January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
Movie review: Avatar *****
Movie review: Avatar *****
Director: James Cameron
Rated: PG-13
Showing: Southside Cinema
Runtime: 162 minutes
Action/adventure/
Sci-fi/thriller
James Cameron releases his first feature film since he became king of the movie world with Titanic in 1997.
Avatar is the most expensive and technically brilliant film ever made - the budget was more than $300 million, with many claiming as high as $500 million.
It is set to beat Titanic's record of the biggest box office return in history and is the most anticipated movie of the year.
But this film really lives up to the hype - narratively and visually.
It is set in 2154, when the earth is in ecological crisis and desperately needs a scarce mineral to survive.
It can be found on Pandora, a jungle-covered planet home to the Na'vi, a peaceful race of blue-skinned, 12ft-tall humanoids.
Humans cannot breathe the air on Pandora, so have created genetically bred human-Na'vi hybrids known as Avatars - living, breathing bodies mind-controlled by wired-up humans.
One of the humans hired to control an Avatar and scout out Pandora and its inhabitants is Jake, a paraplegic war veteran.
In return for his services, he is promised an expensive operation that will let him walk again. In the meantime, as an Avatar, he can walk, run and feel alive again.
While exploring Pandora's beauties and dangers, Jake meets young Na'vi female warrior Neytiri and integrates himself into her clan. He falls in love with her and the Na'vi way of life and sides with them against earth in an epic battle.
Avatar employs groundbreaking special effects. It's the most convincing blend of live action and motion-capture animation yet and the CGI is breathtakingly flawless and realistic.
Cameron uses 3D extensively but never for the sake of it - it's an enhancement, not a novelty attraction.
There are no spears thrown at the audience's face or similar gimmicks - 3D is harnessed to enhance the whole world of the film, to make it bold and all encompassing.
Pandora is a massive, detailed forest landscape of monstrous looking plants, floating mountains, exotic bugs, giant flying reptiles and dinosaur-like beasts - the visual details rivals and probably exceeds the rich world of Middle Earth in Lord Of The Rings.
Another impressive feat is Cameron's decision to create a whole new language for the movie.
He had a professor invent more than 1,000 new words for the Na'vi dialect, which is spoken extensively throughout and subtitled.
An innovative, dazzling piece of filmmaking, Avatar is unmissable.
Watch if you liked: Aliens.
For more information about film times, call 297-2821.[[In-content Ad]]
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