A Reel Life film section
Issue: Summer, 2010
Avatar (2009) movie review
Alien Alterego
On the alien world of Pandora, crippled ex-Marine Jake finds his legs and soul when he drives a linked 'avatar' body and is taken on by a tribe who aim to 'fill his emptiness'.
Using a combination of live action and computer animation, veteran action/science fiction writer and director James Cameron tells a futuristic story set on a far-off planet.
The story is very familiar - the military and corporate human interests are at odds with the scientific expedition, and all of them threaten the environment and the native way of life.
All energy is only borrowed, and one day you have to give it back.
It's a bit Pocahontas meets Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders with a big dose of classic science fiction thrown in, more likely to charm those without a lot of exposure to the genre.
Avatar takes advantage of contemporary cinematic technical story-telling and while it lacks freshness, it has a beginning, a middle, an end, and a point. How effective these are is for the audience to say.
by Ali Kayn | |
Just the facts:Title: Avatar (2009) The Players: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Sam Worthington, Michelle Rodriguez, CCH Pounder, Official website: IMDb entry For session times of current films, use the cinema listings on the Movie links page. For scheduled release dates, see the coming attractions section. For more information about this movie, check out the internet movie database. |