Director/Writer: James Cameron

Actors: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang

A tweet review would be – “A visual and aesthetic treat. This marks the beginning of an era. Cameroon has done it yet again.”

Right from my cousin who’s in primary school, to my friend in college, to my NRI uncle, absolutely everyone has been mesmerized by this masterpiece. This has to be one of the very few movies that has lived up to its hype and has actually delivered more than it promised.

The Plot:
Firstly, we have a US Govt. commissioned space mission to the planet Pandora, in search of the mineral ‘unobtanium’ (loved the name) which is precious and can solve the energy crisis on planet earth. Then we have the locals of Pandora, the Na’vi people, a tribe of ten-foot tall blue skinned, pony-tailed humanoids. Then we have the paraplegic war veteran, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) who is brought in place of his scientist twin brother who dies before the mission. Then we have a person’s “avatar”, a body made by combining the genes of the person with the native Na’vi genes. These avatars are controlled by their owners, who are in an unconscious state in a lab in the human base station. The purpose of developing avatars is to form a better connection with the natives, and persuade them to move from their traditional land to make way for mining. Lastly, we have the military forces led by Colonel Miles (Stephen Lang) who thinks that war is the only way to handle the situation in Pandora.

Jake being an ex-marine, initially tries to straddle two boats at the same time – being loyal to the military as well as the scientist camps. But as he mixes with the natives and understands their affinity towards the ‘Home tree’ (the center of their existence), he takes the side of the natives in this unfair and unjust battle. His falling in love with the king’s daughter only hastens the process of the increase in his affinity for the natives. Jake takes it on himself to save the Na’vi race from the human onslaught and that shapes up as the epic Na’vi versus humans battle in the climax.

The Positives:
All the lead actors have done justice to their roles, but a special mention must be made of Sigourney Weaver who plays the lead scientist, and Zoe Saldana who plays the warrior princess (and is Jake’s love interest as well).

Each scene is picturesque. The level of detail in each frame is astonishing, setting very high precedents for the movies that use CG henceforth. The first half is breathtakingly beautiful, where you cannot but observe each and every intricate detail in Pandora’s landscape.

The subtle references made to the US attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq hit bull’s eye each time around. The tone in the dialogue when the colonel says “We’ll fight terror with terror” is so similar to the many speeches given out by Rumsfeld, Powell and Bush.

The Negatives:
A very predictable plot, nothing novel in it. But as some critics have said, there have to be some things that shouldn’t be experimented with in an experimental big budget movie like this, and Cameroon chose not to tamper much with the storyline.

Some of the characters are not well-rounded off. It is these characters that could have given much more depth to the wafer-thin storyline.

All in all, it’s a must-watch. It’s Cameroon’s gift to the world of cinema, and boy what a gift this one is. Go book your tickets for the next show and join the ‘Avatar’ fan club.

(Have you watched the movie yet? What are your thoughts on the movie?)