Avatar has been gaining hype for a few years now, and rightfully so. Director James Cameron certainly has the resume to garner the attention of the masses. In 1997, Cameron's Titanic was the highest grossing film of all time, and won eleven Oscars. It also introduced the world to the wonder of LEO! 


Along with a box-office busting director, Avatar can boast WETA Digital, the company responsible for the  eye candy on the Lord of the Rings Triology and King Kong. The big names were a major source of the buzz, but also the talk of the mindblowing photorealistic 3D and rich and engaging story set Avatar above the rest. 


Check out this extended trailer for an idea of what Avatar is all about:


My Avatar experience got off to a rocky start. At the midnight viewing, the theater played A Christmas Carol by mistake, which was not met with much understanding by the 300 nerds in 3D glasses. After several minutes of boos, they finally got our Avatar experience up and running.

I am happy to say that this film lived up to the hype in every way. This film is an audio visual masterpiece that should only be experienced in 3D. It is worth the extra $3 to experience this film the way it was meant to be. 


From the first scene, Avatar is breathtaking. The 3D is like nothing you have ever seen before. And the best thing about it is that it is used to enhance the film, not as a gimmick. Many simple shots are so impressive, such as a look down a corridor or a pan across a room. The incredible depth and realism of the shots really feel like you are looking at what they are showing you. And this isn't even getting to the CGI...


You can't help but read into the many underlining analogies present in the film. You can't help but think "Iraq war" when you hear the the head honcho of the mining project Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi) talk about "winning the hearts and minds" of the Na'vi in order to obtain a valuable underground resource. This eventually translates into an all out assault on the seemingly defenseless natives. Also within this story are tastes of early American genocide of Native Americans, and even a major 9/11 moment when the humans, lead by Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) blasts down the Home Tree in which all the Na'vi live.