No doubt about it, Avatar is one impressive film. I’m not entirely sure this is the “future of movies” as it has been endlessly promoted, but it is something to behold, a picture you should definitely see on the big screen where it can truly be appreciated.  

That would indeed make Avatar not just an average flick, but a motion picture event.  And whether it’s a hype machine creation or not, something of this magnitude is always a little special.

Years in the making, Avatar marks the return of James Cameron.  As usual, the director doesn’t exactly redefine the art of storytelling, but again, what he came up with here really is something to see.

The year is 2154, and mankind is plundering natural resources to stay afloat. Fast forward to Pandora, a planet that is rich in a rare mineral called Unobtainium (Impressive, huh?  I double checked the spelling on my press release three times before even attempting to type that.) But mining the gem means going against a species called the Na’vi, nine-foot-tall, blue-skinned creatures, who are also soldiers described as “savages.” 

In reality, this is a race totally in harmony with nature, thus the reason the Na’vi dig their heels in with such ferocity when the red, white and blue move in with their giant, obnoxious machines in an attempt to take what isn’t theirs.

The army recruits a paraplegic veteran named Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), whose DNA is a match for an avatar, a flesh-and-blood image that is able to interact with the locals while Jake’s brain controls it remotely. 

Joining him on the field trip is cranky scientist Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver who, as sci-fi fans know well, has enjoyed more than a bit of box office success while playing with aliens).

To make a long (and admittedly, sub-par) story short, Sully meets a beautiful Smurf-coloured and winsome female named Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), who eventually has him turning against his own kind and leading the Na’vi in battle against the blood-thirsty earthlings, quarterbacked by a cookie-cutter iron-jaw colonel, Stephen Lang (Public Enemies).

Obviously, Avatar’s plot doesn’t live up to the magnificence of its visual wonder, although, not many movies could.  

Computer-generated images have never, ever looked as fluid and gorgeous as they do here.  Cameron has created something truly breathtaking with Avatar, but then, would you expect anything less from the self-proclaimed king of the world?

By VernonMorningStar.com