Rating: PG-13 | Runtime: 162 minutes
Release Date: December 18th, 2009 (USA)
Studio: Twentieth Century Fox
Director(s): James Cameron
Writer(s): James Cameron

I see you.

I have one major problem with Avatar and that is what it means for the future of my home entertainment system. How can I ever replicate the visual spectacle I experienced with a five-story screen, digital sound blaring, and 3D technology that is so beyond anything I’ve seen before that nothing short of ‘blown away’ can describe it? I’m not sure I ever could and that is what may make this film as successful or more than its creator’s last, Titanic.

People aren’t going to want to just go home and simply recall the brilliant, all-encompassing world of Pandora. They will want to immerse themselves again. I would totally go a second time—undaunted by the prospect of sitting through a two and a half hour film—because this movie drew me in, made me forget I was watching something that was around 85% computer generated, caused the 3D glasses on my nose to disappear, and showed me the wonder that awaits if space travel ever becomes feasible for the general population as a vacation excursion.

If you have an IMAX theatre showing it anywhere near you, go out and run—do not walk or meander willy-nilly—run. Then sit back, relax, and experience the future of cinema as we know it. The movie theatre will never be the same again.

There is a story underneath the technological wonder and it is not as flimsy as some may lead you to think. Yes, it is a tried and true tale of imperialistic might pitted against an indigenous people willing to stand tall and defend their heritage, beliefs, and land. Allusions to the Iraqi War are prevalent with “unattainium” being the “oil” located below the native Na’vi’s home. The humans have arrived, ready to use the stick and destroy everything in their wake to get it once diplomatic relations—imposing their language, education, and ideals—have failed.

Is it something that detracts from the film as a whole? I don’t think so. James Cameron first envisioned this world fifteen years ago, shortly after the end of the first Gulf War, and has revved up his progress in the past four now that the technology could sustain his lofty ambitions. The same period of time in which we saw the largest dissent towards the new War on Terror. But this story is timeless. You can go back to any imperialistic endeavor—stealing the Native Americans’ land, Europe’s takeover of the New World and Africa, Napoleon, Alexander the Great—and see how common the theme is. Being made in America’s Hollywood, seen as a world inhabited by liberal creatures with money, however, the idea of USA-bashing isn’t hard to accept.

None of that matters, though, because once you catch that first glimpse of Pandora, preconceptions and ideologies leave your mind to just let the world wash over you. All the political commentary can come later and be debated for days, but my mind will always go back to the amazing technical achievement that was laid before me.

A guy like Stephen Lang has taken the caricature of a gung-ho army/marine man looking for a fight and created the ultimate, unsympathetic villain, an antagonist to give us a reason to discover this new world. He epitomizes someone that hopes diplomacy fails because he wants to see the destruction. With carte blanche and a penchant for blood—especially at the hands of an enemy he doesn’t want to understand—the Na’vi nation stands little chance. But he needs someone on the inside. A human to infiltrate and map out the village infrastructure he’s about to invade and obliterate. He needs Jake Sully, a marine.

Sully only has the job because his biologic make-up is identical to his recently deceased scientist brother Tom, a coincidence that leads speculation to whether that death was militarily planned in order to put a grunt Jarhead on the field. What these bean counters don’t understand despite all their statistics and big picture viewpoints is how magical Pandora is. That getting someone on the inside might just create the biggest opponent to their endgame.

This is where Cameron’s innovation shines. Sam Worthington’s Sully, a paraplegic who is given an organic avatar body (a genetically made Na’vi) to live and breathe with, is tasked with the job of security detail as the scientists trained to deal with the natives work. Jake is not the simpleton they assume, however, and soon the all-encompassing deity Eywa chooses him as a special creature to be studied and trained.

We as an audience reap the benefits by watching him become one of them: learning their language, biology, religion, and the lay of the land. Pandora is a gorgeously painted landscape with jungle creatures and flying mountains all connected through this spiritual uplink. Think a mix of “Battlestar Galactica” Cylons and Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within’s Gaia. Every single beast is a completely autonomous being and part of a very regimented food chain.

The Na’vi may be the most advanced, but they’re not the most powerful. Nature is full of monsters. And since they haven’t yet learned to ravage their environment, they still live in harmony and according to the rules set forth by their mystic leaders and past heritage. One doesn’t just ride a horse-like animal or fly with a pterodactyl-like being. One must connect with them—port into the very fibers of their soul to become a single unit. They work in tandem to create a magical utopia that the stubborn and selfish human invaders aren’t willing to understand.

Cameron supplies a three-act structure of exposition (dealing with the two sides and what is at stake), infiltration (allowing us to experience the native culture and side with their plight), and execution (the war between worlds that either ends with the destruction of a people or the return of an invader to his own dying land—similar to Return of the Jedi). And through it all, boredom never sets in. With three-dimensionality the likes of which I’ve never seen, the visuals won’t let you even take a breath.

Just a month ago I saw A Christmas Carol on the same screen and the comparison isn’t close. Avatar doesn’t utilize new glasses. It’s merely the conversion and filming process that have been advanced by Cameron and his team. I can honestly say the entire IMAX screen was in full depth of focus for the duration with very minimal motion blurring. There was a little depth-of-field flatness when you had out-of-focus background imagery competing with foreground clarity, but it’s pretty seamless. You don’t even notice the lack of or abundance of images sticking out into your face because the world is infinitely deep instead. Foliage goes back into the distance, flies buzz around the characters and into your view, and even the subtitles exist on a separate layer. You no longer must turn your head to see different parts of the screen separately. It’s all there in pristine clarity.

Also, this is the future in computer animation insofar as creating a completely lifelike organism. Whether this technology can sustain “life” in a virtual human is unknown, but these humanoid creatures are a giant step forward in alleviating any “dead-eye” problems we’ve seen in the past. The expressiveness of the Na’vi is uncanny, taking the attributes of the actors who play them and creating around that substructure.

More akin to a performer in make-up than completely replaced by pixels, the characterizations are fully realized life-forms with liquid clarity in their eyes, facial creases for full range of emotion, and the most organic movements ever created. Couple this technology with the performances of Zoe Saldana and Worthington—both rising fast in the film world—and you can’t go wrong. Worthington is slowly showing his worth and why so many tent-pole projects have turned to him to lead them to box-office glory. Even Sigourney Weaver’s avatar has retained her facial ticks, rejuvenating her youth in Na’vi blue while reuniting with her Aliens director. It was also good to see a guy like Joel Moore break out of the comedy genre to lend his nerdy humor to the drama unfolding onscreen.

Avatar really does live up to the hype, even surpassing it in some respects. The 3d technology is wholly unique and ready to change the landscape of cinema forever. Looking through reflective surfaces, giving human actors realistic depth, and integrating computer graphics seamlessly around them has never been better.

The acting is great—even from the fictional Na’vi—to add a layer of realism to what would have seemed utterly cartoonish just five years ago. The story may be simple and unoriginal in its core structure, but that shouldn’t matter here. This isn’t a plot-driven indie character study. It’s a big-time blockbuster fantasy film with heart, something I think people forget when talking about Titanic. Both films have a simple love story at their center with an antagonistic conflict to propel us forward while basking in incomparable visuals.

I’ll admit that the 3D experience might be pushing an 8 or 9 rating up to 10, but you cannot sell this achievement short. As a vehicle for a brand new world of technology and as an all-encompassing cinematic endeavor, you can’t discount the beauty and power the IMAX 3D provides. Avatar is the first of its kind, a trendsetter. And James Cameron is back and ready to tackle the job of improving the medium with each subsequent work. I couldn’t have asked for more and can’t wait to see what he does next.

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Jake (Sam Worthington) meets his avatar, a genetically engineered hybrid of human DNA mixed with DNA from the natives of Pandora. Photo credit: Mark Fellman / WETA.