The Concordian

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There’s nothing quite like sitting in a movie theater for hours upon hours, upon hours.

The dead weights that have become your legs, that tingling feeling in your rear, your bladder screaming to be released, and that overall feeling of just wanting this film to be over already.

That is unless the movie you’re viewing is mind-blowingly awesome, much like James Cameron’s latest epic Avatar.

The plot behind Avatar is an age old story that many have compared to Dances with Wolves. However though, there is no Kevin Costner in this flick and besides, who would have wanted to see that film in 3-D anyway?

On the distant planet of Pandora lives a humanoid race called the “Na’vi.” They posses their own language, culture, and a precious mineral beneath their scared grounds.

Jake Sully, a paraplegic Marine, has been propositioned to travel to Pandora after the death of his brother. Sully’s brother was heavily involved with the Avatar program which involved replicating the Na’vi to better understand their culture.

However, this program is all surrounded by greedy businessman, Parker Selfridge, who is only after the mineral that lies beneath Pandora.

The Avatar program was essentially designed to better communicate with the Na’vi with hopes that the Americans can drive them away from the homeland in order to mine the minerals.

Sully has been propositioned by Colonel Quaritch, who offers Sully a spinal surgery in exchange for him to infiltrate the Na’vi people and gather intel information about their land.

After agreeing, Jake finds himself amongst the Fern Gully-like atmosphere of Pandora which is an indescribable rain forrest filled with beauty and wonder.

By being a natural American, Jake is stubborn and wonders through Pandora alone but soon finds himself overwhelmed (and also lost) amongst the forrest and above all, the strange and mystical creatures that roam the land.

Luckily though he’s saved by the beautiful native, Neytiri, who takes Jake under her wing and shows him the ways of the Na’vi (but of course with typical reluctance at first).

After weeks of living with the Na’vi, Jake becomes completely immersed into their  culture and lives. Of course this wouldn’t be a true Hollywood Blockbuster if it didn’t have a love story to it.

Jake falls deeply in love with, not only Pandora, but also his mentor, Neytiri. He’s discovering that pretending to be a Na’vi sure beats living in a world where he’s confined to drill sergeants and wheelchairs.

Now, revealing the rest of the plot will ultimately lead to spoilers, however though, I can continue to explain the sheer beauty of this movie. Actually though, when I first viewed the trailer I was very conflicted about seeing this flick.

The plot seemed overdone and I may have been the only person who did not like James Cameron’s last blockbuster, Titanic.

But there had been so much buzz and hype about it that I became  intrigued. I can now confidently say that I’m glad I saw this movie.

There’s never been a movie that took me so far out of my own head quite like this one.

The visual effects are nothing more than mind-blowing and the world of Pandora looks so real, I felt as though I could’ve rode my own mystical beast into the forest.

If the plot doesn’t fancy you, then the effects certainly should. It’s well worth the $10-plus bucks to see this movie, especially since it’s in 3-D. Besides, how can anyone pass up a 3-D movie these days? They just keep getting better!

Considering that it’s exceeded Box Office expectations, there’s still plenty of time to get out there and watch this movie.

If you don’t, you could very well be the only person who hasn’t seen it, and who wants to be that person? It may not be the movie-to-end-all-movies, but it’s most certainly something to check out.

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