An epic masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (18 December 2009)

James Cameron has never directed a bad - or even mediocre - motion picture; this is the guy who has brought us such classics as the first two Terminators, Aliens - one of the best sequels of all time -, True Lies - exceptional action movie - and, of course, Titanic. That's why, despite some negative buzz, I was always pretty sure his latest endeavor, Avatar, was going to be something else. Maybe not a "game changer", as many - including Cameron himself - have been saying, but certainly something that we haven't seen before.
Well, I still am not sure if this is a "game changer", but it certainly is "something else."
Avatar is the most visually impressive and most immersive motion picture I've seen in some time. Not since Peter Jackson released the last of the Lord of the Rings movies has someone marveled me in such an amazing way, transporting me into a different land where - apparently - anything is possible. So maybe the story Cameron is telling is not 100% original, but the way in which he tells it certainly is. I haven't seen the movie in 3D - I will on Saturday and a review will follow - and I imagine it must be impressive, but even while watching it on 2D I can't imagine anyone not being marveled and feel inspired by what Cameron has created. This is one epic, epic film - an event and an experience unlike anything I've seen this year.
Performances are quite solid. The real scene-stealer is Stephen Lang, whose Quaritch is one of the most effective villains I've seen in some time. We know he is the villain not only because the screenplay tells us so, but because Lang makes the character his own, a real sonofabitch who knows no compassion and no mercy. He never goes over-the-top and avoids turning his character into a caricature. (Although he is larger-than-life.) Sam Worthington is pretty good as Jake Sully - although his "American" accent is less-than-stellar - and Sigourney Weaver is memorable as Dr. Augustine. On the other hand, Zoe Saldana has a tougher job - Weaver and Worthington appear both in human and Na'avi form, but Saldana's character appears only as the former. No problem, though - her performance - with the aid of performance capture - is strong enough to make the audience believe in her. Like Gollum in the Lord of the Rings pictures, the audience believe in the Na'avi - we believe they are real characters who breath, cry, laugh and can even die, not just a bunch of pretty-looking cartoons.
But what about the spectacle? Despite all the drama and the romance, Cameron has actually managed to deliver action-wise - if there is someone in Hollywood who truly knows how to portray the right balance between action, special effects, character development and story, it is Cameron. Simply put, the film is breath-taking. Despite being approximately 60% CGI, there was never a moment in which I was aware that I was watching big, powerful computers at work. There isn't one - not a single one - fake-looking shot. Pandora is simply beautiful, and all the creatures - including of course the Na'avi - are amazing and totally believable. The way Cameron has populated his world is, simply put, worthy of applause - every single plant, creature, monster, predator, everything is credible and awesome-looking, showing that Cameron is talented at both creating great stories and characters and using his vivid, visual and fantasy-based imagination.
And there is the difference between a masterpiece like Avatar and a mindless product like Transformers 2: the viewer actually believes in all the computer-generated creatures, characters and locations, accepting them as real and believing they actually exist, even when they appear on-screen at the same time with flesh-and-blood characters. Unlike the soul-less Michael Bay movie, Avatar has spirit and charm, and never bores. Yes, there is action, but it is not mindless because there are incredibly high stakes at hand, and because we feel for the characters. There are a lot of ridiculously tense moments in Avatar because of this - on the other hand, I didn't even flinch while watching Transformers 2. (And if I did, it was because the action scenes were almost incomprehensible.)
Since I haven't seen the film on 3D, I really don't know if Avatar truly is a "game-changer" or not. Why I do know, though, is that the movie is one of the most imaginative, visually-arresting and gripping motion pictures I've seen in years, and quite possibly the best film I've seen this 2009. Avatar is not simply a "movie" - it is a experience, something that quite literally has to be seen to be believed. It boasts a smart screenplay, it has believable and sympathetic characters, it's got the most believable and awe-inspiring special effects ever seen on the big screen, and it contains more thrills and emotions that any other film this year. I don't care that Cameron took 12 years to make this film - the final product was definitely worth the wait. I just hope that all the rumours that say Cameron plans to shoot a sequel are actually true. This is one rare case in which I just wish a second installment is actually released. (Hopefully, it won't take 12 more years.)