Seeing Avatar

We finally got round to seeing Avatar yesterday. At first, I wasn't too keen to see it because it looked like a bit of a kiddies movie (to me). After we heard all the hype about the movie from friends and saw the ratings; and the fact that it was in 3D, we thought it might be worth seeing. Fully booked for weeks (unless you wanted to sit right in front), we finally got round to watching this much talked about movie yesterday.

The movie opens with a scene of people waking up inside a huge space shuttle. They've been asleep for five months while en-route to another planet. At first, I thought this was a preview to a GI-Joe meets AI type of movie, and made a mental note to catch the name of it at the end of the preview. Because I was expecting Avatar to open with lots of blue people living in a fantasy land, I was really surprised at the opening of this movie, and was hooked from the moment the movie started.

The lead actor, Sam Worthington plays Jake Sully, an ex-marine who is called in to take the place of his deceased twin brother. He becomes an Avatar (a human mind in an alien body), and his mission is to convince a group of indigenous people, living on Pandora - an alien planet, to move away from their sacred village and beloved forrest.

 

Without giving too much of the storyline away,  Jake finds himself drawn to Neytiri (played by Zoe Saldana - who you might remember from Centre Stage in 2000), the daughter of the leader of the group.  Slowly a bond forms between the two, as she is given the task of training him to become one of their own.  For months, Jake learns everything about the forrest, and it's inhabitants while he discovers more about his character and what is really important to him.

While on this journey of discovery, he has to continuously report on his progress to his military team leader, who ultimately turns out to be his enemy. He finds himself torn between doing what he was recruited for by the military, and following his heart with this group of indigenous people who have come to trust him, and with whom he truly feels at home with.

There is a reason (actually there are many) why this movie topped the box office, knocking Titanic off as one of the biggest grossed movies of all time. For one, the special effects of Avatar are outstanding, and because it's a movie made in 3D it makes the experience even more incredible.  The movie is just over 2 and a half hours, but it's not one of those movies where you look at your watch wondering when it's going to end. I literally wanted this movie to carry on for another 2 hours, it was that good. The storyline and plot of the movie kept me glued from the time it started, right until the closing credits.

Sigourney Weaver, Giovanni Ribisi and Michelle Rodriquez were brilliant and believable in their supporting acting roles in the movie.

The sound tracks and music were perfectly matched to each scene, and I found myself laughing, crying and getting angry throughout the movie. I walked out of the cinema with a strange feeling of peace, and have not been able to get this movie out of my mind. One of, if not THE best movie I have ever seen.

If you haven't seen it yet, do yourself a favour - splurge a little extra for the 3D glasses, and enjoy one of the best movies ever made! This is definently not one of those movies that you wait to see on DVD.