A little bit Dances with Wolves, a soupcon of A Man Called Horse, a dash of the eco-doom documentary The Age of Stupid … and a lot of huge-eyed blue aliens. That’s the recipe for James Cameron’s long-awaited, much-discussed new 3-D film, Avatar, which was unveiled last night in London (I forgot: there’s a pinch of Apocalypse Now to add spice to the mix.)
You’ll have to wait till next week for our esteemed reviewers to pass judgment on Cameron’s latest blockbuster, his first feature since that little movie about the big ship that couldn’t. This one apparently cost more than the contents of Suri Cruise’s shoe closet (estimates vary, but it’s safe to say more than $300-million (U.S.), making it the most expensive movie ever.)
What I can tell you is that Sigourney Weaver (looking absolutely gorgeous) stars as a chain-smoking, foul-mouthed scientist who might as well be called Ripley 2.0, after the character she played in the Alien films (Cameron directed the second in that series). I, for one, was very glad that you can still smoke in the year 2154.
The movie follows a wheelchair-bound U.S. marine (Australian actor Sam Worthington) as he’s sent to a planet called Pandora, where humans are mining the heck out of the place, much to the consternation of the indigenous people, the Na’vi. Yes, it uses new 3-D technology, which does not seem, contrary to some reports, to induce stomach heaves. The Empire in Leicester Square remained a vomit-free zone, as far as I could tell.
Before the premiere, Cameron (an Ontario native, I’m contractually obliged to point out) stood on the blue carpet – to match the aliens, you see – and said that audiences would be surprised by the “emotionality” of the film. “I dare you not to cry,” he added. He may not have realized that the 3-D glasses made crying difficult, though not impossible. Inside, he spoke a few words of Na’vi – a language developed for the movie – and expressed relief that the 4-and-a-half year creative process was over. “Sometimes it seemed like it would never end.”
