THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
There are movies that you watch and there are movies where you feel like you lived it. If you were to ask me what movie I lived through, it’s 2009’s Avatar.
PLOT
The film takes place in a fictional 22nd century where Earth’s resources are depleting due to pollution, poverty and war. Paraplegic veteran Jake Sully is invited by the RDA (Resources Development Administration) to take his brother's place to mine a valuable mineral called 'unobtanium' in a moon found in the Alpha Centauri star system known as 'Pandora'. In Pandora lives blue skinned humanoids called the "Na'vi" that are 10 feet tall and live in harmony with nature. With the planet being gaseous and the aliens being protective of their homeland, human scientists create hybrid 'avatar' bodies to interact in a safer condition. The avatar bodies are controlled and animated through a whole-body remote neutral interface. With Jake having the matching genes of his twin brother Tom, he will use his originally assigned avatar. As he settles in, he befriends scientist Max Patel (Dileep Rao), combat pilot Trudy Chacon, fellow biologists Norm Spellman and Grace Augustine, head of the Avatar program. The program exists in the first place so that it would be easier for RDA Administrator Parker Selfridge to convince the Na'vi to let them take the mineral the company desires to have. Jake also meets Colonel Miles Quaritch who is in charge of the colony's security. After trying out his new body for the first time that allows him to walk again, the colonel assigns him to be an informant and find information on Hometree, a tree that is home to many Na'vi clans but has a high amount of unobtanium underneath. In exchange, he offers to schedule a surgery that'll offer him a new set of legs for his human body. When Sully gets to explore the wildlife with Grace and Norm, he accidentally gets separated when getting chased by a carnivorous Thanator. On his own by nightfall, he finds himself cornered by a pack of Viperwovles, but is rescued by Neytiri, daughter of the Omaticaya clan leaders Mo'at and Eytukan. Aware of being an avatar host, she chose to spare him as she believes that her spiritual entity of Eywa finds him to be a pure spirit. When she shares this to her parents, they agree to teach them their way of life. Now that he gains their trust, Jake can report his information to Quaritch and Parker. Although Grace doesn't approve of this, she doesn't interfere with the personal assignment. In his avatar form, Neytiri tutors Jake to respect the wildlife he hunts, and learning to ride other creatures. On land, he rides Direhorses and on air, he rides banshees. During this time of learning, he begins to respect the culture itself and gain a jealous rival out of Tsu'tey, who is next in line to lead the Omaticaya. On the night he officially becomes part of their people, he commences his newfound feelings for Neytiri after mating with her in the Tree of Voices, a spiritual site that is important to the clan. By morning, it is tragically destroyed by RDA bulldozers who intend to begin the mining process. Jake rebels against his superiors and destroys one of their virtual cameras. When Quaritch finds out, he interrupts one of his links to call him out for it, along with the fact of seeing one of his video diaries confirm that the Na'vi will never move out of Hometree. Grace pleads with Parker to not destroy it upon discovery that it contains a network of the spiritual consciousness of all life. Although he doesn't believe that, he gives Jake an hour to convince the Na'vi to move. In his last attempt, he confesses his original intent to move them out which only angers them all. As they refuse to move, Quaritch leads his forces to obliterate Hometree. During the attack, Mo'at dies and gives Neytiri his bow before drawing his last breath. The devastation she feels causes her to distance herself from Jake as her clan must relocate to the Tree of Souls, a willow tree that is a safe haven to the Na'vi. Jake, Grace and Norm get arrested for treason, but Trudy and Max break them out. However, Quaritch shoots Grace as they leave their colony. When the protagonists camp near Tree of Souls, Jake regains his avatar body and intends to redeem himself. He does so by riding the biggest banshee in the moon that the Na'vi call "Toruk Makto". He tries to save Grace by having the Na'vi transfer her soul to her avatar body, but her weak state prevents it and instead takes her life. Heartbroken but motivated, Jake rallies the Na'vi and unites many clans to overpower Quaritch's forces. Despite the loss of Trudy and Tsu'tey, Pandoran wildlife overwhelms the human army. The Battle for Pandora reaches an end when Jake and Neytiri fight Quaritch who wears an AMP Suit. Although the latter tries to expose Jake to the moon's atmosphere, Neytiri slays the colonel with two arrows and gives Jake an oxygen mask to prevent suffocation. With the Na'vi successfully defending their homeland, the humans become expelled from Pandora. Aside from Jake, the humans that choose to stay are the likes of Max and Norm. The film ends with Sully successfully transferring his soul into his avatar body.
THOUGHTS
I have been one of the unlucky people that have not seen this movie in theaters, ultimately waited for cable. Nevertheless, each time I have gotten chance to watch it, it has lead to one common opinion a little boy inside me would say "That was totally wicked!". 12 years apart from the successful Titanic, James Cameron outdoes himself in making what is without question a spectacle of a movie. This of course pays off significantly due to the well use of the greatest visual effects that make this fictional world alive. When you're the Hallelujah Mountains, the various creatures of the wildlife, any glimpse of the nature surrounding it, or focusing on the Na'vi that are portrayed via motion capture, it is all downright beautiful to witness. When you hear the epic score from James Horner, you'll definitely begin to feel like a part of it all. Since sci fi regularly involves action and this movie has its share of it, I put the climactic Battle of Pandora as one of the top fictional battles ever seen. Like the rest of the movie leading up to it, you're on the edge of your goddamn seat because you partially can't believe what's unfolding. To me, I feel attached to this movie for its creative wake up call on re appreciating the only planet we have. We may eat and drink to survive, but we do not need to damage the environment to keep the pace going. If we spend our following generations destroying the wildlife, then we're living as backward savages. Our world is not perfect no matter how hard we would like it to be, but the least we can do is protect it rather than further damage it. Thanks to a stacked ensemble, the message felt so align to pay attention to. In this movie, we get a pair of villains that are two flips of a coin of evil. Giovanni Ribisi shows Selfridge as a stone cold greedy guy that doesn't put any thought about his actions until the damage is done. Even when he shows regret of the destruction of Hometree, he still moves forward with the mining expedition, which is where you'll never stop hating him. On the other hand, Stephen Lang makes Quaritch a more memorable antagonist for coming off more hard hearted than first approached. Even though he looks after military brethren, that didn't stop him from being a fierce warrior of his own in the battlefield. With characters like these who tend to stop at nothing, its crazy to see the array of protagonists that were against them. Sam Worthington makes Jake Sully one of the most unlikely protagonists because his disability makes him pretty arrogant, but the second he first links with his avatar body, a new chapter truly started for him. When he lost his legs, the only thing that mattered to him was wanting to make a difference again. Little did he expect that his involvement would make a bigger difference he'd ever thought of. His time with the Na'vi made him find value with life again. Everything he was able to learn helped him understand how special a world can be with all the life it provides. He fell in love with Neytiri because she taught him to not linger and to live life by design consciously. With a brand new mindset that made him more honorable than any human at that point, it would also make him the strongest leader Pandora ever needed. Every time he did what felt impossible, he would only prove how pure his spirit was within. I think the best thing about encountering love is that some can find that partner that'll be by your side from the get go and to the end. And I'm sure no one would have thought of a relationship between a human and an alien to be so empowering. Zoë Saldana gives her greatest performance in the role of Neytiri, being the most unyielding of her family before Jake entered the picture. She had every right to be against humans as they are far more responsible for the blood Pandora, especially since the extended cut shockingly revealed that her eldest sister was killed by them. Aside from the spirit of Eywa, she gave Jake a chance and eventually fell for him because she caught on and noticed how brave of a man he is. Even after a moment of betrayal, she stood by him because in a way, she understood that he couldn't have known of the true stakes until they met. She affected him so much that he was open minded to pray and it worked in the long haul. When they say "I see you" to each other in the end, it moved me as I understood that it meant they accept each other for who they are. Even Leona Lewis' theme song 'I See You' expresses how selfless their love is for each other. And off of that, I knew Jake wouldn't regret fully becoming a Na'vi. Jake may have been the human alien we were rooting for, but it was great to see that he made friends that were Na'vi in spirit. It was pretty cool to have the veteran Sigourney Weaver involved as this was the first time to work with Cameron since Aliens and she doesn’t skip a beat with him. She makes a good impression in the role of Grace for being a dedicated person who has the right to skeptical in her surroundings. She does play fire with fire to get what she wants that is further continue her research. But overall, her compassion towards Pandora is pure after years of living and studying it. Although she started out distant towards Jake, not wanting a another soldier to worsen things, as the extended cut also revealed that RDA killed Na’vi children in a school she was trying to teach; the casualties included Neytiri’s sister. She came around with Sully as well because even she noticed his heart go in the right direction. Of all the deaths we have to bear witness, Grace’s death was the saddest to witness because she never deserved to die for loving a culture/civilization. Looking back, at least she got the chance to share her knowledge with people that listened. I also dug Joel David Moore as Norm because he was passionate with his research yet friendly with who he shares it with. And Michelle Rodriguez made Trudy a standout for being strong minded rebel that was able to deduce on her own she was on the wrong side. It was tough to see her go as well, but at least she was able to follow her conscience in the end. Last but not least, Neytiri is the most iconic of Na'vi, she wasn't the only one to be interesting. Laz Alonso kept things interesting as Tsu'tey for portraying him as more aggressive than others around him. He gets jealous towards Jake throughout because he didn't think any outsider like him deserved a chance to fit in. When he saw him ride Toruk, that was where he accepted that he was the better man to lead. CCH Pounder put so much love in display as the psychic Mo'at. She was a mother to everyone because she appeared to give a fair chance of their worth. Wes Studi on the other hand showed Eytukan as the leader that highly protective with his people in the dangerous world they live in. When you look at both parents, they definitely I’ve said enough to defend that this is the definition of how a timeless movie should feel, but even a movie as great as this had a fair share of issues I caught on to upon multiple re watches. Like I understand that a time span is glossed over in a movie, so that leads to me asking how the hell did Jake convince Mo’at to bring back Grace into the fold? The extended cut revealed that the Na’vi stopped trusting the humans after the school shooting, so even if Neytiri came around, it sounds hard for me to believe a mother would come around as fast as her only daughter did. That three month span was just way too convenient for everything to happen. Speaking of which, it takes over 5 years to go from Earth to Pandora and no one told Grace about Tom getting killed? I know Selfridge is a realistic choice to be selfish enough to forget, but it’s crazy that others onboard would be too. If we’re gonna blame Grace for anything, it’s that she doesn’t make the time to debrief Jake anything about the wildlife and barely gives tips on the first day into the jungle. I know she’s smarter than this, but this wasn’t wise. Also, I don’t blame Jake for being curious about what he’s witnessing, but touching that plant that leads to him separating is ridiculous. He should’ve asked Grace if it was poisonous or not. I even respect Jake for coming clean before Hometree got destroyed, but a part of me feels like he could’ve waited that out. Since the bulldozers were already out there, that should’ve been enough for him to convince the colony to move out. And how is the security guard not suspicious about Trudy, the helicopter pilot that didn’t attack Hometree, deliver room service to those that went against RDA? Since he recognized her, that should’ve been a red flag for him. And how did Max not get in trouble? He helped her with the prison break. If there weren’t cameras in that area, then he is fucking lucky. On top of that, how come Trudy didn’t have an ejection system in case of getting cornered? She could’ve lasted a little longer if she had that. And what are the odds of Quaritch landing near Jake’s pod? If Jake didn’t want it to spotted, he should’ve asked Trudy to park it near the destroyed Hometree since the humans did not appear to go forward with the mining until the Tree of Souls was also dealt with. If I’m gonna get into design flaws, how about the fact the giant bulldozers could’ve had better cameras if they weren’t so exposable to be destroyed the way Jake would. It’s a great convenience for humans to switch to their avatar bodies if they want/need to, but how long has this been possible? It’s exposited like it’s been done often rather a theory, which is hard for me to believe. Other than that, you’re still in for a sci fi sight to behold. In conclusion, 2009’s Avatar lives up to the hype as the biggest and one of the best movies ever made for pushing the boundaries of technology to further advance storytelling than anyone could have guessed. If you like to dream big, this movie is a dream come true that must be seen immediately.
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