Opening Pandora's Box

Rating: 9/10 (3 July 2015)

As much as I don't agree with all of director James Cameron's ideologies, I do respect him as a filmmaker and a storyteller. For better evidence, I looked into his grand epic, Avatar. Released in 2009, it brought innovative visions in CGI, motion capture, and 3D. With a total of $760 million in the US, and over $2 billion worldwide, Avatar sits on top as the highest-grossing movie of all-time. Interestingly enough, the last movie to hold that honor was James Cameron's last prior release, Titanic.
A lot of movies come with the 3-act structure. With a running time of 2 hours and 41 minutes, I assessed the plot of Avatar by dividing it into 4 even quarters. The first quarter is where Jake Sully becomes an operator of a Na'vi-human hybrid, or an avatar, as part of the Avatar Program over at an RDA camp on Pandora. Jake enters his avatar form by going to sleep. It's slow-moving at first, but as Jake's avatar stumbles upon a tribe of Na'vi, the second quarter kicks off. At that point, the plot begins to build up as we are introduced to this unique species that it centers around. Jake and his crew begin to delve further into the Na'vi, as his avatar becomes one of them and even gets initiated into the tribe. Here, we see how the Na'vi live, survive, and act. It even leaves an impact on Jake as he resists Colonel Miles Quaritch's orders to make the Na'vi abandon their home. The third quarter kicks off when Quaritch leads an attack on the Na'vi and their home. This is where the conflict comes in to interfere with our characters and the Na'vi's trust with Jake is tested. Finally, the fourth quarter is where the battle between the Na'vi and the RDA takes place and brings our movie to an exciting climax and eventual resolution.
Together, these four quarters present an engaging story that builds up at every moment. Avatar finds James Cameron changing the game of filmmaking. It justifies his place as one of the best in original storytelling, as he invents a new species, a new location, a new language, and basically, a new culture. It's not only original in storytelling, but also in visual effects and cinematography. Avatar tells a story about a new world, and it tells us how James Cameron became the king of the world, twice.
Score: 92/100
Recommendation: Anyone