Blue People on Blu-ray

By Nathan Cone

Because I was one of the millions of moviegoers that saw Avatar in the IMAX 3D format, the first thing I wondered when I popped the Blu-ray disc of James Cameron’s blockbuster into my player was “Is this going to ‘work’ at home?”  Would the movie, so spectacular in the theater, translate to my living room?  For the most part, it does--moderately clunky dialogue and all.

But seriously, I enjoyed Avatar very much.  The movie follows soldier Jake Sully, shipped off to the foreign world of Pandora to take part in a science experiment that was to include his deceased twin brother. That experiment involves the creation of “avatars”-- exact physical copies of Pandora’s indigenous population that humans can inhabit through a kind of mind transference machine. The goal for the scientists on Pandora is for humans to learn about this indigenous population, a race of ten-foot-tall catlike people called the Na’vi, and their mysterious connection to Pandora. But the goal of the unnamed corporation that’s also landed on Pandora is to use force, if necessary, to shove the Na’vi off their sacred lands so that Earth can mine the world’s store of a precious element called “unobtainium.”

Sound familiar? You bet. Director and creator James Cameron’s tale mirrors not only United States history with Native Americans, but countless other peoples across the globe that are being pushed off their land one way or another so that progress can take place.  Since the film’s release, Cameron himself has been crusading on behalf of indigenous peoples and the environment.

But that same plot device cuts both ways. The first third of Avatar felt a little too derivative of Dances With Wolves.  I kept wondering when the Na’vi were going to give Jake Sully a cute nickname like “Two Socks.”  But even if we’ve seen and heard this story before, it’s nevertheless expertly carried out here.

It’s a little beside the point to praise or even notice the acting in a gigantic action film like this, but I liked Stephen Lang as the military commander on Pandora. The tough, scarred Lang chews the scenery for all it’s worth.  Sam Worthington plays hero Jake Sully, but in his human form, he’s kind of wooden. It’s only when he inhabits his avatar that Worthington even tries to bring any kind of emotion to the surface. But I guess that’s kind of the point.  As a human, Sully is a paraplegic. But in his avatar form, he’s able to run, jump, and fly with wild abandon.

Which brings me to the Na’vi people themselves.  Beyond the incredible digital landscapes of Pandora that Cameron and his team created for the film, new motion capture techniques were used so that human actors could inform and inhabit the Na’vi people on screen. The results sidestep the Uncanny Valley Effect. For the most part, especially in close ups and medium shots, the Na’vi seem as real as anything else on screen, and they’re able to convey genuine emotion. Zoe Saldana plays Neytiri, Jake’s love interest, and you really get the sense that there’s life behind her eyes, unlike the strange doll-like children in The Polar Express.

Is Avatar a film that will change the industry? Maybe. Its use of 3D was so fluid that studios are rushing to make all their pictures in the new format. Hell, even Werner Herzog and Martin Scorsese have announced 3D projects.  Avatar wasn’t the best picture of 2009--I’d place both Inglourious Basterds and Up before it, but Avatar proves that in the hands of a master showman like James Cameron, a familiar story, told well, with terrific effects used in service of the story--not as gimmicks--can be dynamite.

AVATAR ON BLU-RAY/DVD

The initial release of Avatar this spring has already been one of the hottest selling DVDs ever, and fully one third of the copies purchased have been high-definition Blu-ray discs.  I can attest to the high quality of the presentation. Avatar looks fan-tas-tic, even without its 3D. In fact, I didn’t miss the 3D much. But consumers take note; there are no special features included on the disc. Not even a trailer. I’ll say it’s worth it to pick this up, but if you wait, there’ll likely be an extended cut with beaucoup special features released somewhere down the line. Including, as Cameron has hinted, an extended love scene between avatar Jake and Netyiri. Cameron says test footage of that “freaked people out.” Um… yeah.  Like I said, I’m happy with what I’ve got now, thank you very much.

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