'Avatar' English Movie Review

Film: Avatar
Rating: 4.75/5
Banner: 20th Century Fox

Cast: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana, Michelle Rodriguez, Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel Moore, Wes Studi and others
Music: James Horner
Cinematography: Mauro Fiore
Editing: John Refoua, Stephen Rivkin
Visual effects: Adel Abada, David Abbott
Director: James Cameron
Producers: James Cameron, Jon Landau
Release date: 18/12/2009

Slated to be the most expensive movie the world has ever seen, ‘Avatar’ has come in with huge expectations and whether it has really lived up to it or not, let us see..

Story:
An ex-marine Jake (sam) is roped into project Avatar and his mission is to go to another planet Pandora to make friends with the local Na’vi tribes. The idea behind this mission is to extract a very valuable mineral in the rich biodiversity planet that can benefit the humans and Jake goes to execute the mission. He is supported by Dr Grace (Sigourney) in this and once he lands in the planet, he chances upon Neytiri (zoe). However, destiny has got something else in store for Jake and what is he born for forms the rest of the story.

Performances:
Sam Worthington
He has come out with a neat performance and carries the movie throughout with ease. His screen presence is passive but then it is his character that gives a lot of strength to the role.

Zoe Saldana
Despite the fact that her human form is not seen, Zoe looks rather sensuous and credit must be given to the graphics specialists for creating a true to reality image of hers. She looks sensuous and beautiful with the right kind of expressions and emotional presence.

Sigourney Weaver
It is good to see the senior actress doing a responsible role and she has gone by the book and given complete justice to it.

Stephen Lang
He plays a hardcore army man and looks perfect to the core. His screen presence is strong and he has depicted the unwittingly evil side of the mankind in a correct manner.

Others:
Michelle Rodriguez was brief but made her presence felt, Giovanni Ribisi was standard, Joel Moore contributed in his own way, Wes Studi was apt. Not much from others since most of them are in animated or graphics format.

Analysis:
It is not often that one gets to see such movies. A once in a lifetime marvel, the storyline runs on a very simple yet important concept and more than the content, it is the presentation and narrative that dominated. The dialogues were witty at few places but they had depth though phrased in simple words, the script was in perfect shape and there were no loose ends, the screenplay was captivating. Background score contributed to the moods but James Horner could have given a theme of sorts just like he did for ‘Titanic’. Editing was crisp and sharp to the edge, costumes were nominal. Here is the best part – it is the graphics, visual effects, make up department, art department that have given an overwhelming impact. Here are few important observations-

• There is no inferior depiction of the Hindu gods or Hinduism so the BJP people and the religious fanatics can take it easy.
• There is a slight tinge of personification of Lord Rama in the protagonist and it was carried out with integrity and elegance.
• Though the film is rich in technical effects, there is a strong message which speaks of the importance of conserving the environment and how bio diversity is important for the existence of mankind.
• For those who understand what goes behind graphics and the visual effects, this is no less than a bible and it only takes exclamations to understand the efforts and the brains behind this.
• James Cameron visualizes a world that not many can see and his attention to detail can be seen in the little creatures to the lighting effects and the aura it creates.

Overall, the technical aspects and the visual effects are truly divine and though one can miss the comedy aspect, it is the overall impact and the strong message it delivers that engages the viewers. The film is lengthy (2 hours 40 minutes) but to be honest, there is not a single minute of boredom and it is a completely different journey that will remain in the memories for a long time.

Bottom-line: Don’t miss it…Rush to theatres immediately