Sigourney Weaver Avatar Performance Best In 30 Years Since Alien

Sigourney Weaver Pushing Back Alien Frontiers Again in James Cameron’s Avatar Movie...

“The MOST ambitious movie I have ever been associated with..” said Sigourney Weaver – three times Oscar nominee – who plays Dr. Grace Augustine in James Cameron’s Avatar Movie released for the first time on Dec 18^th, 2009.

Well… I bet it is, according to what I’ve seen so far watching the trailers and reading reviews, wikis and stuff.  BUT there are people saying it is not such a cinematographical breakthrough as it was thought it would be.  Let us dissect things a bit then, here.

First, a few words about James Cameron’s Avatar plot, characters and

background…

Sigourney Weaver Avatar

Sigourney Weaver’s character is a xenobotanist, a scientist whose job is to mentor Jake Sully (Sam Worthington’s Avatar character) on the trip to Pandora.

Jake, an ex-marine wounded and paralyzed from the waist down, has enrolled in the Avatar program replacing his twin brother who died in an accident, seeking to get a new healthy body.

Dr. Grace is also using an avatar herself on the field on Pandora and takes it as a goal to help Jake through his battle against the diverse creatures they’ll encounter on Pandora.

Humans are having a hard time to work and even survive on the harsh environment of the planet, given its atmospheric composition and hostile aliens.

They are trying to mine ‘Unobtainium’ – a very rare and precious ore – from the sacred lands of the native Na’vi people.

If we are to blame something about this movie, I guess we should start with this word -
a lame concoction of a puerile ‘60 recipe for strange names to be used in Sci Fi…
C’mon!  We are in 2010 – almost!!!

Jake will be assigned to mingle with the Na’vi ‘Omaticaya Clan’ in the form of an avatar (a bio-engineered body grown from a Human/Na’vi DNA mix and telepathically driven remotely) and offer insight intel to the RDA troops, trying to move the tribe from there, as their Hometree ‘Kelutral’ is growing right on top of the most rich Unobtainium reserve of the planet (actually, a satellite).

Jake’s avatar is saved from a pack of ‘Viperwolves’ by Neytiri (Zoe Saldana’s Avatar character) yet he still betrays her and her tribe in the beginning…

But is that all, or do we see here something else happening?

We all feel how the movie should go from now.

Nothing new since Romeo and Juliet…

Some salt and pepper on the tail, brought to us by the marines having Colonel Miles Quaritch – the Chief of Security on Pandora – lead them in battle. Colonel Quaritch is portrayed by actor Stephen Lang.

And to add some more exoticism, some fantastic creatures – amongst them the Mountain Banshees (inspired maybe by Anne McCaffrey’s Pern Dragons?)

Detractors said… it’s like a ‘Dances with Wolves’ placed in a strange, alien environment, mixed with elements from former ‘Alien’ and ‘Terminator’ and some other clinches, both taken from the director’s previous movies as well as from a dozen other sources they found to be more or less resembling it.

Hmmm… YES, it is so, just like so many other movies before it and like so many more to come.  Some themes are simply taken from human lives and experiences, others are mythological legends brought to present, while others just historical metaphors…

BUT!

All that being said, the movie is filmed in 3-D and it’s a mashup of science fiction and fantasy fully packed with action.  An experience in the theaters around the world that will be like no other:

“It’s a serious film about serious issues, and it’s in 3-D. And when you see it, you go — well, of course!  This is so natural, this is the way it should be” said Sigourney Weaver in an interview dated May 11^th.
“It’s so state of the art, it’s going to transform, at least, what people expect of the big movies!”

More recently (Dec 8^th):

“You won’t have seen anything like it”, she declared.
“This film is going to change the way we look at movies. The whole movie is in 3-D, even normal scenes between two people. So you feel you’re in the room with these characters. You’re always in the best seat in the house.”

OR as she so fondly speaks of it here:

“The movie really becomes a lot of fun… ’cause you get to really live with the Na’vi and… [...] the fact that it’s 3-D it’s gonna blow everyone’s mind… I mean.. Then, you don’t have to go to Pandora to experience Pandora, you can just go to the movies with your glasses and… experience it there… ”

James Cameron’s Avatar is not a movie, nor is it even a new frontier that was pushed back in terms of technology, special effects and distribution thruought the world… It is an EVENT of epic proportions.  It will change the way we look at movies, it may even bring us all (not only FANS and snobs) to Cinema…

…because no matter what, the experience you could have there, surrounded by the images and sounds will never be matched by anything else.

I am a firm believer in the power of books over films, in general.

This time, there is no doubt:  Avatar needs to be seen at the Cinema first!

But then again, it is a very valuable collectible item.  I HAVE to have this DVD in my personal library.

And who knows?  The future may even bring us 3-D helmets quite soon enough to dive into this world of awe that Jim Cameron created in Avatar and the many others to follow (do I feel they left room for sequels?… he, he… I bet!)

Till then, you could pre-order a copy here, as the supply will most probably be less than sufficient at the beginning.  And start dreaming, just as I do, of riding on a ‘Banshee’ and fighting a ‘Thanator’ beast on the forests of Pandora, the far-away alien planet where James Cameron placed the action of his latest mega movie: Avatar.

This is StevieVee, eagerly waiting for 18^th of Dec