Avatar, James Cameron’s new 3D-movie spectacular, is a veritable buffet of seemingly plausible science to wow us into suspending disbelief. So much so that some of us even walk away depressed.
It’s no secret that most movies are terrible about getting science correct. But because Avatar rises above the rest, it sounded fun to list what worked for this nerd.
Disclaimer: I think filmmakers need some artistic license. As long as a director tries to get something even close to correct, and the science isn’t be insultingly misrepresented — *coughTheCorecough* — you get an “A” for effort in my gradebook.
And some points for those who haven’t seen the movie:
- Go see it. Please crawl out from under your rock and slam down the $10-20 to see it (IMAX 3D is amazing). The plot is as predictable as a can of baked beans, but Cameron’s zeal for going all-out compensates for this and other flaws. I’ll leave it to film critics to discuss the artistic merits.
- Plot 101: Pandora is a lush green moon around a gas giant planet that’s unusually rich in a rare (and made-up) mineral called “Unobtainium.” It sells for $20 million a kilogram, and a company has set up a mining operation on the moon to rake in the dough. Problem is, the moon is inhabited by monstrously tall, blue, deadly, nature-loving humanoids called the Na’vi who are pissed that the “Sky People” are pillaging their beautiful world. We jump into the story as a spaceship full of people, including one Jake Sulley — a paraplegic marine who’s filling in for his genetically similar yet recently killed scientist brother – arrives in orbit after 6 years of travel. Sulley’s mission: to control a (very expensive) part human, part-Na’vi clone to study, help make peace with the Pandora natives, and get them out of their mile-high tree village. Which of course sits on the richest pile of unobtainium in the area.
- Spoiler alert! Don’t read any further if you want to be surprised in the theater.
Without further adieu, ten things Avatar got right: (more…)