In the world of modern filmmaking, James Cameron is a titan in the industry. Directing legend and science fiction aficionado, his work has been attached to some of the most well known movies of all time, first gaining recognition for birthing The Terminator franchise in 1984 and helming projects like the action horror movie Aliens in 1986 and the romantic tragedy Titanic in 1997. However, his most recent project is probably his most famous one.
The 2009 film Avatar is undoubtedly the crowning jewel in Cameron’s extensive career. Set in the far future where humans start to colonise a jungle world called Pandora in order to mine for minerals, the basic plot outline may be simple in its premise but is fantastic in its execution. It is a movie so good that it held the title of the highest grossing film in the world throughout the first decade of its lifespan, only losing to Avengers: Endgame in 2019. With all that being said, why was it so successful and how does it hold in retrospect?
The plot of the film isn’t anything particularly spectacular, following the outline of a typical messiah story. Based in the 22nd Century, the film follows Jake Sully, a former marine who is hired to operate a human hybrid called an avatar after his identical twin brother passes away. As he begins to run his avatar, he is accepted into the culture of an alien race called the Na’vi. As time goes on, Jake is torn between helping out the military, who have promised him a new life in exchange for his services, and the scientists/Na’vi, who have given him a new purpose in life.
If the story isn’t anything to brag about, what was it about this film that made it stand out so much at the time of its release? Well, for one thing, it is absolutely stunning to watch. It makes full use of a new motion capture technology and put extensive work into its special effects, which earned the film that year’s Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. That, and Cameron’s own experience behind the camera definitely helped.
He had previous success with his other film titles, especially Titanic – which also was at one point the highest-grossing film of all time before Avatar’s release. Avatar is a visually interesting story to follow, even if the story has been done before. The film broke many records upon its release, becoming the first film to gross over $2 billion and be the best-selling film of 2010.
Of course, you can’t carry a good film story without decent actors to portray your characters, and boy, is the cast a good one. Sam Worthington plays Jake Sully, and despite some of the other films he’s been in being mediocre at best, his performance in this film is a testament to what the actor is truly capable of. The big and badass Stephen Lang plays the head of the mining colony’s security detail, bringing an intimidating power to the role.
Michelle Rodriguez of Fast and Furious fame plays the science team’s pilot and her experience in those movies carries on to this one. The insanely talented Wes Studi has been in his fair share of colonisation movies, and in this movie, he plays the Na’vi chieftain. And last but most certainly not least, Sigourney Weaver as the head of the colony’s science department (because can you even have a movie about aliens without Sigourney Weaver?). Her talents and experience in these kind of movies speaks for itself, showing an interesting dynamic in her character: grumpy and cynical as a human, energized and invigorating when controlling her avatar.
Currently there is a sequel is in the works, thanks to Avatar’s success Cameron and 20th Century Fox have a four-movie deal, the first of which is due to be released some point in 2021. Given his work creating some of the best follow-up movies in cinema history, like Aliens and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, we can only expect it to be nothing short of the crème de la crème of movie magic.
Avatar is truly through and through a James Cameron production; his movies have always tried to push the mark of what cinema is capable of and this film is no different. Even now, the visual effects in this movie is probably one of the best examples of what CGI can do if done right. Go and revisit the world of Pandora, re-immerse yourself into the weird and wonderful visuals, the stunning cinematography and to this date, the biggest achievement of one of the biggest names in film directing.
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