James Cameron’s Avatar Film Review

Short Avatar Review

It’s ground breaking, breath taking and huge in scale. Go see!

Long Avatar Review

I’ve been anticipating the release of Avatar, James Cameron’s first film in 10 years, ever since it came up on my radar. I booked my tickets weeks ago and I finally made it to a preview screening last night, the day before the official release.

For me the only way to truly appreciate this film in full is to opt for the 3D IMAX version, which is what I saw last night, when I arrived it was a packed auditorium with a buzz of excited chatter which turned to complete silence the minute the lights dimmed. There’s been months of anticipation from a lot of people for this film since the first teaser snippets were shown back in August and you could feel it in the air.

Was It Worth The Wait?
Right from the first few scenes I was staring in wonder at the scale and detail of what I was seeing and this was before any of the lush vegetation of Pandora, it’s extraordinary creatures or any of the Navi characters had been introduced. Right from the off you can see that a huge amount of effort has been put in to everything on the screen and you cannot see the joins, there’s no tell tale CGI give-aways, you can’t reverse engineer what’s an effect and what’s real.

The first prominent scene to really give you a glimpse of what is to come is when Scully wakes from ’suspended animation’ and floats up and out of his bunk slightly, whilst in the background numerous nurses make use of the lack of gravity to propel themselves up and down and from side to side in a  huge stasis area with beds on each side to attend their waking patients.

The camera slowly tilts to one side which has the effect of making the cinema audatorium seem to tilt and you feel like you’re floating along with the characters if only briefly. This is the first indication of the 3D being used subtly to pull you in to the story rather than to kind of push you away with the typical whizz bang of effects.

When we do get to Pandora then the film truly does shine it’s a real feast for the eyes with a depth of detail that made me stare around the screen in wonder multiple times. The characters and vegetation here has a depth and complexity to it that is awe inspiring. The IMAX is a big screen and I found myself scanning it left to right a number times throughout the film to try and take everything in. On one level it’s unfortunate that you can’t take it all in, on another level it means I have yet another excuse to go back and see this breath taking film again. Like I need any excuses.

A Different Kind Of 3D
As mentioned briefly earlier the 3D is very subtle, there are no explosions with debris flying over your left shoulder and the film is all the better for not taking that route. This lightness of touch stops the 3D effects from distracting you from the story and the characters. When you do get obvious 3D in your face effects, for example when the seeds of the Utraya Mokri ‘The Sacred Tree’ float out of the screen, this adds to the wonder of the scene as the characters stare in wonder themselves at these glowing floating jellyfish type lifeforms you wonder along with then at the 3D.

One of the big differences between Cameron’s films and many of the other ‘action movies’ out there, beyond the cutting edge CGI and effects, is the characters and the story. Cameron’s characters have a depth which is were many other action films fall short, there’s a backbone of human vulnerability and layers of emotion which present you with a multi dimensional character, this makes it easier to empathise and in turn get pulled in to their world.

Beyond that there’s a story worth hearing and not something simply stitching special effect set pieces together. Having said thatthe battle sequence is sure to impress even the hardest hardcore action fan with its scale and complexity.

Cinematic Revolution?
Avatar has been presented as a revolution in cinema, is that the case?… it’s difficult to say, I would have to see the film on a standard screen without the 3D to judge it against other films. But that’s not the point the film was created for 3D.

Everything from the very start was about making this a 3D film. Did you know that Cameron bank rolled numerous IMAX and digital technology upgrades for cinemas across the US? Did you also know that he spent time with Sony, Panasonic and numerous other companies in order to get them to invent or create the 3D camera technology he needed to make this film? Did you also know that Cameron shot almost every frame of the movie himself with his hand held virtual camera?

He’s opened a door to a whole new world of cinematic creativity and technology and other directors have already taken notice, Speilberg, Jackson, Lucas and Soderbergh are all now working on their own 3D projects. This could well be the film to define a new sort of cinema.

Go and watch this film.

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