Avatar

Sci-fi entertainment has taken a quantum leap since CGI made a paradigm shift in recent years.
In Avatar, the full effects can only be appreciated and felt in 3D. So if you feel the urge to go the full nine yards, dig into your wallet and cough up RM18 and experience a mind-blowing experience.
When director James Cameron decided to make a technologically superior movie, few doubted his resolve. What was in doubt was whether he could pull it off.
In the face of the 11-Oscar Titanic, Cameron fans were unsure whether he could really top that. After almost three hours in the cinema, any trace of reservation dissipated with the conclusion of the credits.
This movie, simply put, is one of the most satisfying cinematic experiences for the entire 2009. But to really appreciate it, I would recommend nothing less than watching it in 3D.
The 3D spectacles are pretty cool, and when you have dragon-like creatures whisking past just above your head and little fluorescent life-forms floating inches from your eyeballs, you know you are no longer in the 20th century.
Even the story is amazing. Kudos to James Cameron, who is also responsible for the story. Cameron’s imagination is truly of titanic proportions.
Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is a paraplegic whose life has taken a 180-degree turn after a war. A sliver of light shone into the dark corridor of his life when he was offered to in his deceased twin brother’s scientific project.
The assignment involves travelling to planet Pandora which is 4.3 light years from Earth. A corporation is financing the Pandora programme because it wants to mine a very precious metal found only on that planet.
The only problem was that the indigenous natives of Pandora, the Navi, were standing in the path of human prosperity. Jake’s mission was to infiltrate the Navi community so as to learn more about them.
Unfortunately, humans cannot breathe in the alien planet’s atmosphere. Thus, a human-Navi hybrid has to be created under laboratory conditions. This life-form is the Avatar.
Through some form of mental transference, Jake can assume the form of the Avatar and move freely in the hostile environment.
The pace picks up quickly once Jake lands on the planet because he’s chased by relentless Viperwolfs and other ferocious creatures of the night.
He is rescued by a female Navi, Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and is brought to meet her people, the Omaticaya. His encounter with the warrior race nearly resulted in his swift demise if not for “a sign” noticed by Neytiri.
Avatar is a splendid labyrinth of ethereal vegetation and dazzling landscapes, some of which float. The gossamer life-forms that inhabit Pandora only add to the mystique that surrounds the whole environment.
What gives Avatar a big edge over other interplanetary tales are its moral and social messages. On the one hand, the battle between the Navi and humans could be juxtaposed with past-century conflicts between the Native-Americans and the white pioneers.
The moral message rests squarely on caring for one another on a global village basis. Then there’s the question of love, loyalty and lasting bonds with strangers.
In other words, the story of Avatar is founded on the firm ground of life values that endure the ages, human or otherwise.
Apart from the staggering display of aerial flights on the flying Banshees, the battle scenes between the aliens and humans are so well conceived that they could only be the products of 21st century science.
The main players in Avatar are Dr Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), and ex-Marine pilot Trudy Chacon (Michelle Rodriguez).
The outstanding performances of Weaver and Rodriquez are what made Avatar such an outstanding outing at the cinema.
But the crème de la crème of the show must surely be the faceless backroom boys and girls who are responsible for the CGI magic that is Avatar.
Captain Kirk and Spock of USS Enterprise of those bold Star Trek missions can now bow out graciously and gracefully to their superiors who have courageously gone further and farther than their predecessors had gone before.