"Avatar" by James Cameron

By Elizabeth Marchetti
01.01.2010

At the price of 300 million dollars, James Cameron´s film "Avatar" is officially the most expensive movie of all times. "Spectacular" is a fair way to sum it up. The director of Titanic blew off a massive budget in hopes of creating this epic, action-packed and digitally animated spectacle.
We follow a human colony of scientists and soldiers based on the planet Pandora, who want to seize its natural resources after the earth has perished. While vicious earthlings prepare their strategy, paraplegic marine Jack Sulley (Sam Worthington) is chosen to live among a tribe of natives and earn their trust. This is possible thanks to the creation of an avatar- a body double created with DNA samples of both races. But during his mission, Jack falls for the indigenous Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and will have to face a conflict of interests.
Yes, it´s tragic and you´ve probably heard this story a thousand times before. But you´ve never been told in such an unusual and fantastical setting, which reminds a bit of Pocahontas with blue, 10 feet tall, agile creatures instead. Ballsy women Sigourny Weaver and Michelle Rodriguez are also in the cast, to complement this altogether ballsy product. I admire Cameron´s fearless initiative and input to create this film, the biggest digital tale of our era perhaps, which pleasantly fits at a time of dread and uncertainty prevailing in our cynical world. It is no Titanic, thank God, but Avatar still reveals some Hollywoodian cliches´, such as the exploitation of "democratization" and other utopian ideals and the script is weak at times (including petty references to soldier movies), but luckily it�s not the driving motor of this film as much as the visuals. Thanks to the three-dimentional graphics and Cameron´s classical directing, it all works. Overall, it´s one of the most amazing visually enchanting experiences you could have sitting down in a cinema, but with no deep solutions or alternative twists of faith, you should be there just to enjoy the psychedelic eye candy.