You will be hearing a lot about Avatar over the next few days and probably in a more insightful fashion than I, so I will try and keep this brief. I managed to get along to a critic's screening on Friday night and it was mind-blowing. And yes, I was one of those people who just wanted James Cameron to shut up about how this is going to be the best movie ever and revolutionise cinema blah blah blah.
But if I had a tail, it would be firmly between my legs right now because the technology, the concept, the package, the everything is going to shape the future of movie making. In the past year we have seen 3D movies popping up in cinemas with increasing frequency, most being animated flicks such as Up, Monsters Vs Aliens and Coraline or horror pics My Bloody Valentine, Buffy and Final Destination. While the latter used 3D technology for cheap thrills like blood splatters and objects poking into the audience, Avatar’s use of 3D is seamless. It sucks you into the world of Pandora and before you know it, you’re amongst Cameron’s vision, watching the story happen around you instead of in front of you.
The story itself is practically identical to Pocahontas, just in a different setting, with the outsider scenario, inner-tribe hostilities and native people vs settlers conflict a doppelganger. But that doesn’t really take away from the spectacle, the plot does what it does and takes the backseat of this effects driven masterpiece. The detail is unfathomable, from the creation of the world as a whole down to the minuscule creatures within it, Cameron has thought of everything.
No doubt you will hear intakes of breath throughout the duration of the movie and you’ll see plenty of figures darting to the bathroom as three-hours is a looooong time to hold it in. There are some great themes amongst the visual splendour, including a few nods to the current environmental crisis, the race debate and the destructive nature of mankind. That’s not to mention Cameron’s tongue-in-cheek commentary on America’s war on terror with the powers-that-be frustratingly small minded and a George Bush-esque villain who proclaims he wants to fight “terror with terror”.
Essentially Avatar is an event movie and in 20-years time you’re gran kids will be asking you about what it was like to see in the cinemas for the first time.