Avatar.

Let me start by saying that if you enjoy movies on any level at all, you should probably go see "Avatar" because on a technical level it an astounding achievement that raises the bar for cinematic craft and provides an experience that is unique entertainment; it is most likely nothing like you have ever seen on the big screen. The story is equally strong and captivating, and together they fashion an experience that will stick with you for a long time after it's over, and it will reward repeated viewings with its meticulous design and abundance of detail.

The good majority of this film is digitally created, but the state-of-the-art technology and methods used to create it that are so much more advanced than anything that has come before propels it far above the achieved realism of any other movie I've seen. It obsoletes previous movies and sets a new standard. The digitally created characters inexplicably sidestep the Uncanny Valley and behave just like real actors, and in the case of Sam Worthington's and Sigourney Weaver's digital counterparts, even resemble and mimic their real life mannerisms. It's a remarkable effect, and one that quickly suspends disbelief even within the first few scenes. Later scenes simply serve to solidify the belief that these are real creatures and not just digital constructs. The same goes for all the environments, from a vertigo-inducing shot of a massive spaceship's cavernous interior to the multiple, multiple sequences on the planet involving lush jungles, steep cliffsides, and precarious treetops. Everything just looks so real and naturally occuring, with an abundance of minute details like wondrously imaginative alien wildlife and incredibly diverse plantlife that really draw you into the scenery. Then, effective use of 3D draws you in even further and gives the visuals amazing depth and proportion... foreground materials seem to jump out from the screen so that you could reach out and touch them, and background scenery seems to disappear far into the distance beyond the screen. The vibrance, realism, nuances, and spectacles simply defy adequate description; it has to be seen to be believed.

Lots of attention to detail and effort have been put into the story and characters as well, so this isn't just an all style, no substance affair. The plot tells the story of a peaceful, forest-dwelling race on an alien planet that lives in harmony with the plants and animals. Lots of effort is spent showing the relationship between the hunter-gatherers, their prey, and their homeworld in a "circle of life" type concept in which all living things share a life force and energy that is constantly reused and held in balance by a "mother nature" entity that seems to be alive at a biological level. Sigourney Weaver's character, Grace Augustine, supervises a scientific team that studies the indigenous N'avi people and their remarkable connection to their world, and interacts with them through the use of "Avatars", biologically-engineered genetic replicas of the N'avi that the human researchers can control through a telepathic link. It's broad, sweeping science fiction that reaches so far, strives for so much grand scope and achieves it; this is a story that sparks your own imagination and simultaneously draws parallels to your own experience; it makes you look first outward at what might be possible, and then inward at what already is.

The story is further given a green slant by the arrival of heavily armed soldiers from Earth, which we learn is has been presumably run dry of all natural resources. The soldiers, along with massive war machines and excavation equipment, lay waste to entire regions of the planet in search of a precious ore, sloppily called "Unobtainium" (one of the film's few weak decisions). The obvious implication is drawing a parallel with the environmental and anti-war movements, but at times feels a little ham-fisted and preachy. A massive company, in a very Cameron-esque plot element straight out of "Aliens", contracts with the military to clear out the locals and their land to reach the precious ore, and in an interesting twist, we find ourselves siding with the aliens this time around and against the human invaders. Cameron's decision to look at the classic conflict of human imperialists versus hostile natives through the other perspective is fascinating and refreshing. In many ways, this is "Aliens" told from the other side.

Amusingly, the film contains a lot of Cameron trademarks and allusions to his previous work. To the Cameron initiate this is inconsequential, but for Cameron fans like myself that enjoyed "Aliens", "Abyss", and "Titanic," it's great fun to see Cameron leave his fingerprints all over the little details and quirks in this movie. For one, Cameron really enjoys futuristic military hardware that's got a layer of grease and some dents on it. The hoverships are the spiritual successor to the Dropships in Aliens, as are the bipedal tanks the spiritual successor to the PowerLoaders. The mothership they arrive on, complete with cryotube sleep chambers necessary for sublight space travel, resembles the sprawling design of the Nostromo and Sulaco in its function-over-form design. The mining and excavating equipment also hearkens to the space-age blue collar equipment seen in the original "Alien" film and "The Abyss". Then we have the revisited theme of a megalomaniacal company asserting their power over an alien species and exploiting them for their own profit. Even the project foreman, Parker Selfridge, is a direct lift from the Carter Burke character from Aliens. Michelle Rodriguez plays Aliens' Vasquez role, here she's named Trudy Chacon but she's the same tough female marine, albeit a little more one-dimensional this time around. Sigourney Weaver is right at home in Cameron's world as well, and fans will be amused to learn that Michael Biehn was originally signed on to play Colonel Quaritch, the military commander assigned to the project, before Stephen Lang stepped in (interestingly enough, Lang turns in a very entertaining performance and gives you a hint of what a real-life Sarge character might be like in a more faithful "Doom" movie adaptation). Cameron's touch can even be found in the imaginative character name choices, like Jake Sully, Grace Augustine, Trudy Chacon, Parker Selfridge, and Miles Quaritch.

In the end, though, the human story in "Avatar" is what draws the audience in after they've been dazzled by the special effects and technical achievements. Sam Worthington turns in a powerful performance as Jake Sully, a parapalegic marine who is given the chance to walk again by enrolling in the Avatar program, wherein he controls one of the towering, graceful N'avi replicas. His assignment is first to act as security to Augustine's research team, but secretly to spy on the N'avi and report weaknesses to Quaritch in hopes that they can more easily persuade them to leave, or if necessary, exploit weaknesses during their forced relocation. He successfully penetrates the N'avi society and gradually becomes one of their own, learning new values of honoring the wildlife as a whole and the customs of the society, and eventually falling in love with his guide to this new life, the surprisingly captivating Neytiri, the daughter of the tribe's patriarch. As Jake slowly becomes accepted in this new life, and learns the awesome power of the bond between the N'avi and their homeworld, he effectively drops his human militaristic side and stages a rebellion, leading the N'avi against the marines in a spectacular battle sequence that carries more weight than most third-act shootouts because of everything that has come before. The awesome scope of the story and characters makes this battle immediately important to the audience, and we have so much invested in the characters that every seesaw in the fight is exhilarating.

And exhilarating is a good description for the movie as a whole. There's just so much movie here: the far-flung science fiction imagination; the incredible realism of the digital characters and the sensory feast of visuals from an alien planet that has been meticulously realized and executed; characters that are simultaneously archetypes and fully-fleshed out characters that engage the audience; a story that encompasses environmentalism and pacifism, imperialism and industrialism, and draws a human thread through the whole that teaches human strength, achievement, and redemption of trust; and technical and storytelling greatness that draws it all together in just the right proportions to make the movie more than the sum of its parts. "Avatar" is a sublime narrative, and an awesome achivement in filmmaking craft.