Director:- James Cameron.
Writer:- James Cameron.
Plot:-
Jake Sully(Sam Worthington) is a
paraplegic US Marine Soldier who has decided to go on a mission to
another Moon Pandora where he is supposed to help the earthlings, make
peace with the alien race, Na’vi, so they can get rare organic
materials. The mission is, that Jake will use an Avatar(which means an
incarnated or an alternate life form in Sanskrit) of the Na’vi beings
and maintain diplomatic relations with them. The Avtar is developed
because ordinary humans can not breathe in the atmosphere of Pandora so
in the Avatar form, they can interact much better with the inhabitants.
Little does he know that the head of the mission Parker Selfridge
(Giovanni Rabsi) is to colonize the moon and destory all the
inhabitants and take over all the precious organic materials for Earth.
In the Avatar, Jake falls in love with an inhabitant Neytiri(Zoe
Saldana). While he is supported by Air Force Pilot, Trudy(Michelle
Rodriguez), Dr Grace Augustine(Sigourney Weaver) and Norm(Joel Moore),
Parker is aptly supported by Colnel Miles(Stephen Lang). Difference of
interest ensures a terrible battle where the relatively peaceful aliens
have to fight against the earthlings for their homeland.
Critic’s Comments
After the$1 billion plus grosser Titanic in 1997, the expectation
for James Cameron’s Avatar was nothing short of the Universe. Specially
more when your previous film is still holding the record for the
Biggest Box Office Grosser(Adjusting for inflation and otherwise), and
a directed venture is coming out after 12 years. So what does the movie
goer have to say? Well, for a person who sees movies only once in a
while, Avatar is bigger than Titanic in terms of speical effects and
even has a better story line. The Score by James Horner is amazing. The
Special Effects are truly out of the world. The performances are just
about good. This is a box office winner all the way. What does a critic
like me feel. Well, if you expect the universe, you will be
disappointed because there are many places where one feels bored
because the story line is so cliched. But what the story line lacks,
its more than made up by the special effects. My final opinion, watch
the film. Watch in the theatre. But please do not make the mistake of
watching it in 3D or IMAX 3d(for which James Cameron made the movie).
The movie is best seen in a normal 2D Cinema Screen, specially because
there are no 3D effects which will make you go bonkers. You will end up
with a terrible headache and get pain in the eyes.
Psst –
1)
Although James Cameron was ready with the idea of the movie as early as
1997 and wanted this to be the next movie after Titanic, immediately,
no studio was willing to back the movie. He had a script ready by 1999
but the plan was shelved till 2005. The script is largely inspired by
1990’s oscar Winner, Dances With Wolves.
2)
James Cameron decided to go ahead with the movie after Watching the
Lord of the rings trilogy and deciding(After the seeing the character
of Gholum) that the technology required for the movie is now available.
3)
The movie, although took 4 years in the making, took only 6 months of
shooting time. The movie was shot by Decemeber 2007. The post
production took nearly 1 and half years and the marketing took nearly 6
months. The pre production work took nearly 2 years. However, the movie
budget was$230 million. This was only$30 million more than Titanic.
This was a big surprise, considering that the movie was nearly 60%
Computer Graphics and Motion Capture technology which took nearly half
the budget. It still is the most expensive movie ever made.
4)
The movie grossed nearly$10 million in midnight and preview show
openings all over the world and is expected to Gross$100 million in
the opening weekend worldwide. If this happens(and I am so sure it
will), this will beat the record of The Dark Knight by almost$32
million.
5) Movie has been nomianted for 4 Golden Globe Awards, including Best Picture(Drama) and Best Director.
6) James cameron invited Peter Jackson, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg in the film set to test the technolgy used.
7)
In India, the release of the most awaited Hindi Film 3 Idiots was
postponed by a week when the makers realised that Avtatar was going to
have a world wide release a week before Christmas. This may work to the
Benefit of lead actor Aamir khan, whose last 2 movies were Christmas
Releases and big box office hit.
8) James cameron actually wanted to release Battle Angel before Avatar but decided to postpone it till 2011.
9) A crew of over 1000 people was used for Special Effects only.
10) The character of Dr Grace Augustine is based on the persona of James Cameron.
11)
To prepare for their roles, James Cameron took all the cast and crew to
Hawaii where they had to spend their days trekking through the forests
and living exactly like how tribesmen do to get a better sense of their
characters. The nights, however, were spent in Four Seasons Hotel.
12) The movie is #51 in the Top 250 movies of all time by IMDB.com.
Quotes:-
1) "You are not in Kansas anymore. You are on Pandora, ladies and gentleman."
2) "Just relax and let your mind go blank. That shouldn’t be too hard for you."
3) "Everything is backwards now, like out there is the true world and in here is the dream."
4) "You haven’t got lost in the woods, have you? You still remember what team you’re playing for?"
5) "How does it feel to betray your own race?"
Oops:-
Really?