Years ago I remember reading in Peter Jackson's autobiography about the effect the experience of watching King Kong had on him. He realised in that movie the amazing potential of cinema to create the unreal. He spent his following years until his success with bigger pictures like Lord of the Rings trying to replicate the stop motion animation pioneered by Willis O'Brien in that film. That movie helped him decide his path in life as a film maker.
I was born in an age of cinema lacking in the same novelty glamour that previous generations enjoyed. Cinema is now such a common part of our culture that even ground breaking special effects and hyper real non fiction is only able to capture our attention for as long as it takes for another film to distract us. Common story formats have been done to death, typical filmic styles have been utilised so many times there is little that ever makes one film stand out from another. Our interest as an audience has been waning and waiting for something fresh to come along and sweep us away in its fantasy.
When I saw Jason Sully for the first time, attached to a seat amongst other space traveller's all travelling within the long cylindrical tube of their vessel I truly felt I was watching a world through a plane of clear glass, that beyond the barrier of the cinema projection screen there truly was a world just waiting to be stepped into.
Avatar was my first ever novel cinema experience and it has inspired me to pick my own path, one that I hope will one day lead to my own 3D work.
I will say little about the film other then it was amazing. Pandora is a world deserving of a directors special extended DVD edition. This film was true genius at work.
Four and a half stars **** 1/2
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