Avatar – Film Review

On the lush alien world of Pandora live the Na’vi, beings who appear primitive but are highly evolved. Because the planet’s environment is poisonous, human/Na’vi hybrids, called Avatars, must link to human minds to allow for free movement on Pandora. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a paralyzed former Marine, becomes mobile again through one such Avatar and falls in love with a Na’vi woman (Zoe Saldana). As a bond with her grows, he is drawn into a battle for the survival of her world.

Once upon a time, I did not like James Cameron‘s Avatar one bit. I actually kind of hated it. To be fair, the first time I ever watched the movie was in a class I had during grade nine. I never liked having to watch any kind of film for school, and since that day, I hadn’t rewatched Avatar.

Until now…

Having seen it with fresh eyes, I can wholeheartedly say that I have no idea what I was thinking back in the day because Avatar is a genuine masterpiece and one of the best blockbusters I’ve ever seen. Period. It’s an extremely impressive technical feat and while the story is simplistic, it works remarkably well. Not every story has to be a massively complicated one.

It’s clear that Cameron had Star Wars as a world-building influence here, as well as the story. Star Wars films don’t necessarily have the most complex storylines either and yet you never hear of anyone complaining about the stories in any of those films, interestingly enough.

Avatar is an incredibly long movie but it’s one that never has any boring scenes, miraculously. Cameron made sure to properly utilize all one-hundred-and-sixty-two minutes to their full potential. And when you have a movie where we follow an entire spices of beings called the Na’vi, cutting back to human characters is risky because audiences may not care nearly as much about them.

Thankfully, that’s not the case here. The human characters are just as interesting as the Na’vi characters are, and Cameron’s script is chalked full of impressive character development beats that are sure to leave you blown away. It’s an impeccably written movie and it’s one that only Cameron could’ve seen through.

The fact that this movie came out in 2009 and yet it looks much better than a ton of blockbuster movies today is also astounding. This is old technology on display and it looks great. Why movies today look so much worse is a mystery to me, but at least we can thank Cameron for crafting an amazing looking film and one that boasts a powerful story.

This is easily one of my favorite films from Cameron having just rewatched it. It’s one of those movies that, despite being over two and a half hours long, I can easily see myself rewatching it numerous times. The world of Pandora is beautiful and I’m eager to jump back in this weekend.

James Cameron’s Avatar is a truly gorgeous, well-told, and excellently directed science-fiction epic that made an everlasting imprint on the world of pop culture.