AVATAR
Okay, your ticket cost more than a new DVD (or a couple out of the bargain bin), you’ve driven over an hour to get to a cinema with a decent screen, you’ve rolled your eyes at the corny 3D tricks used in the trailers… and you’re thinking this had better be bloody good.
And then, almost three hours later, you suddenly realise you’re back in the real world after being totally captivated by the visual spectacular that is Avatar.
The planet Pandora is rich in a material called Unobtanium (yeah, I know; sounds like it came from a child’s comic book) which is greatly sort after by a human military/mining operation – however the native alien population, the Na’vi, stand in their way. Sully (Sam Worthington), using an avatar body, to meet the Na’vi and seek ways to move them on from the intended mining site, but quickly falls for the beauty of Pandora and it people.
Yes, it is true that the plot is one of a well used formula, and fifteen minutes in you can probably guess the rest of the movie, but you don’t really care because by this stage you’ve gotten over the “Wow look at the 3D” and will be caught up by the enchanting world of Pandora. Sometimes one might want to urge the film onward, knowing that Sully’s revelation is inevitable, but this is remarkably mild distraction for such a long movie.
My biggest cringe would have to be bad guy, Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang). In all seriousness, if he was any more clichéd he’d wear an eyepatch and shoot lame puppies for sport.
Worthington does us Aussies proud with a blend of larrikin and strength in Sully. But probably the most captivating performance would have to be the spell-binding Neytiri; few aliens have graced the screen more beautiful than this blue Na’vi.
In the end Avatar finished how I guessed it would, but I didn’t mind because the journey was so thrilling. Perhaps the ending felt a bit hurriedly wrapped up, but – like a good movie should – it left me wondering and imagining long after I’d left the cinema.
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