I don’t like sci-fi. It’s one of those things where I just close my mind to the possibility of liking it, because there are too many aspects to it that I don’t like. So I just don’t give it a shot. For example, I’ve never seen the original Star Wars, and I don’t care to. I don’t like space ships and aerial space shots, and lasers, and future-y stuff. Just not my thing.

So lo all these years after the ginormous hit that was called Titanic, James Cameron finally unleashes his new epic, and damn it, it’s got blue humanoids in the future and immediately I’m turned off. You know I lack interest if I don’t see a movie on its first week of release. Well, this was the third week since Avatar was released, and finally, mostly for all the wrong reasons, I finally saw it.
Well damn it, its pretty frakking awesome.

Set in 2154, Avatar tells the story of humans trying to mine a moon called Pandora for a mineral that could help Earth. The humans have been using avatars, sort of clones of themselves in the form of the Pandoran natives, the Na’vi, to befriend them. A former soldier who’s confined to a wheelchair becomes one of the avatars. The story focuses on his journey, and his involvement and interaction with the Na’vi.

The cast of Avatar is excellent.
Sam Worthington plays Jake Scully, the wheelchair bound ex-Marine. He’s very good and I look forward to seeing him in the remake of Clash of the Titans!
Stephen Lang plays the badass Colonel who’ll stop as nothing to complete his mission. He’s also very good, and as far as I can tell, this is his most physical, “tough guy” role ever.
Sigourney Weaver plays a scientist trying to discover Pandora’s secrets through peaceful means. She does a great job, as always.
Giovanni Ribisi plays the corporate hot shot who cares only about the bottom line. Money. As always, he does a good job, but he’s not really used properly. He deserved a meatier role.
Where Avatar is truly amazing is with Pandora, and its inhabitants. While the creatures of Pandora didn’t impress me too much, the Na’vi did. Like I said, when I first saw the images of what the characters from the flick looked like, I was turned off. But after the first few awkward seconds of adjusting to the huge blue humanoids, you WILL forget that they aren’t real. They are expertly rendered, and given very believable life from a great cast.
While impressive as a human, Worthington was at another level in his avatar form. I know much if not most of that credit goes to Cameron and crew for work well done, but Worthington was great.
The most impressive member of the Na’vi, and my new dream girl, was Neytiri, played by Zoe Saldana. Wow, what an impressive character, and what fire and passion Saldana brought forth with her voice. Neytiri was just so real. Amazing.
Neytiri’s mother and father, the clan’s leaders, were played by Wes Studi and CCH Pounder, and the head warrior, and next in line to be clan leader was played by Laz Alonso. He did a great job as well.

Like I said, the creatures of Pandora didn’t impress me much. Some of the flying creatures were pretty cool, but way too colorful, in my opinion. Sorry, I just don’t like bright, colorful things. Some of the earthbound creatures looked a bit off to me, too. But I realize I’m being petty. I do that.
Cameron’s script was probably the weakest link of Avatar, but that’s OK because most people came into the movie to be blown away visually. And that’s what they got. Still, I’m almost glad for the clichéd script, and the few visual issues I had with the film. If I was even a little more impressed by the movie, I’d have to give it a better grade!