Make no mistake. James Cameron’s Avatar is the greatest spectacle seen since Star Wars. And notice that, for me, Star Wars is the greatest movie from Hollywood. Not the Godfather. Not Ben-Hur. Not LOTR. And Avatar presents the grandest technological cinematic experience the world has ever come to see. And is that not what Hollywood is all about. Technical virtuosity. A straightforward story. All within the confines of an ethereal narration.
But where Avatar moves ahead of LOTR and other modern day spectacles is through it’s humane touch. With due respects to the friendship between Frodo and Sam, LOTR for all its magnificent ambiances and creative backdrop, simply lacks the human connection. With Avatar, you connect with the story. You feel for what humans do everyday with the world. You empathize with the Na’vi while constantly feeling the pangs to be in a green world just like them. You wish you had places like Pandora on earth. The only problem with Avatar is that Sam Worthington is no Harrison Ford. There is no Luke Skywalker to sympathize, no charming Hans Solo for us to love and most importantly, no Darth Vader. And that’s where the bad points are wrapped up. There is probably no character in Avatar that is as beautiful as Pandora, no character as mysterious as Pandora.
Pandora makes up for all of Avatar’s flaws. I remember watching The Empire Strikes Back as a kid. With the lasers flying around the Empire’s AT-AT droids, I sat with my mouth wide open as I listened to my cousin telling me all about lasers. The best things in Pandora comes not with the 3-D (which refreshingly never tried to make a conscious 3-D viewing approach to the audience). It comes with James Cameron’s choice of a multitude of fluorescent colors that light up Pandora’s night life. As I watched the metamorphosis of colors with each frame that goes by, I found myself staring with the same open-mouth expression, soaking up the film’s music theme. Where Lucas charms us with his modern-for-that-time laser technology and space shuttles, James Cameron’s breaks into the primitive shell from human history, when Man walked together with Nature with profound respect for its intricacies and a sense for appreciating the aesthetic beauty around him. Cameron probably knew this would come to be, he saved the best music for the scenes where Jake Sulley connects with Pandora.
The story is simple. Avatar never tries to preach, but it does certainly have a message. The acting was adequate. Sigourney Weaver tries her best to recreate the magic of Ellen Ripley with a moderate amount of success. The 3D is so beautiful, especially the scenes on the dragons, and at the same time, remains inconspicuous with its presence. Avatar never goes overboard. There is probably not even a single frame that was unnecessarily edited into the theatrical cut. It does not make you wait for the Blu-ray DVD to come out, because you know you never will be watching that in 3D. Avatar has awesomeness screaming all over it. Having the best seats in an IMAX certainly helped matters. Go, Watch it. You will be doing yourselves a great favor.
Mirror, Mirror on the wall... 