Avatar, James Cameron, 2009

The planet of Pandora is a green and verdant Eden. A place where animals and plants live in harmony, where the indigenous people (the Na’vi) live as one with their planet, where all are welcomed, and all is one. Snag is, its a place so rich in the improbably named mineral “Unobtanium” (worth $20 million per kilo, we are informed) that humans have turned up, and are mining it all away – knackering up the ecosystem in the process. In an attempt to prevent bloodshed and to keep the harmony, the mining company create and employ “Avatars” -  remote controllable, genetically bred  Na’vi fused psychically with the mind of a scientist/driver – with an eye to successful negotiation of mining rights.

With the death of one of the lead scientists comes an opportunity for his twin brother, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) to go to Pandora, drive an Avatar, and help the mining company achieve its goals. The chief security officer, Quaritch, enlists the new boy Sully to bring back tactical information on how to destroy the Na’vi so they can mine the Unobtainium by force if necessary. What follows has been described by some witty lags as “Dances With Smurfs” – to whit, Sully goes native and decides to rebel against the company, and after a prolonged training and initiation program, helps the Na’vi to fight off their oppressors.

Well – where to begin? The plot is a fairly involving piece. It has enough hardware moments to keep the sci-fi geek in you riveted, however it does tend to veer over ever so slightly into an almost Disney-esque level of twee-ness in its second act. Its thoroughly excusable given the scale of the film Cameron has made, but it did cause me to start experimenting with the 3D glasses and fidget a bit – blowing bubbles in my drink (before I realised I was annoying everyone and should stop being such a tool). And I did have a worrying moment where I was convinced there was gonna be a Na’vi sex scene. Cameron wisely chose to leave that bit out.

The planet of Pandora is not really describable in terms of special effects, because it is nothing but a special effect. Every blade of grass, galloping monster and swooping bird is a CG item – the Avatars/Na’vi are CG too. So its best to think about how they make you feel, and what they add to the film. I will say that the first time you see them, they do look a bit strange. Sully gets into his Na’vi, and lumberingly trashes a laboratory – funny, but somehow it jars you and looks just a bit off. Then you get into Pandora, and that almost immediately disappears as our old friend “suspension of disbelief” takes hold. Camerons teams have made a perfectly seamless world. Its truly breathtaking, I kid you not. Think what Ridley Scott could have done with Legend if he had CG in the early 80′s, and you’re getting there. I would foam on about this more, but I doubt I can do it justice. WAIT TIL’ YOU SEE IT, is all I can say…

The performances are overall pretty good. Worthington comes out well as Jake Sully, giving a much broader performance here than he did in the execrable Terminator : Salvation (bear in mind that he was literally the ONLY good thing in that film). Stephen Lang as Colonel Quaritch finally finds a role that can use him well and give him the wide exposure he richly deserves. The three leading ladies pull out three very different levels of performance. Zoe Saldana is genuinely affecting as Neytiri, the tribeswoman who befriends Sully and teaches him the ways of the Na’vi. Sigourney Weaver pulls out yet another in a long line of tough, hardheaded ladies – and she fits the bill perfectly, although you do wish she’d jump into one of the exosuits in the film and confront Lang, screeching “Get away from her, you bitch”. Michelle Rodriguez acquits herself well with a performance that seems maybe a bit too marginalised, and feels somewhat reminiscent of the similar “Vasquez” character played in Cameron’s Aliens by Jeanette Goldstein.

The much touted 3D is used in an understated way which makes it all the more effective. Its used to create a much deeper field of view in the frame, so someone down the back of a shot is exactly that – far away. There are no hysterically gimmicky 3D moments in the entire film, and that adds to the immersiveness of it. 3D stopped being a novelty to me sometime in the 1980′s after my first visit to Disney World, so to see it used to properly integrate you into a story-world without trying to whack you with flying objects makes it all new again.

What can I say to sum this up? Avatar is a game changer. It takes virtual film-making to a new order of complexity, and it employs technology and 3D in the way that you wish it had been used all along. However crucially, and please bear in mind that I found Titanic to be crushingly boring,  it brings Cameron slap bang back into the sci-fi/fantasy genre – right back where he belongs. I’ve been waiting for you to come back for an awfully long time Jim, and I’m so glad you did. I missed you.