Review 98: Avatar
In the year 2154, humans have depleted Earth's natural resources, leading to a severe energy crisis. The Resources Development Administration (RDA) mines for a valuable mineral, Unobtanium, on the lush, densely forested habitable moon, orbiting the gas giant, Polyphemus in the Alpha Centauri star system, populated by the Na'vi, 10 foot tall, blue skinned, sapient humanoids who live in harmony with nature. Pandora's atmosphere is poisonous to humans, so to explore its biosphere, scientists use Na'vi-human hybrids called "Avatars" which are operated by genetically matched humans. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) a paralysed former marine, enlists into the project, replacing his deceased twin brother. Taking control of an Avatar body, Jake is welcomed into the Na'vi tribe where he meets and falls in love with a female Na'vi warrior Neytiri (Zoe Saldana).
But as the bond between them grows, he is drawn into a battle for the survival of Pandora.
The plot, as noted by critics, shares many similarities with Dances with Wolves, yet somehow James Cameron takes those elements and makes them feel oddly fresh and intriguing.
He opens up a whole, fully realised, visually stunning world with its own mythology & culture and successfully manages to mirror a lot of whats happening today.
Avatar is so much more than just a film, it's a glimpse into the future.
It's a showcase of everything that can be done and that everyone else
will be doing with sci-fi filmmaking very soon.
Avatar is first and foremost a journey of self-discovery, in the context of imperialism and deep ecology. It also deals with themes of Imperialism, Militarism, Civilization and Race; Environmentalism and Poverty.
Imperialism: At the core of Avatar, is a conflict between the Na'vi, an indigenous people, against oppressive human invaders. James Cameron has acknowledged that Avatar covers Imperialism in the sense that the way human history has always worked is that people with more military power tend to supplant or destroy people who are weaker, usually for their resources. Parallels between the American Revolution and how the humans mine Pandora for Unobtanium at the expense of the Na'vi's way of living.
Avatar is first and foremost a journey of self-discovery, in the context of imperialism and deep ecology. It also deals with themes of Imperialism, Militarism, Civilization and Race; Environmentalism and Poverty.
Imperialism: At the core of Avatar, is a conflict between the Na'vi, an indigenous people, against oppressive human invaders. James Cameron has acknowledged that Avatar covers Imperialism in the sense that the way human history has always worked is that people with more military power tend to supplant or destroy people who are weaker, usually for their resources. Parallels between the American Revolution and how the humans mine Pandora for Unobtanium at the expense of the Na'vi's way of living.
Columnist, Saritha Prabhu has noted parallels between the films writing and how "Western Power colonise and invade indigenous people like native Americans, Eastern countries, sees the natives as primitives/savages/uncivilised, is unable or unwilling to see the merits in a civilisation that's been around longer, loots the weaker power, all while thinking it is doing a favour to the poor natives.
Militarism: Avatar is very much a political film. It reflects that we are living through war. Parallels between Iraq and Vietnam.
Race matters in Avatar
Environmentalism: At a very generlised level, Avatar is saying that our attitude about indiginous people and our entitlement about what is rightfully theirs is the same sense of entitlement that lets us bulldoze a forest and not blink an eye.
Once again, the theme of star-crossed lovers is prominant like it was in Cameron's previous film, Titanic.
James Cameron's direction is unobtrusive, the cinematography is gorgeous and captures the beauty and awe of Pandora, the scenery is breathtaking, the production design is fantastic, the score by James Horner is monumentally unique and unlike anything every composed. The costumes are terrific The flying sequences are amazing and soooooo ahead of their time,
The acting is superb; Sam Worthington gives a likeable performance as Jake Sully, As he spends time with the Na'vi and gets to know them and learn their ways, he soon learns that they are more than just a savage alien race.
I know we've seen Michelle Rodriguez play tough, strong, tomboy female characters a dozen but to be perfectly honest, no one does it better and it works for this type of film in her role as combat pilot Trudy Chacon. And as far as Rodriguez action films go, this is honestly one of the better ones.
In true Rodriguez fashion, she's a little rough around the edges, but laid back and down-to-Earth as well as rebellious, strong minded, compassionate and loyal, Trudy proves to be one of Jake's most valuable allies over the course of the film. They very much have a brother/sister relationship.
Zoe Saldana is luminous and lovely playing Na'vi warrior Neytiri. Neytiri is first and foremost a warrior and hunter; she's also of royal blood She's torn between doing what is expected of her to do and following her heart. That conflict between duty to her family and love Her graceful, body language-driven performance
Stephen Lang
Joel David Moore
Sigourney Weaver has a fabulously comanding presence playing Dr. Grace Augustine.
Get on with the sequels, James! 5/5.
The Anonymous Critic.
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