Avatar

In complete cotrast to '127 hours', my second favourite film is without a doubt 'Avatar' (2009, James Cameron). Yeah ok, the storyline is quite generic, humans arrive at a new planet causing death and destruction to its inhabitants, however the technical complexity of this film has made it the highest grossing film of all time, generating $2,788 (in millions) ( Box Office Mojo - http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/world/). Cameron now holds the top two spots for highest ever grossing films worldwide with 'Titanic' (1997) in second!

I was gripped from start to finish, throughout the entirety of its 162 minute run time. The realism of Pandora made me want to live amongst the 'Na'vi' people ! You become fully immersed in Jake's journey as he is forced to choose between following the orders of his marine unit, or fighting for the native people with which he has fallen in love. I first saw this film on DVD, but I wish I could have seen it in 3D on a big screen. There are some amazing moments throughout the film, such as when Jake first flies a Mountain Banshee down a cliff face, or when we first get a glimpse of the famous Pandora floating mountains that took your breath away on even a small screen!

It seems though that I may get a chance to see 'Avatar 2' on the big screen. In fact, after reading an article in Empire magazine (Issue 307), I discovered that Cameron is in fact planning Avatars 2,3 and 4!  In the article, Cameron says he refrained from using sweeping landscape shots in 'Avatar' because he 'knew they'd strobe' which would take away from the amazing realistic world he had successfully created through the revolutionary use of their 'Simul-Cam process'. There are discussions that suggest using a rate of 48 frames per second rather than 24 as Peter Jackson did in 'The Hobbit' (2012), and even the possibility of shooting in 60 frames per second. This will reduce the strobing effect, this may mean that we have  can look forward to more ambitious pans of Pandora's landscape in the future 'Avatar' films.

The first 'Avatar' was unlike anything I have seen before, and it will be difficult to recreate the amazement that everyone felt upon its release. The end however, as Jake Sully opens his eyes reborn as one of the 'Na'vi', provides the perfect lead for the next instalment and so I have no doubts that 'Avatar 2' will be as engaging as the first.

Avatar 2 has been confirmed for release in 2017.