Review: 'Avatar' is a joyride not to be missed

Film: Avatar (U/A)
Director: James Cameron
Cast: Sam Worhington, Zoe Saldana and Sigourney Weaver
Rating: ****

Avatar is a movie-watching experience you will not forget for a long time. It may touch a chord with you or not, entertain you or not, satisfy you or not – but it’ll definitely leave you spellbound.

James Cameron’s latest is as many miles away from his last film, the blockbuster Titanic, as Spielberg’s Jurassic Park was from Schindler’s List. Titanic, which is the biggest grosser of all time, struck an emotional chord with audiences around the world, making them pine for the lovers, Jack and Rose, and be deeply affected by the disaster that the Titanic was.

Avatar, on the other hand, is aimed at giving audiences an adrenaline rush. As a cinematic venture, it may speak the same universal language Titanic did, only this one’s more about form than emotions. Not like there aren’t any emotions, but Cameron’s $230-million labour of love will astound you so much with what you see, that everything else will take a backseat.

Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is an ex-marine, paralysed-waist-down in combat. He has been chosen to be sent to a moon, Pandora, as an avatar of Na’vi – the inhabitant of Pandora – after his brother, who was initially supposed to go, dies. Jake regains his lost legs and is transported by a ‘Corporation’ in the midst of a tribe of Na’vis that live under a ‘Home Tree’. The area around the tree is rich with minerals, something the Corporation wants to get its hands on, and Jake’s mission is to convince the tribe to relocate to another part of Pandora.

Here, Jake meets Neyitri (Zoe Saldana), daughter of the head of the tribe, who is entrusted with the job of making ‘foreigner’ Jake one of their own. Neyitri introduces Jake to the wonders of Pandora, and eventually the two fall in love. But Jake can’t forget what he’s in Pandora for. The Corporation wants the minerals fast, and is contemplating to strike war against the Na’vis. Whose side will Jake be on?

Cameron probably won’t get too many brownie points for the story. It’s not original, if we keep out the fact that this time the infiltrator is sent to a moon (!). Also, too many films of late have tried to make the same comment Cameron is – the world, as we know it, will change if we don’t act fast and preserve our ecology. The love story is a bit too obvious too, and references to earlier films like Lord of the Rings, Apocalypse Now and The Matrix cannot be missed.

But to be fair to Cameron, the film is a gigantic task, visually. To create an alternate world from scratch and execute it the way it has been done, is nothing short of a herculean feat. Cameron’s Pandora, with all its creatures, inhabitants and nature, is so breathtakingly beautiful that you don’t want to leave it for the entire duration of the film.

And when the very place is shown destructed by ‘humans’, you can’t but feel outraged and angry. Cameron transports you to this fictional place, and when a war is waged by humans on the inhabitants of that place, you want the latter to emerge victorious. You become one of those who live in Pandora. That, probably, is Cameron’s greatest victory as a filmmaker.

The Na’vis have been created with amazing detailing and the characters look very much like the actors portraying them, yet different. For both Worthington and Saldana, the roles can be career-defining.

So then, is all that money, time and talk spent on the film justified? It’s more than justified. In Avatar, Cameron gives you a ride of your life you won’t forget anytime soon. Over the years, the film may be remembered for many things, but it will always remain a cinematic marvel that cannot really be dissected as much it can be enjoyed.

Get your 3D glasses and get onto this joyride called Avatar.