We are just one day a way from crowing FemaleFirst’s Best Movie of 2009 but today we take a look at the film that was only just piped at the post.
And that movie was James Cameron’s outstanding Avatar which looks set to revolutionise the way we watch cinema.
We enter the alien world through the eyes of Jake Sully, a former Marine confined to a wheelchair. But despite his broken body, Jake is still a warrior at heart. He is recruited to travel light years to the human outpost on Pandora, where corporations are mining a rare mineral that is the key to solving Earth's energy crisis.
Because the atmosphere of Pandora is toxic, they have created the Avatar Program, in which human "drivers" have their consciousness linked to an avatar, a remotely-controlled biological body that can survive in the lethal air.
These avatars are genetically engineered hybrids of human DNA mixed with DNA from the natives of Pandora... the Na'vi.
Reborn in his avatar form, Jake can walk again. He is given a mission to infiltrate the Na'vi, who have become a major obstacle to mining the precious ore. But a beautiful Na'vi female, Neytiri, saves Jake's life, and this changes everything.
Jake is taken in by her clan, and learns to become one of them, which involves many tests and adventures. As Jake's relationship with his reluctant teacher Neytiri deepens, he learns to respect the Na'vi way and finally takes his place among them.
Soon he will face the ultimate test as he leads them in an epic battle that will decide nothing less than the fate of an entire world.
Avatar was one of the most hyped movies of the year and when surrounded with that much anticipation and anticipation very few ever live up to what they promise.
But James Cameron’s return to the director’s chair really doesn’t disappoint it’s one of those moments in cinema that you will never forget.
While the voyage to a distant planet isn’t a new concept Avatar will prove to be the Star Wars of our time.
The film is both visually spectacular, you really have to see it in 3D to fully appreciate, it’s true beauty and it’s not hard to see why Cameron has spent over a decade trying to bring this movie to the big screen.
The CGI landscape pulls the audience into this strange and unknown world, and it will be the closest you and I will ever get to standing on a distant planet.
It’s impossible not to get swept away by it all and become completely immersed in the world of Pandora. But it’s not just the effects that are engaging the story is emotionally gripping as you are drawn in by the plight of the Na’vi.
The moral behind the movie is quite appropriate as the human race once again tries to destroy all that is green and beautiful for profit, not unlike what we do to our own planet.
It’s a David and Goliath story as the little forest dwelling Na’vi rise up again the might and the machines of the human race to protect all that they believe in.
Avatar is a truly magnificent technical achievement that will be looked back on in many years to come as the movie that transformed cinema and really pushed 3D movies forward. While 3D has been very popular this year nothing compares to what Cameron has achieved with Avatar.
The real-life and CGI acting blend together beautifully, and the likeness of the avatars to the actors playing them is really incredible.
While the movie is fuelled by the special effect spectacular, the last battle is worth the price of your cinema ticket and 3D glasses alone, but the movie does have moments of real heartfelt emotion and poignancy that was perhaps unexpected.
Avatar will provide a cinema experience that you will never forget as is one of the best movies of the decade never mind 2009.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in James Cameron Avatar