Avatar

I saw this epic last night at the Empire Leicester Sq in London, which is a superb venue in which to view this film. Huge screen, excellent sound and an extraordinary Dolby, 3 dimensional image. The whole effect is mind blowing.

This is a 'Must see' movie, innovative, and extraordinary. I think it will be regarded by most cinema goers as another milestone in the history of the art. The level of realism achieved is remarkable, and although the film is relatively long in real time, it retains it's excitement and holds the audience's attention to the end.

Performances are good, but this is not the sort of film that dwells on big star value for the actors, although Sigorney Weaver does shine and delivers a very convincing performance, as do the rest of the cast. But as there is so much entertainment and action value on screen the human element does not dominate in the usual way.

As Writer/Director, James Cameron deserves high praise for this creation and in my opinion it will break box office records. I thoroughly enjoyed this film.

A film with the scope of James Cameron's Avatar was always going to be a risk both artistically and financially, especially in today's economic climate. Whether it will pay off monetarily is a question only time can answer, but this viewer can at the very least attest to it being an artistic triumph.

Avatar brings us as close as cinema ever has to actually visiting an alien world. The beautiful environs, the exotic creatures and incredibly lifelike natives of Pandora arrest the senses, visually, aurally and emotionally. The world in Avatar is the true star of the show. The amount of detail and work that has gone into bringing this new world alive is seriously impressive, and it will be a while before we see anything that overtakes it in scope and quality. WETA Workshop and ILM have truly outdone themselves.

Relative newcomer, Aussie Sam Worthington provides a solid human heart amongst all the science-fiction/fantasy beauty and Zoe Saldana gives an impressive performance as the 8 foot tall Na'vi, Neytiri. Even though the characters they both play are blue, giant, catlike aliens, they managed to evoke a chemistry and likability that pierces through the special effects.

That's not to say that everything is perfect. The story is basic and dare I say, clichéd and predictable. We have seen it plenty of times in all forms of media. The bad guys are cartoonishly evil, and sadly paper thin. The love story, while charming, is also clichéd despite being between man and alien. But in the face of these shortcomings, Avatar is a success because its storytelling lies in the brilliant visuals.

Avatar is a beautiful piece of film and a true event. It does exactly what cinema was always intended to - it takes us away from our problems and worries for a few hours and gives us memorable images which will undoubtedly and deservedly enter into the cultural lexicon to stay for the foreseeable future.

9.5/10

I am sure my comment will be lost in a sea of blue but anyways here goes...

Just attended the Advanced Screening at my local "Event Cinema" BCC in 3D

Now this movies graphics are gorgeous, everything is so real, the 3D just adds to the effect beautifully without distracting you.

From a technical standpoint this movie is amazing, just the detail on the Navi's faces are amazing, they feel more real then their real life counterparts!

Without giving anything away about the story, the plot itself is very solid, very character driven and perfectly executed by Jim, safe to say this is his best original story since "The Terminator" and "Terminator 2" and is definitely one of his best movies, so good it ties with T2 which is my most favorite movie of all time...

So for those of you who have not seen this yet... WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!

5/5

This movie actually blew my mind! I have to admit that it's quite easy to impress me, but when i left the cinema I was just amazed by the feelings this film left. First of all to say is that the visual effects and the whole setting of this movie is absolutely unique yet and will be for a few years still, I think. The Sorrounding on "Pandora" doesn't let you breathe for several minutes in which you just cannot close your mouth. But this is NOT what makes this movie unique and so awesome! The story is really a great part of it, and gives the film its spirit. OK, it IS predictable, but many tiny parts that are unexpected just give it the suspense it needs. This is no "switch off your brain"-movie!!!

In my opinion this film is worth 9-10 stars, I'm giving 10 for the goose-flesh it still gives me every time I see the trailer or hear the soundtrack. This evening I'm gonna watch it again :-)

PS: Sorry for my bad English, I'm from Germany...

It's been 12 years since we last saw James Cameron's visionary directing on the big screen. He previously graced Our Cinemas with the Likes of The Terminator, Aliens and the rather popular titanic. The latter went on to gross more than 1.8 billion dollars worldwide and bag 11 Oscar's. Now he's back with another epic, Avatar. It's been 12 years in the making, now it is being realised in glorious 3-D.

The story is set hundreds of years from today on the distant moon of Pandora. The planets a lush, vivid place full of beautiful and deadly creatures. The population that inhabit this planet are the Na'vi, they are big, very fast and athletic with a knack for not taking the humans lightly. The film centres on Jake sully (Sam Worthington) a paraplegic marine who is offered a second chance at being a soldier. He is asked to fill in his recently deceased brother's boots and head to Pandora. The First thing you will notice about this film is that it looks incredible. Every single blade of grass has been fully detailed. The motion capture technology brings the Na'vi to life, with every emotion being realised. This is truly from a visionary point of view, a work of art.

You are transported to the Moon of Pandora and it's a marvel if you are seeing it in 3-D, as intended. You are then introduced to the main characters of the film. First you meet the rather joyful and impressive colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang) He gives a stand out performance as a stereotypical American Grunt, a rather over used cliché by the Canadian director. You are then introduced to Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) who has affection for the Na'vi, and looking for a way back into the indigenous population's community.

You will notice through the film that there are many references to James Cameron's previous work Aliens. There are a few small similarities' and one big, Aliens is arguably Cameron's best work, so it's not a negative. The role of Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi) will remind you of Carter Burke, the slimy all business Executive from Aliens. The score by James Horner, who also worked with Cameron on the 1986 hit leaves a familiar taste in your mouth. Cameron originally wanted Michael Biehn to play the role of Quaritch but thought the audience would get confused as Sigourney Weaver is also in the movie.

The introduction of neytiri (Zoe Saldana) is powerful and exciting, You get the impression that she knows how to handle herself, This is a trait of all Jim Cameron's heroines. She introduces us to the Na'vi culture, and in the process, we start to care for and understand the advanced race.

The film flows well; it can drag at times, especially in the middle act of the film. This could have been improved with an extra RDA encounter, to further mount the tension between the Na'vi and the inpatient humans. The Action in the film is amazing, real hard hitting stuff. But it is in no way mindless. Every scene of action has been carefully crafted, by the trusty hands and eyes of James Cameron, Who has a knack for getting the audiences, pulse racing. The final battle lasts around 40 minutes long and it is defiantly a sight to be seen.

Final Thought's: On a technical level the film is a triumph with moments of wonder, the action is top notch to boot. The script and story can let it down at points, but that is no reason not to see the movie.Avatar is like a beautiful painting. What you see is what you get, and what you get is nothing short of epic.

A moment of brilliance: The final battle scene is as good as they come. The last time you had Goosebumps like this, was when a well known farm boy, destroyed a death star.

Reviewer: Joshua Roberts