Its hard to begin when it comes to Avatar! This is a movie that has been in the mind of James Cameron for a looonnngggg time. Well before Titanic, and that was 12 years ago alone! When the original teaser trailer turned up months ago, it was not what I, or many others, had expected from the man that brought the likes of The Terminator and the Titanic to the big screen. I was left feeling very underwhelmed by it. My first thought was “What has he done? This is a video game cut scene!!!”. Then in a clever move, Cameron released a more in-depth, trailer, just shy of 4 minutes long. And from that second coming as it were, I started to get sucked into the world of the Na’Vi. And while it still looked like a video game cut scene at times, it had a certain something, that while quite difficult to pinpoint, just grabbed you and refused to let go.
For a movie so long in the making complete with plenty of buzz words surrounding it including redefining cinema and so on, could it live up to the hype? Damn right it can! Avatar is much more than a movie, it is an audible and visual experience in 3D. And that’s not even taking the story into account. Essentially, Jake Sully (Worthington) is roped into a world of corporate greed and war. Boffins have managed to fuse human DNA with Na’Vi DNA and the humans control their Na’Vi Avatar via glorified sun beds. Think along the lines of the Matrix. Sully’s job is to infiltrate the Na’Vi and learn their ways all the time while gathering vital info so his employers can get hold of a shit load of unobtainium, And the plan is for Sully to talk the locals into moving away, so they can fill up on the unobtanium peacefully, and of course things never go as planned. Combine this with a love story and and a major kick ass battle and you have 2 hours and 40 minutes of pure and utter adrenalized cinema. This is what going to the movies is all about.
Cameron grabs you from the very start and refuses to let you go until the end credits start rolling. The human performances are solid here, with Sam Worthington and Sigourney Weaver leading the charge. But the real performances in Avatar are the Na’Vi. All motion captured, down to the most intricate eyebrow movement which has indeed redefined cinema. The amazing thing about the Na’Vi is they are completely believable. You get an instant connection with them and watching a computerised performance of this quality is nothing short of surreal. They’re not photorealistic, but that doesn’t matter as I was completely drawn in and captivated. What ever voodoo James Cameron and his teams have performed here, it works spectacularly. Even Pandora, the Na’Vi home planet is absolutely incredible. Never before have I witnessed computer generated environments which such depth and clarity and couple that with 3D, its simply gobsmacking! The level of detail on Pandora is impossible to comprehend, there really is that much of it!
Avatar is a lengthy movie and I’m sure some will feel that its a long haul with dodgy 3D glasses weighing down on your nose. But it is well paced and moves along quite well. As a matter of fact the first hour goes by in what seems like 15 minutes. If you get the opportunity to see Avatar in 3D, then you simply have to go and get the little plastic glasses! The 3D here is quite different to what you might have seen before. There's no ducking, dodging and weaving gimmicks here. It is a complete immersion into the world of the Na’Vi. Its only when you see Avatar in 3D that you will understand why this movie is so important when it comes to redefining the genre and indeed cinema itself. This will give Spielberg and Lucas along with the rest of Hollywood an almighty kick up the arse, because in my opinion this is the way to see movies in the future. Complete immersion with no gimmicks and Cameron has had the vision and mindset to do what plenty thought wouldn’t be possible. Then again, many said the exact same about Titanic, it wouldn’t work. And look what happened to that. James Cameron will always be associated with T-800s and big sinking ships, but this is the movie that will define him and his visionary career. This is James Cameron’s Star Wars! Avatar is a unique experience and a giant movie that is a mind blowing must see. 
For a movie so long in the making complete with plenty of buzz words surrounding it including redefining cinema and so on, could it live up to the hype? Damn right it can! Avatar is much more than a movie, it is an audible and visual experience in 3D. And that’s not even taking the story into account. Essentially, Jake Sully (Worthington) is roped into a world of corporate greed and war. Boffins have managed to fuse human DNA with Na’Vi DNA and the humans control their Na’Vi Avatar via glorified sun beds. Think along the lines of the Matrix. Sully’s job is to infiltrate the Na’Vi and learn their ways all the time while gathering vital info so his employers can get hold of a shit load of unobtainium, And the plan is for Sully to talk the locals into moving away, so they can fill up on the unobtanium peacefully, and of course things never go as planned. Combine this with a love story and and a major kick ass battle and you have 2 hours and 40 minutes of pure and utter adrenalized cinema. This is what going to the movies is all about.
Cameron grabs you from the very start and refuses to let you go until the end credits start rolling. The human performances are solid here, with Sam Worthington and Sigourney Weaver leading the charge. But the real performances in Avatar are the Na’Vi. All motion captured, down to the most intricate eyebrow movement which has indeed redefined cinema. The amazing thing about the Na’Vi is they are completely believable. You get an instant connection with them and watching a computerised performance of this quality is nothing short of surreal. They’re not photorealistic, but that doesn’t matter as I was completely drawn in and captivated. What ever voodoo James Cameron and his teams have performed here, it works spectacularly. Even Pandora, the Na’Vi home planet is absolutely incredible. Never before have I witnessed computer generated environments which such depth and clarity and couple that with 3D, its simply gobsmacking! The level of detail on Pandora is impossible to comprehend, there really is that much of it! 
Avatar is a lengthy movie and I’m sure some will feel that its a long haul with dodgy 3D glasses weighing down on your nose. But it is well paced and moves along quite well. As a matter of fact the first hour goes by in what seems like 15 minutes. If you get the opportunity to see Avatar in 3D, then you simply have to go and get the little plastic glasses! The 3D here is quite different to what you might have seen before. There's no ducking, dodging and weaving gimmicks here. It is a complete immersion into the world of the Na’Vi. Its only when you see Avatar in 3D that you will understand why this movie is so important when it comes to redefining the genre and indeed cinema itself. This will give Spielberg and Lucas along with the rest of Hollywood an almighty kick up the arse, because in my opinion this is the way to see movies in the future. Complete immersion with no gimmicks and Cameron has had the vision and mindset to do what plenty thought wouldn’t be possible. Then again, many said the exact same about Titanic, it wouldn’t work. And look what happened to that. James Cameron will always be associated with T-800s and big sinking ships, but this is the movie that will define him and his visionary career. This is James Cameron’s Star Wars! Avatar is a unique experience and a giant movie that is a mind blowing must see. 
