James Cameron, welcome back!

Rating: 10/10 (14 January 2010)

You wanna know something funny? Not even a year ago, early 2009, I was watching "The Directors" on the Reelz Channel and James Cameron was on. I was talking to my friend and saying how he is one of my favorite directors, he has an amazing track record of great movies, but wait, has he done anything since Titanic? I went on the net to check to see what he has done since Titanic and it says nothing but documentaries and he was working on a film called Avatar. I read a little about the movie and then a few months later came the trailer and I was just in awe. I was extremely curious to see this movie and couldn't wait as when we hear the name James Cameron, you can't help but expect nothing but greatness. The man is a perfectionist and it shows, he always goes above and beyond what he needs to do for a film and we got that with Avatar. My only complaint being like Titanic, the story not being the most original on the market, but I can't at all hate this movie. Originally wanting give this movie a 9 rating, I find myself thinking that I can't. This is one of the most visually beautiful movies I have ever seen in my life. My boyfriend and I saw this in 3D and I just couldn't take my eyes off the screen. James Cameron is back and I hope he never leaves Hollywood again as this was the breath of fresh air that we needed with Avatar.
In 2154, the RDA corporation is mining Pandora, a lush, Earth-like moon of the planet Polyphemus, in the Alpha Centauri star system. Humans cannot survive exposure to Pandora's atmosphere for very long and use gas masks. In an attempt to improve relations with the natives, scientists create human-Na'vi hybrids called avatars, controlled by genetically-matched human operators. Jake Sully, a former marine, becomes a last-minute replacement for his murdered identical twin brother, a scientist trained to be an avatar operator. Dr. Grace Augustine, the head of the Avatar Program, considers Sully an inadequate replacement for his brother, and relegates him to a bodyguard role. Jake escorts Augustine and biologist Norm Spellman on an exploratory mission in their avatar forms to make contact with the Na'vi in order to help establish diplomatic relations, solve the problem of resources and end the threat of violence. The group is attacked by a predator, and Jake becomes separated and lost. Forced to survive the night in Pandora's dangerous jungles, he is rescued by Neytiri, a female Na'vi. Neytiri brings Jake to Hometree, which is inhabited by Neytiri's clan, the Omaticaya. Mo'at, the Na'vi shaman and Neytiri's mother, shows interest in the warrior "Dream-walker", and instructs her daughter to teach Jake their ways.
I had another fellow IMDb user e-mail me a week ago asking me about my thoughts on the movie and he informed me that Cameron has been working on the story for years(many thanks to oldman007 for the info) and just now had the opportunity to work on it. I think that Cameron did a great thing by taking a break from movies as not only could he retire a good 25 times from the money he made on Titanic but we had an opportunity to appreciate him even more for Avatar. 2009 was kind of a lousy year for films and this was the movie that we needed to have that sigh of relief. From the actors, the special effects, the visuals, and the way the story is told was orchestrated like a perfect night at the theater with an standing ovation from the audience as everyone wanted more despite the 150 minute running time.
I'm sure Avatar is sure to be in for the run during Oscar time, wither it gets a best picture nod or not, I'm not sure, but from what I've seen this does deserve every award it can get. I feel very bad if I'm over hyping the film too much for you, I don't want people to get the wrong idea that this is the Casablanca of the new millennium, but it really was just a relief that we still have potential in Hollywood to put out a great movie. Sigourney Weaver and Zoe Saldana stole the show and I think the reason being is because Cameron can make females very strong, beautiful, but doesn't over do it with his actresses and always knows what he wants from them and they deliver. Sam Worthington as the leading man, Jake, I was a bit worried as I saw Terminator: Salvation which was like spitting in James Cameron's face, he was the star in that film too and I thought he was going to just suck the life out of this film. Thankfully I was wrong and he pulled in a strong enough performance to carry the film with some incredible actors beside him. Avatar is very much worth the look on the big screen, it's a masterpiece.
10/10