I know that it was only a few days ago that I listed James Cameron as a finalist for the Golden Troll Award, but the jury was still out.  Well, I’ve seen Avatar now, and I have to admit that it’s something special.  I’m not saying that it’s the best movie of the year, and I’m not saying that it does anything that we haven’t seen before in science fiction.  What I am going to say is that Avatar is a film that will probably have a very big impact on special effects, just as Cameron’s films usually are.

This poster is way cooler than the other one.

This poster is way cooler than the other one.

The Terminator was a landmark in makeup effects and also in minatures, just like Aliens.  The Abyss was one of the very first movies to feature CGI, and that technique was taken much further in Terminator 2 (effects that still look great to this day).  Titanic made big-budget effects movies legitimate when it won 237 Oscars (except Kate Winslet).  The impact that Avatar will have won’t be felt for a while, but in a few years we’re sure to see new strides taken in effects, and I’m very excited to see what’s up next on the big screen.

The story isn’t anything new.  If you’ve read and seen plenty of sci-fi, then you’ve gone down this road before.  In fact, my favorite Ain’t It Cool writer, Massawyrm, drew the comparison to Dune, and it is pretty much note for note the way the story goes.  You’ve got a far off planet being mined for a super-rare resource, a hero who comes from off-planet and becomes the savior of the indigenous people, and a climactic battle in which the natives ride on huge animals to fight the aggressors.  Good stuff in my book.

The point of it is the execution.  For one, I saw it in 3D, and I was both impressed and annoyed.  As neat as it was to see things as if they were right in front of me (the movie was shot on special stereoscopic cameras), wearing those glasses over my own glasses felt awkward at times, and I think it messed with how I saw some of the effects.  Call me old fashioned, but I like when my movies stay on the wall.  But everything just looked so cool that after a while you get used to it and I’m sure that when I get it on DVD, I’ll feel underwhelmed by how “flat” everything looks.

As for all of the performance-capture that we heard about, it was probably the one thing that thoroughly exceeded my expectations.  The performances of Sam Worthington and Sigourney Weaver as their Na’vi avatars were great, but dare I say, Zoe “New Uhura” Saldana was outstanding as Neytiri.  She was funny, exciting, and heartbreaking to watch throughout the picture.  Kudos go both to her and the effects masters at Weta Digital for bringing that performance to life.  My hunger for cool-looking sci-fi design was also sated.  Great vehicles, weapons, and computers were all on display, and as usual in a Cameron movie, everything looks like it would work if you got your hands on it.

I could go on, but in all honesty, I’d just be going on about the same things you’ve read in other reviews by more competent people who saw it before me.  Just go check it out, in 3D if you can.  It’s three hours long, but Jim did his very best to make sure that not a second drags on.  I shouldn’t have doubted him after all.