us VS them

Rating: 10/10 (27 March 2010)

James Cameron's Avatar is a breathtaking film of the first order. It's also a old theme us vs. them cowboy's vs Indians superheroes vs supervillians and so forth. However the story is set in the far future where we discover the planet Pandora. The inhabitants of Pandora are all one they're all connected with the planet the wildlife and each other their beliefs are that each are connected by one spirit one source of energy that binds them all. The respect they have for the planet is pure love. Enter the Human race Earth is dying our resources are dead or dying the planet must find newer resources to survive and as it just so happens Pandora has a lot of rare Minerals and resources that can allow us new sources of energy. But there is one problem the planet is toxic to us the air is deadly . SO enter the Avatar program. After generations of observing them and studying them they have created a Hybrid that can survive on the planet it is called a Avatar. It looks like the aliens it moves like the aliens but it is inhabited by a human conscience. Time is running out the corporations that now run the earth and the armed forces want these minerals and resources but the inhabitants don't want to deal they seem to us simplistic and naive. So enter Jake Scully a former Marine now paralyzed from the waist down injured in the line of duty.All Scully wants at first is to serve to be useful. Scully's brother was one of the men behind the success of the Avatar program but died in a senseless mugging before he could inhabit his Avatar. Jake's DNA is a match for his brother's Hybrid and Jake is given a mission find out all you can about them get them to trust you get them to give us what we want. and maybe when this is over we'll get you an operation to get your legs back. Faced with a incredible chance to get his legs back Jake becomes an Avatar. He goes in with a sense of wonder the planet is fantastic but he is alway reminded of what his mission is. Jake makes contact with the people as they call themselves they know he is one of them in a hybrid form but Jake convinces them that his misson is to learn all he can about Pandora. And he learns and as he learns he falls in love first with the woman instructed to teach him and then with the planet the people and their ways. At first Jake tries to convince them to deal with the humans but with time running out Jake begins to see just who is evil and who isn't and he tries to warn them that something horrible is about to happen. With only a few human scientists and a handful of other avatars Jake tries to rally the people only to find it's a matter of too little too late and Jake realizes the truth we are the invaders and Jake now must make a choice that will change everything he knows and everything he loves. James Cameron's Story telling abilities are at his best here. He creates a new world with a new people and new ways that seem at once alien and comforting to us the audience. While he finds a new way to present the human race is a way that's both familiar and horrifying Cameron pulls no punches here. James Cameron simply gives a simple story that is complex upon studying it. This is maybe his best movie of his career.