Cinemagoers unite – throw down your non-stereoscopic projectors, pick up your oversized specs, the 3D revolution is here!
Or so Hollywood would have us believe. With the ever developing crackdown on piracy, 3D films have become a key weapon in the studios arsenal against counterfeit copies of their movies.
The massive adoption across the board of 3D by the major players in motion pictures is generally attributed to be mainly for this reason – after all, the technology has been around since the middle of the twentieth century and IMAX cinemas were up and running by as early as 1985.
The first full length IMAX feature film was James Cameron’s 2003 documentary covering underwater explorations of the sunken Titanic liner, Ghosts of the Abyss.
Six years on from that (and twelve years on from Cameron’s 1997 box-office record breaker Titanic) the Canadian film-maker has taken the technology to another untrodden layer with his science-fiction epic Avatar.
Set around 150 years in the future, the film follows a tribe of indigenous people, Na’vi, as they battle to save their planet Pandora from an invading military presence from Earth.
Their invaders are desperate for unobtanium - a mineral buried within the Na’vi’s sacred lands – but caught in the middle is Jake Sully, a marine originally sent to infiltrate the Na’vi but who has fallen in love with the clan’s princess Neytiri.
Sully has entered the Na’vi’s world through becoming the titular avatar, a hybrid creature created by mixing human and Na’vi DNA, which can be controlled virtually by him whilst in a machine.
Visually stunning, the movie is a hugely immersive experience combining breathtaking CGI with actual footage to create a wonderful hybrid of its own between the virtual and real world in three beautiful dimensions.
Nominated for a bevy of technical Oscars, the film takes the relatively recent advent of CGI to a new level as it combines the incredible natural beauty of Pandora’s mountainous and forestall landscapes with the industrial, sci-fi vision of Earth’s scientific and military presence on the planet.
However it has failed to garner any nods for acting awards and the performances themselves are a mixed bag – Sam Worthington’s portrayal of Sully has a touch of disconnectedness to it, not helped by the fact his lines as an avatar were studio recorded and that working with countless green-spots and blue screens in place of real life actors and places blocks the natural flow of narrative dialogue.
The same fate does not befall his lover Neytiri, given a touch more vigour and richness by Zoe Saldana while Sigourney Weaver as Dr. Grace Augustine plays well as a passionate scientist battling military opposition to her avatar programme.
Other casting decisions such as Giovanni Ribisi as a military head (best known as Phoebe’s horny brother in the TV sitcom friends) are laughable at best while Stephen Lang as Colonel Quaritch, intent on conquering the Na’vi’s territory, has a touch of Duke Nukem to his characterisation.
Cameron’s attempts to make parallels between the conflict onscreen and issues such as the war in Iraq and climate change are admirable in their scope but end being clunkily raised in such an unsubtle way you almost expect 3D red flags to appear, alerting you to their presence.
The dialogue lacks nuance, often drifting into clich̩ and stultifies the mesmerising images on display Рcharacters shamelessly explain the plot and their own motivations in a style Dan Brown has made his own.
It is, as a whole, baggy in length, clocking in at over two and half hours which is a mammoth amount for what is ostensibly a sci-fi action flick and while one respects the hours of time and effort spent on crafting every scene technically, shedding the weight is one thing the film badly needs.
But nonetheless Avatar is a cinematic event that deserves to be seen for its outstanding aesthetics and technical handiwork which has really paid dividends on screen in an act that will be difficult to follow for the next participate in the 3D timeline.
Just as 1927’s Jazz Singer will never be regarded as a classic and will always be known for being the first “talkie” than for any individual merit, Avatar is a defining chapter in the 3D movement and whilst it is not a great film, it remains cinematically revolutionary in the same respect.
