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"Avatar"

"As Reported by By Dollyforme"

WOW! Is all I can say about "Avatar" - the long-awaited science fiction epic which at 300 million is reportedly the most expensive film ever made, has finally arrived and it lives up to its hype. It should be noted that director James Cameron's last film, “Titanic” was also the most expensive film ever made at the time, and it turned out O.K., setting records for box office success, and enjoying a lot of critical success as well. This one might just do as well in both regards.

Avatar is essentially a retelling of every native paradise (Eden, if you will) that was ever invaded and exploited by profiteering European or American miners or oilmen, who systematically displaced or slaughtered the natives and stole their land and mineral wealth. Sometimes there are native rebellions, which often fail, but sometimes they succeed (as in the Haitian slave rebellion). This story takes place on an alien world, Pandora, which is imaginatively, brilliantly and colorfully visualized in digitally animated 3D. It is a world of breathtaking, audacious beauty, peopled by 10-foot-tall thin blue-skinned humanoids with yellow eyes known as the na’vi. They ride horse-like six-legged creatures on the ground and ride dragon-like flying creatures in the sky. There are flying mountains. There are trees that communicate with each other in a giant computer-like network. Some of the most amazing visual sequences are the flying scenes as the dragon-riders swoop and soar through the colorful alien landscape.

What Avatar does best of all is immerse the viewer in this alien world until it seems like home. That is what happens to the main character, Jake Sully (played by Sam Worthington of “Terminator Salvation.” Sully, a paraplegic Marine, is placed in a device which enables him to control the body of an avatar. The avatar is a genetically-modified body composed of human and na’vi DNA and it is able to breathe the atmosphere of Pandora, which is toxic to humans. Jake makes a devil's bargain with Colonel Miles Quaritch, head of the planet's human security forces (who work for a mining company). If he helps the company obtain the rich “unobtainium” mineral deposits buried under the na’vi's sacred tree, he will see to it that Sully can walk again (evidently there is no health care reform in the future). For a time, he goes along with the plan, feeding Quaritch valuable strategic information about the na’vi. But then he goes native and starts to identify more and more with the na’vi, who have accepted him as one of their own.

In going native Jake Sully joins Lieutenant Dunbar of “Dances With Wolves,” Jack Crabb of “Little Big Man” and other movie characters who have turned their back on the white man and chosen to join the side of the natives in a fight against their own people. It is a big enough challenge to get a white audience to root for a different culture and a different race, but how about rooting for a different species against our own? That is the challenge that James Cameron has taken on in this film, and he succeeds quite nicely.

Much of this film is generated by computer graphics, but it seems real enough and the visuals are wondrous. The movements of the na’vi are all done by motion capture, a technique used for such films as the “Lord of the Rings” films. When I read about the specific type of motion capture used for recording actors' facial expressions in this film (a weakness in most such films) I noticed it seemed to be the same technique pioneered by an effects company named Image Metrics I'd read about a couple of years ago (Image Metrics' work is featured in “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”). According to a number of sources on the Internet, this film used the Image Metrics method of capturing facial expressions, but the company is not mentioned in the film's production notes, which instead state that Cameron's team developed its own facial recognition system for this film. However the facial expressions of the na’vi and other creatures were captured and expressed in the film, it was done very well. It is a big improvement over the dead facial expressions seen in most previous motion-capture films.

This film appears to be another triumph for James Cameron. It isn't perfect. The writing could have been better, but the acting and the story are strong and the visuals are out of this world. Opening day box office totals are near record levels, as expected. Expect this film to continue strong for at least several weeks. I saw this in a theater equipped with the “RealD” polarized 3D system and the effect was great. There was no eye strain even after the two-hour, 42-minute running time. It is a landmark film in many respects and should be watched many times - like I did. Kinda pricey at an extra three bucks in 3D but well worth the extra mulla in my book.

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