Avatar

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Science Fiction & Fantasy

At long last, I finally managed to scrape together the time to post this review! Watched this movie with the family during a Sunday when I was "from" duty. At first I was hesitant to watch, seeing as I was really tired and badly needed sleep, but the movie didn't disappoint AT ALL.. :D

See related video: http://brainiaxmd.multiply.com/video/item/43
I wont go into so much detail with the plot, but I hope I will do it some justice here..

The story kicks off with some guy named Jake leaving a dying Earth behind for some distant moon (Pandora) found in the Alpha Centauri system to be involved in a weird-ass "Avatar" program, wherein people hardwired themselves to genetically-engineered creatures made to resemble the indegenous sentient life-forms there on the planet, with the goal of winning the hearts and minds of the Na'vi populace and conducting extensive scientific research at the same time. As we all know, exploration and colonization is not all fun-and-games. Along with the research teams are a group of paramilitary marine-type forces which are tasked to secure the foothold on the strange new world, which would eventually serve as the antagonists in the movie. The world of Pandora is also home to a strange new (and very valuable) mineral called "Unobtanium" which is the main reason the "Corporation" came to Pandora in thew first place.

As the story progresses, Jake masters the use of his Avatar, and while on a routine scouting mission, gets separated from his group and encounters a wild jaguar-like creature called a Thanator. He eventually gets saved by a female Na'vi named Neytiri. She brings him to her tribe (the Omatikaya) and, to cut a long story short, eventually gets accepted as one of them. However, before Jake becomes totally immersed with the Na'vi and turns native, he agrees to spy for the military faction which are eying the "base tree" of the Omaticaya, seeing as it sits right smack on top of a huge deposit of Unobtanium. The humans eventually attack and overrun the great tree, much to the dismay of Jake and his fellow researchers. The tribe runs for the shelter of their Tree of Souls, kind of like a central hub for their culture and religion which allows them to interface with nature. Jake and the other Na'vi sympathizers are imprisoned for their betrayal, but are busted loose by a pilot named Trudy who is disgusted by the strong-arm tactics of the corporation. The renegades set up shop at a remote scientific outpost safely hidden from scanners due to intense magnetic interference in the area. Jake eventually manages to win back the natives' trust by taming Toruk, a badass dinosaur-like flying creature that a total on only 5 Na'vi have ever managed to tame. He eventually assembles the different Na'vi tribes together in a sort of "final stand" against the human marauders who have made it there objective to launch a preemptive strike on the Tree of Souls to force the locals to submit. With a little help from the mother godess Eywa, the Na'vi repel the invaders and eventually kick the humans off-planet.

Apart form the computer-generated visual spectacle that defined Avatar, I was really impressed by the depth of the culture created for the Na'vi people, especially the fact that they even created a whole new language just for the movie. The neural interface between the Na'vi and their animals/environment was pretty cool too. With a compelling storyline and all the right bells and whistles attached to it, Avatar was really well worth the money and time we spent in the cinema. Definitely a must-have for your home-video collection.