Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Avatar, in my eyes

The "Unscripted" conversation between Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana has the latter quoting Avatar as "a little small movie directed by this little small director called James Cameron and it has like a whole bunch of crazy kids running around in blue suits." Now lady, if that isn't the understatement of the millenium! Avatar is an exemplary work of art that makes you wonder what just hit you those three hours, if it was one of those dreams you'd hate to wake up from, because they're so damned bloody wonderful and stepping out of them is so darned difficult. But yes, Avatar was a dream; the sheer, no-holds-barred imagination of one man at the helm of affairs, who has gone all out on a venture that kept the world waiting for it's show up in hushed speculations and bated breath. Avatar shows you, how, with a vision to achieve greatly and the patience to concoct the thing of your dreams into stark reality will pay off even if it takes a lot of time to do that. It is a spectacular, magnificient display of creativity translated into breathtaking visuals. Simply, simply wonderful! Pandora is a place straight out of paradise city, amazingly, beautifully, fantastically brought to life, that drew me into the movie, into the world of the Na'vi, their love and reverence for Nature and its bounties, so immaculate in detail and splendid in portrayal. The creation is a generous helping from the cup that held James Cameron and his team's ingenuity and craftsmanship, brimming in its richness and spilling out on the canvas of Avatar, making it the one of greatest milestones in the history of cinema. Avatar is a splendour of sorts, an elaborate work of art that bejewels the tapestry of Hollywood and world cinema, a feet that will be remembered and written, spoken about in awe for years to come, an accomplishment that deserves honours for what the makers toiled years together and a motion picture marvel that defies de facto standards and limitations. I was completely absorbed into the movie, mesmerized and dumbstruck at the grandiose visuals, and at the mammoth efforts put in by the makers to produce an epic of this nature. To create and conceptualize Pandora from the scratch, its animals and plants, the elements that make up the core of the movie and picturize that with the help of technology is no easy deal. The result is light years beyond cool. My favorite scene is the night life of Pandora and I remember being stuck with an expression that mirrored that of Jake's when he witnessed it first. The vegetation lights up, emitting radiance that perfectly contrasts the dark in soft colours and penetrate pockets of space that burst their lustrous contents out to dazzle the place. And Jake's first flight too! His first ride on the banshee destined for him is a sight to behold. Neytiri joins him half way through the ride, and boy oh boy, was it real or was I seeing things?! For once, even the wildest of my dreams seemed diminutively outlandish. The scene marks Jake's acceptance into the Na'vi brotherhood and his ability to be one among them. Both of them are seen flying the freakish creatures that soar the skies, swoop up and down, lending the scene a sense of feverish excitement, which, brings me to the music. James Horner has created a score that's perfect for the movie, reflects it's moods, tessellates a dimension into it that captures the very essence of Avatar and gives you a sense of being in the movie. It echoes Jake's and Neytiri's enthusiasm and happiness as they look at each other, riding their winged friends bound to them, notching up the gusto in mega leaps and bounds. Be it the gathering of the clans or fighting Quatrich and his army, or the theme song, J.H oozes magic in his sound, splashing the colours and grandeur of Avatar in magnanimous proportions and giving it life, oxygen and an abstract structure that compounds the appeal of the entire package. My favorite is Climbing up Iknimaya- The Path to Heaven, a three-minute track that amalgamates instrumental music with the chorused chanting of tribal sounds. The music and visuals form this complex artwork so firmly interconnected in their being, grasping it's threads and matting them in spell-binding virtuosity. This one will have it's audience gasping in profound awe of the superb imagery and stupendous special effects, for this is not just cinema, but art. Not just a passing fad, but a stupefying labyrinth of artistic conception resolutely ingrained in it's core strength- creativity at it's supreme pinnacle.











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