Avatar- Movie Film Review

Film Review By: Rutba Rahman Avatar is a 2009 science fiction film directed by James Cameron. The movie stars are Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana and Sigourney Weaver. James Cameron’s movies have grossed approximately US $2 billion in North America. James Cameron’s previous films that he is known for are The Terminator (1984), True Lies (1994) and Titanic (1996). The purpose of Avatar is incarnation, in the movie it means that the future human technology is capable of injecting a human’s intelligence into a biological body. Avatar has shown incarnation beautifully and it has explained the Na’vi (extraterrestrial humans) correctly by showing their different lifestyle and behavior from humans. Avatar’s plot is that a disabled ex-marine named Jake Sully finds life on the planet Pandora, only to find him battling mankind with the planet’s Na’vi race. Jake is sent to learn their ways so that he can help relocate them and the humans can take over. Neytiri is the daughter of the Na’vi leaders Mo’at and Eytukan. She is brave, loyal and strong willed. When she meets Jake she begins to fall in love with him because of his bravery. Grace Augustine is a scientist who studies the plants and creatures of Pandora. She is the head of the avatar program, and she is peaceful with the Na’vi clan because she set up a school to teach them English. The characters in Avatar are believable characters, such as Jake Sully, Neytiri and Grace Augustine. Jake Sully is a believable character because he is charismatic, and acts as a strong leader, he is courageous because he takes a stand for what he has believes is wrong, and he is brave because he is willing to fight against the military. Neytri is a believable character because she is devoted to her people and is willing to put herself in a dangerous situation for the sake of her clan. Grace Augustine is also a believable character because she is very fond of and close to her Na'vi students. The actors’ interpretation of the characters is remarkable. Zoe Saldana plays the heroine Neytiri. Zoe Saldana gave an emotional and strong performance throughout the movie. Sam Worthington plays the hero Jake Sully in the movie. Sam has shown outstanding interpretation for Jake because he has an intuitive quality that makes the audience believe that people would follow him. He was handpicked by James Cameron because he had sensitivity, vulnerability and strength. The Cinematographer for Avatar is Mauro Fiore. The film’s central challenge is depicting an imaginary and digitally crafted world with a persistent sense of realism. At first the Na’vi species were drawn with fins and gills. Then they were redesigned to look more like humans so the audience could relate to them better. James Cameron developed a specially designed camera that allowed the facial expressions of the actors to be captured and digitally recorded for the animators to use later. The entire background of Pandora’s floating mountains, including the light source is represented on set only by a green screen. Every scene involved some sort of interactive light. James Horner created a soundtrack that reflected the Na'vi way of sound and he created a small chorus singing in the alien language Na'vi. The main theme of the movie is Human Vs Nature. The destruction of the natural world will lead ultimately to the destruction of mankind. The film’s strong points are the Special Effects because they are incredible and used well. They are weaved into the story beautifully, and they come off effortlessly. The acting was done extremely well. Much of the actors’ emotions could be seen through their Avatar characters. The details were thought out and used as a part of the environment. James Cameron has truly created his own world. The audience truly feels as if they have been transported into a new world while watching the film. The low points of the movie were the negative action, because of the inhumanity being shown, such as destruction and violence. The story is efficiently developed but the film is easily overshadowed by special effects. I would recommend this movie to others because the entire story is fantastic. The significant message of this movie is that all living things are connected and those who seek to exploit nature rather than respect it, will only destroy themselves. I would rate this film 10/10 because I think it’s a great achievement and it has produced a great effort to make.