Avatar

Avatar
Year: 2009
Director: James Cameron
Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang

In My Own Words
I never expect much from blockbusters. The spectacle is normally bigger and better than the movie itself. This is exactly how I felt going into “Avatar”. I had heard so many good things about it that I was sceptical. Could a movie that is so highly anticipated really be everything that it is cracked up to be? I was starting to think that it really could be so when the Golden Globe nominations were released and “Avatar” was there among the Best Picture nominees. However, I refused to expect too much going into the cinema.

I’m glad I didn’t expect too much, as it made the thrill of it being such a great movie even better. My boyfriend and I came out of the cinema buzzing with excitement. Our only disappointment being that we didn’t see it in 3D. Of course we could always go and see it again though. I always respected James Cameron as a director, but I believe this is his finest work, even better than his Oscar winning “Titanic”, although the two are very different films. This movie shows how amazingly creative he is and it really is a ground breaking film. After seeing this, I am now thinking that it will be a fight between him and Quentin Tarantino for Best Director at the Golden Globes in January.

People are saying that “Avatar” will change the future of film making. I’m hoping it doesn’t, because I found this movie so original and creative, and it’s been so long since I feel like I have watched something completely new. I just hope there won’t be a series of copycats after this. I love to celebrate originality.
These are my own words and here is my review.

Review
The hype is true, “Avatar” is like nothing you have ever seen before. It is completely original and a tribute to James Cameron’s direction and imagination. It’s not only original, but extraordinarily stunning and shows how far CGI has come in film. Ex-marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is sent to the planet Pandora in place of his recently deceased twin brother in order to fulfil his duties. Pandora is inhabited by an indigenous race who the humans on Pandora are trying to get to abandon their territory. Jake is given an avatar who’s body he will enter in order to try and survive Pandora and it’s dangers. He ends up becoming part of the tribe and understanding them more than any other human ever has.

It is impossible to encompass the story behind “Avatar” in a paragraph, as there are so many underlying themes that contribute to the story. Pandora is a complex world, but an extremely beautiful and intriguing one. “Avatar” is 160 minutes long, but does not seem like it. It keeps the audience captivated from the very first scene to the last. Again, it is unlike anything else that has ever been made and is a breath of fresh air. James Cameron wrote and directed the film, therefore creating the world of Pandora and showing what an amazing imagination he has and an even more amazing talent for being able to bring this world to life on the screen.

“Avatar” is first and foremost visually stunning. Many images in the movie are completely breathtaking, and you will definitely hear people around you in the cinema exclaiming when they see Pandora at night in all its beauty. The combination of real life actors and CGI characters works extremely well, making you almost forget that you are seeing a computer generated world. The combination of the two is one of the reasons why “Avatar” is so successful, it is a fantasy film which is extremely life like and realistic.

Sam Worthington is the star of the film and does the best he can with the role. Sigourney Weaver is also a stand out as the tough-talking scientist. However, it is not the acting in the film that is the stand out. The main celebrations of the film are the graphics and Cameron’s direction. Cameron could well be on his way to another Oscar nomination for this film and his work on it come March.

“Avatar” is one of the best films of the year, and if you are only going to see one film at the cinemas this year, it should be this one.

9/10