable about the importance of protecting our own forests in the face of corporate greed, the film needs only a scratch below the surface dazzle to reveal a hybrid parentage of its own: The Emerald Forest via Dances with Wolves with a dash of Starship Troopers thrown in (but without the irony). There is no denying the technical accomplishment of what it took Cameron years to achieve, so that one cannot even begin to see the joins or guess what is real and what is fake; but after half an hour's exposition, an hour's worth of Me-Jane-You-Tarzan jungle shenanigans and a final hour of armageddon-style conflict, one is made neither to cry nor smile nor even to have one's pulse race, so devoid of real peril have these computerized domains become. It is telling that the movie's one true innovation, to deliver a happy ending via the defeat of the human race, is made somewhat hollow when one pauses to consider that it is only by virtue of our marine protagonist's gung-ho rallying cry ('We'll send them a message they will never forget'), and suddenly in the midst of Na-vi victory one is left thinking irresistibly of George W. Bush. (As a point of further interest, the term avatar is used by video game players to denote the character who represents them in the virtual world of the game.)
Country: US/GB
Technical: col/1.78:1/3D 162m
Director: James Cameron
Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang
Synopsis:
Humans eager to exploit the mineral wealth of a planet called Pandora despatch operatives among the native Na-vi people in the guise of their 'avatars', genetically bred bodies shaped like the aliens themselves, though easily detectable by them, with the purpose of learning their ways and getting close enough to persuade them to make way for diggers should the need arise. A paraplegic marine is thus enlisted when his brother is killed, and becomes so captivated by his new physique and the native girl who trains him that he takes sides against the military.
Review:
If ever there were a B movie story all dressed up and blown up and nowhere to go, this is surely it. On the face of it a successful attempt to go one better than the Lord of the Rings films in creating an alternative world, 3-D and all, and at the same time an all too topical parable about the importance of protecting our own forests in the face of corporate greed, the film needs only a scratch below the surface dazzle to reveal a hybrid parentage of its own: The Emerald Forest via Dances with Wolves with a dash of Starship Troopers thrown in (but without the irony). There is no denying the technical accomplishment of what it took Cameron years to achieve, so that one cannot even begin to see the joins or guess what is real and what is fake; but after half an hour's exposition, an hour's worth of Me-Jane-You-Tarzan jungle shenanigans and a final hour of armageddon-style conflict, one is made neither to cry nor smile nor even to have one's pulse race, so devoid of real peril have these computerized domains become. It is telling that the movie's one true innovation, to deliver a happy ending via the defeat of the human race, is made somewhat hollow when one pauses to consider that it is only by virtue of our marine protagonist's gung-ho rallying cry ('We'll send them a message they will never forget'), and suddenly in the midst of Na-vi victory one is left thinking irresistibly of George W. Bush. (As a point of further interest, the term avatar is used by video game players to denote the character who represents them in the virtual world of the game.)