Fri, January 08, 2010
One of the more popular things to do these days seems to be waiting in endless lines to see James Cameron's 3D blockbuster, Avatar. But to those with a familiarity of US history may be surprised to discover that the Titanic director's latest is nothing more than a cinematic retelling of the plight of the American Indian people, driven away from their ancestral lands some 400 years ago.
Avatar is set in the year 2154. A paraplegic marine named Jake is dispatched to a faraway planet, Pandora, where the blue-skinned Na'vi are locked in a life-or-death struggle with greedy corporate imperialists bent on mining a precious ore. In order to win over the hearts and minds of the Na'vi, Jake's mind is transferred to remote-controlled body called an "avatar" so he can mingle with the locals. Plot twists abound when Jake decides to help the Na'vi against their planetary invaders.
Seeing the movie in an IMAX theater is a jaw-dropping visual e. ects feast. Avatar frequently switches back and forth between CGI and Real Life characters with ease, thanks to the technological breakthroughs Cameron set out to achieve with his sci-fi piece de resistance.
It should be noted, however, that without 3D visuals, the movie's heavily plotted running time of 3 hours probably would have killed this epic beast. Dripping with allegory, Avatar's story isn't any worse than any other Hollywood epic, which suggests that pushing the storytelling envelope isn't as easy as cutting-edge special e. ects.
Cameron was even quoted in a Newsweek interview saying that movies will always be about storytelling, and humans playing humans. If he takes less than a decade to make his next movie, let's hope it will be both a feast for the eyes and food for the soul.
On a scale of 1 to 10, Avatar gets a hype-satisfactorily-met 8.
Zhao Kun is a writer for China Drive on CRI EZFM (FM91.5 in Beijing). He can be reached at zhaokun123@gmail. com. China Drive is a bilingual news and lifestyle show on the air every weekday from 11 am to noon, and 5 to 7 pm.
