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James Cameron is one of my heroes. I remember seeing Aliens for the first time, and being absolutely awestruck by it. I have yet to see a better sci-fi thriller. The Abyss and Terminator 2 are also genre classics, and both pioneered visual effects without getting caught up in them and forgetting to tell a decent story. But I didn’t like Titanic so much (and yes, that’s sarcasm right there), and since then “the JC of movies” hadn’t really made any movies. Until now. And boy has it been worth the wait.
There are probably going to be tons of people who’ll dismiss Avatar as a kids movie. It has blue aliens. And spaceships. Escapist cinema has always had a hard time with movie critics. As soon as you create a fantasy world people will assume you’re telling fairytales. And this movie is escapism in its purest form. Forget about the story. It’s all about getting sucked into this magnificent alien world that Cameron has created. If you’re able to let go of your scepticism, you’ll regret you only get to spend 162 minutes there.
Not that the story is bad. It’s just not important. Like with Star Wars. I’m a big fan of Lucas’ original trilogy but it took me several viewing to remember in which one Luke meets Yoda, etc. The point to these movies is to get a glimpse of an exotic, alien world and marvel at the detail and imagination with which they were created. And this is where Avatar raises the bar. Pandora, as the planet is called, is absolutely breathtaking. The special effects are perfect to the point where you don’t notice them anymore. This is landmark cinematography, like Jurassic Park was. Or Toy Story. Just imagine a scene like this in motion and you’ll know why you need to go see this film.
There’s also nothing to distract you and bring you back to reality. Thanks to spectacular advances in ‘performance capture’ technologies the animated characters are completely convincing and so are the human actors. I’m convinced that Sam Worthington is the action hero Hollywood has been waiting for, and it’s great to see Sigourney Weaver again too.
Avatar is a masterpiece. It’s the best sci-fi movie since (at least) The Matrix, and an instant classic.
Roy (114 posts)Web designer and programmer, movie fanatic and devoted dad from Huizen, The Netherlands.
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This film looked absolutely amazing but as Empire Magazine rightfully described it is pretty much ‘Waterworld with blue people’. What bothered me most was the weak ecological message. Still, Cameron is not capable of making bad movies and Avatar was no exception. The art-direction and effects are outstanding. The part of the general was rediculous.
Comment by Arjan Welles — Wed December 30, 2009 @ 3:21I could go on about this film too, but I’ll just get right to it.
While there were intentional elements of other films, specifically 1985’s The Emerald Forest, 1990’s Dances With Wolves and even 2003’s The Last Samurai, and coincidences in the same movie year (Battle For Terra, District 9) …I still found the film to be a sci-fi masterpiece, a three hour wonder of sight and sound.
Comment by Darren J Seeley — Sat January 2, 2010 @ 5:50