Avatar

Just when the Sci-Fi scene was starting to look bleak, along came James Cameron (the great soul that blessed us with the Terminator) after a decade long hiatus to deliver "Avatar". I had the privilege of watching it in IMAX 3D format and believe you me, this movie was made for this format. Two broad reasons why I just loved this movie.

The first one is the amazing story. Much like Star Wars, despite the film being set in another time and in another galaxy (not exactly "far far away", the star Alpha Centauri is pretty close), the story is but a reflection of what we see around us right here today. We as humans, recklessly abusing nature, without realizing what is really precious. In the year 2154, humans have set out to take over the moon Pandora of the planet Polyphemus, orbiting Alpha Centauri, the "oil" being the precious mineral unobtainium (the pun is intended I guess). The planet's indigenous population, the Na'Vi stand in the way & in their greed, the humans are even ready to go to war with them. Jake Sully(played by Sam Worthington), a paraplegic US Marine, is entered into the Avatar Program, after his brother's death. An Avatar (the term derived from Hindu Mythology, meaning the manifestation of God in a human form) is a biologically engineered human-Na'Vi hybrid body, that acts as a surrogate for a human to use to move on Pandora, the air being unbreathable. Each Avatar is remotely linked to a human, who can control it using his mind and allows the human to move and sense as if he were truly in place of the Avatar. Jake manages to gain the trust of the Omaticaya tribe of the Na'Vi, who are usually apprehensive of humans and are now at the brink of war with them. Though initially part of the plan, Jake realizes & sympathizes with the deep love and respect that the Na'Vi have for nature. Through Jake's journey, we are also reminded that we are destroying what's precious here on Earth too. I absolutely loved the concept of the Na'Vi way of communing with Mother Nature. Apart from the title, the director seems to have borrowed a lot more from Hindu Mythology. The ways of worship and respect towards nature are concepts deeply entrenched in Hinduism and other ancient religions, which are otherwise dismissed as "Pagan" in modern times. Ultimately, the Na'vi are the manifestations of pure beings that humans will hopefully still strive to become, so our Earth, more vibrant,diverse and beautiful than Pandora will continue to shine.

The second major reason is the technical aspects of this film. First being the ground-breaking CGI, that has rendered this wonderful environment. Whats so "ground-breaking" is that unlike other forms of motion capture (meaning capturing movements for animation using human models), the digital rendering can actually be seen live as the capture is being done, and changes to the environment can be done on the fly. The true test of animation is not its level of detail in an isolated environment (face it, those Japs cant keep harping about Final Fantasy all their lives, its now become pretty much common), but its ability to fuse in effortlessly with the live-action world. And thats where this new technology surpasses all else. You just have to see the realism of the Na'vi and other creatures on Pandora, and their seamless interaction with live action humans and objects. And being the geeky Sci-Fi fan I am, who has by now learnt of the Star Wars universe as if it were a history-geography syllabus in school, the other awesome aspect for me is the creation of this new fantasy world. I am now eager to catalog all this fictional wildlife, from the Titanothere & Thanator to the Banshee & Leonopteryx. Plus also hope to learn more about the other Na'vi tribes apart from the Omaticaya in the sequels. (Cameron has said there will be a trilogy if this movie is a success, and by the looks of things, well.... bingo!!!)

So, to end things all I have to say is Sci-Fi fan or not, geek or not, everyone will absolutely love this movie.

Long Live the Na'vi!!!!!!