Sunday, December 13, 2009

AVATAR: A political flick that asks us to make tough choices about who we serve, and what our actions say about who we really are

Sully finds himself a pawn, caught between two camps: the empathetic scientists led by Sigourney Weaver and the corporate guns for hire who want to aggressively plunder the mineral resources of Pandora. Thanks to his blossoming relationship with Na’vi warrior princess Neytiri (a CGI motion- captured performance from Zoe Saldana), Sully begins to question the legitimacy of the mission.

With the use of such charged phrases as “shock and awe” and Sully’s curt summation of the situation (“When people are sitting on stuff you want, you make them your enemy”) Cameron adds a thought-provoking political dimension to the story.

SHOOT: Awesome film with a brilliant message.


Movie events don’t get bigger than this. James Cameron’s long-awaited follow-up to Titanic, the most successful film to date, is immense in every way: from the ambition and scope of its vision, to the ground-breaking technological wizardry, to the staggering size of its budget.


But on the strength of the film’s well-received world premiere in the Odeon Leicester Square, in Central London, last night the movie industry players of Los Angeles should not be too worried about losing their houses just yet.


Avatar is an overwhelming, immersive spectacle. The state-of-the-art 3D technology draws us in, but it is the vivid weirdness of Cameron’s luridly imagined tropical otherworld that keeps us fascinated.

Detail of poster for James Cameron’s AVATAR


Aware that the core audience for the film is likely to be teenaged boys, Cameron has equipped the female Na’vi with supermodel looks and curves in all the right places, as well as tails and pointy ears.

I would be very surprised if James Cameron didn’t have another sizable hit on his hands.

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