Avatar: Most Highly Anticipated Movie of 2009
James Cameron’s New Sci-Fi Film Said to Revolutionize Cinema Forever
An incredible amount of hype surrounds James Cameron’s sci-fi movie Avatar, due out in theatres at the end of the year. This is partly because Avatar is the first feature film that Cameron’s directed since Titanic, still the highest-grossing film of all time, and also because its visual effects are supposed to “revolutionize cinema.”
The idea for the film was according to Cameron, “14 years in the dreaming [and] 4 years in the making.” He had wanted to make the film for years, but had to wait for technology to catch up with his imagination. Now that it finally has, Cameron has created what promises to be one of the biggest blockbusters of 2009.
The World of Pandora
The action in Avatar takes place on a distant planet called Pandora, which is home to ferocious beasts, exotic jungle plants, and an intelligent species of ten-foot tall, blue-skinned creatures called Na’vi.
To create a unique and believable otherworldly setting, Cameron involved all the best artists, creators, scientists, academics and linguists. Together, they helped to construct a world with its own history, geology, ecology, and language.
What is an Avatar?
‘Avatars’ are genetically-bred human-Na’vi hybrids created by humans because they are unable to breathe the air on Pandora. The Avatars are living, breathing bodies that exist in the real world, but are controlled by a human driver through a form of technology that links the driver’s mind directly to the ‘Avatar’ body.
The Plot of Avatar
Avatar is a mix between a love story and a “first-contact” story as humans encroach on a distant and environmentally pristine planet called Pandora in search of valuable resources, in the process threatening the livelihoods of the native Na’vi. The protagonist, a human male, is a disabled Marine who uses an ‘Avatar’ in order to regain his mobility. After journeying to Pandora, he finds himself caught between the military-industrial forces of Earth and the Na’vi species, and is forced to choose between saving his own planet and the planet of a young Na’vi woman with whom he has fallen in love.
Cast and Characters of Avatar
- Sam Worthington (Terminator Salvation) stars as Jake Sully, a former Marine who was paralyzed during combat on Earth. He is offered a chance to walk again through the use of an ‘Avatar.’
- Zoe Saldana (Star Trek) plays Neytiri, a female Na’vi who acts as a love interest to Sully.
- Sigourney Weaver (Alien) plays Dr. Grace Augustine, a botanist who befriends Sully and who is responsible for the creation of the ‘Avatars,’ Na’vi replicas which allow humans to live on the exotic jungle planet Pandora. She dreams of living peacefully with the Na’vi society.
- Stephen Lang plays Colonel Quaritch, a man who wants to eliminate the entire Na’vi species.
- Matt Gerald plays Lyle Wainfleet, the main villain of the film.
- Other cast members include Michelle Rodriguez, who plays a retired Marine pilot, Joel David Moore, who plays an anthropologist, and CCH Pounder, who plays the Na’vi Queen.
Although those who were treated to a special screening of 24 minutes of Avatar were required to sign a non-disclosure agreement, a few have anonymously offered their reactions to the film.
‘The Insider’ on Comingsoon.net said that “[t]he effects [of Avatar] are in a league of their own. After some disappointing or even pointless 3-D movies, Avatar may be the first movie where 3-D is properly utilized.”
‘Anonymous’ on IESB.net was even more enthusiastic, saying “If it’s anything like the scenes I saw, it’s going to be one of the best movies of the decade.” ‘GJKooijman’ boldly declared, on Twitter, that “[Avatar] WILL CHANGE MOVIES FOREVER. Trust me, it will.”
But while most were commenting on the stellar special effects of Avatar, Rob Keyes noted on ScreenRant.com, “[d]espite the visual spectacle and trying to take everything in, the best part was the strong focus on character development that Cameron never fails to deliver.”
Based on these comments alone, it appears that Avatar will be just as big of a hit as predicted, if not bigger.
‘Avatar Day’ on August 21, 2009
Director James Cameron announced that, on August 21st, FOX will be showing fifteen minutes of Avatar footage (in digital 3D) at numerous theatres across the US and worldwide. Best of all is the footage is free for anyone to see. Cameron said, “We’re going to do something unprecedented. It’s a social marketing experiment” – one that will almost certainly pay off in a big way for Cameron and Avatar.
The Future of Avatar
Cameron told Star Pulse that “[i]f we make money on [Avatar], there'll be another one. It's pretty much that simple.” He also promises that subsequent films would introduce new worlds, rather than remain solely on Pandora. Both Worthington and Saldana have already signed on to appear in any sequels of the movie, should they be made.
Cameron is also excited about the possibility of expanding Avatar to other media, from games to books to graphic novels.
Avatar is set to be released in theatres on December 18th of this year.
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