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The prospect of seeing the latest hyped-up movie in a cinema packed full with giddy teenagers wasn't the top of my priority list, I'll admit; the 3D gimmick and paying a seven-pounds-fifty admittance fee hardly heightened my enthusiasm, either. After deciding to commit to Avatar for nearly three hours, however, I must say that it is a truly magical film that justifies the rave reviews, while the admittedly impressive use of 3D only contributes to James Cameron's visually-stimulative storytelling. This really is a great film, and definitely worth the cinema fee.

Taking elements from various Sci-Fi classics -- Alien/Aliens, Jurassic Park, The Matrix, Terminator 1 & 2 -- Avatar tells the futuristic story of a handicapped ex-marine named Jake Scully (Sam Worthington, Terminator: Salvation). He agrees to enter the alien world of Pandora so that he can walk again via his "avatar" -- a ten-foot-tall hybrid body consisting of DNA from himself and the planet's native blue-skinned Na'Vi. With the help of scientist Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), Jake is supposed to spy on Pandora's tribe and report back to Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) so that the American military force will then have more information to guide them in their quest for obtaining a rare mineral known as Unobtanium.

Jake, however, soon meets a beautiful warrior named Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and finds himself becoming more and more part of the very culture he's supposed to be infiltrating. He is soon imprisoned for "betraying" his own race, but is aided in his escape by Trudy Chacón (the gorgeous Michelle Rodriguez), a security force pilot who has become disgusted with the colonial's plans. What develops is an epic battle between thousands of warriors from various Na'Vi clans and the humans as they fight for ownership of the environment and its resources.

It seems James Cameron has a cynical outlook on humanity and its plans to exploit, dominate and destroy the races that surround us. The director/screenwriter here allows plenty of time for the viewer to become familiar with Jake's motives for the mission and his developing relationship with Neytiri that we end up feeling infuriated and upset by the ignorance of man and his machines that soon follows. The pacing and script are both great: Pandora's natives are given such emotional depth that we root for them in battle, even if siding with the Na'Vi people is regarded as betrayal of our own race by the central antagonist. There is a definite anti-war message here, with humanity's methods of retaining power contributing to their status as the enemy within this film.

Visually, Cameron and his team have also done a wonderful job at handling the human and Na'Vi stories with great care. Seamlessly blended together are two different worlds in one film as a result of some photorealistic-CGI mixed with live action. The beautifully-coloured backdrop of Pandora with its frightfully-intriguing creatures contrasts the dark, gritty world of the humans in their powerful combat machines. When we witness the full-scale war between humans and the Na'Vi people within the alien environment, we really get the impression that physical conflict is taking place. Punches break jaws, arrows pierce skin, bullets decimate organs, while armoured fighting vehicles rip through the gorgeous landscape. The action scenes are full of energy and the special effects are so wonderful that it's easy to forget that this is a staged battle between real human beings and computer-animated characters -- the whole thing is such a convincing spectacle that it's easy to imagine it taking place somewhere in the universe.

I've complained in a few of my previous film reviews that directors in this day of age like to abandon substance and go overboard with CGI, but like some of the great Sci-Fi/Action movies that came before, Avatar is driven by character as well as physical conflict. Worthington and Weaver are great actors in the sense that they bring their computer-animated counterparts to life here; because of such, we have no problem believing that Jack and Grace are "really" inside their avatar bodies whenever they appear on screen. What's even more impressive is Saldana (whom, notably, never appears in her "human form") giving an uplifting performance as Neytiri via her passionate voice acting. Opposing them is Lang as the vicious antagonist, who definitely looks and acts the part of a macho Colonial hell-bent on destruction.

The amount of machoism present within the human world also brings with it a sense of nostalgia, which reminds us why we fell in love with all those old Sci-Fi movies from the '80s and '90s in the first place (I kept referring back to Sgt. Apone and his marines' first encounter with the Aliens in LV-426, in my favourite Cameron blockbuster from 1986). This results in plenty of suspense for the moviegoer and, because of such, it's very easy to feel completely absorbed by this "other world" in the film, making the two-hour-forty-minutes running time seem exhilarating from start to finish.

This movie is made even more impressive via Cameron's use of 3D, which allows us to explore the fascinating world of Pandora even further. While this is ultimately breathtaking, Cameron is careful not to overuse the technology by making things jump out at the audience regularly in a gimmicky manner; his approach is subtle, immersing the viewer in the film's detail without the need for extravagant effects. Sure, this is a spectacle made to be seen on the big screen through a pair of plastic 3D glasses, but the story and character performances are so impressive that there isn't the feeling of style taking priority over substance here.

Avatar is nothing short of fascinating. In conclusion, the whole film looks wonderful, the characters are incredibly likable, and the storytelling is masterful; I must mention James Horner's score, also, which is predominantly effective in developing an emotionally-involving world throughout.
It's obvious that a lot of time and effort has gone into the making of this movie (it's been twelve years since the director's last blockbuster, Titanic), and the end result is a truly absorbing epic fantasy that raises the bar of the Science-Fiction genre once again.

Send your compliments to Mr Cameron -- a true cinematic legend.

(C) Andy Carrington, 2010.