Avatar (Blu-ray) (2009)

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General		Extras
Category	Sci-Fi Action	None
Rating
Year Of Production	2009
Running Time	161:21
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	James Cameron
Studio Distributor	Twentieth Century Fox	Starring	Sam Worthington Zoe Saldana Sigourney Weaver Stephen Lang Joel Moore Giovanni Ribisi Michelle Rodriguez
Case	Amaray Variant
RPI	$39.95	Music	James Horner

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Unknown	English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 (4608Kb/s) English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	2.40:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired Portuguese Spanish French	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    In 2010, I believe that James Cameron's Avatar has become more than just a film phenomenon, it has re-invented the power of cinema as art and entertainment. From an artistic viewpoint, the computer-graphics employed in the film are the most life-like yet seen in a movie. From an entertainment perspective Avatar became an EVENT, a reason to go to the cinema to view a film in 3D. Not since the 1950s has cinema been so transformed by a film due to its format of presentation. At that time the movie studios were competing with television as a competitor in the entertainment business and this brought forth the innovation of 3D films and later widescreen films. Widescreen films were released in all sorts of aspect ratios in those days, with Ben Hur filmed in a 2:76:1 ratio, we thought that films couldn't get wider until Cinerama came along, with its 146-degree concave screens making its films virtually 2:89:1 wide. Of course the popularity of 3-D films and Cinerama died out in the late 1950s/early 1960s (The last Cinerama film released was How The West Was Won in 1962) and films that were released in common ratio of 1:33:1 were eventually released from the 1960s onwards in either 1:85:1 'flat' ratio or 2:35:1 'scope' ratio. The release of Avatar has made 3D films popular again, something that I thought would be unlikely to happen just 2 years ago when The Dark Knight was setting box-office records.

    The story of Avatar is very basic. Jake Sully (played by Sam Worthington) plays a former marine who is paraplegic, sent to Pandora, an Earth-like moon of the planet Polyphemus, to replace his twin brother, who was murdered in a robbery, as an avatar operator. An avatar operator is responsible for doing scientific work in developing diplomatic relations with the inhabitants of Pandora, the Na'vi people. The conflict in the story arises from Jake's gradual development of his awareness of the Na'vi people, their customs and their attachment to their homeland. The RDA corporation, the mining company Jake works for wants to re-locate the Na'vi to mine for the very valuable mineral unobtainium. Who does Jake help? The Na'vi or his employers, the RDA corporation?

    The plot of Avatar has been described by critics as a simplistic cross between Dances With Wolves and The Lion King. This may be true, then again, no-one took Star Wars seriously either in 1977, do you remember who won best picture that year? That's right, Annie Hall! In thirty years time I'm sure you'll remember that 2009's best picture was The Hurt Locker. A quick look at films that broke box-office records in the last eighty years reveals many significant films. For example, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Gone with the Wind, The Exorcist, Jaws, Star Wars, E.T., Jurassic Park and James Cameron's last film, Titanic. All these films share a common trait of re-inventing cinema, either in style or genre, and we still remember them today, as I'm sure we will remember Avatar in the future. I wonder what will top Avatar?

    James Cameron has been given much credit for the success of the film. It cost $US237 million to make and $US150 million to market (I would say the real figure is more than this with the release of the movie on Blu-ray and DVD in April, 2010) and has so far grossed over $US2.7 billion worldwide. The innovative method of using motion-capture technology and matching it with live performance with actors, viewing rendered CGI effects live while directing, is what made Avatar a unique experience in filmmaking. James Cameron was able to shoot more of the film as he went along without needing to view the final results in post-production, I believe that these new visual effects will change the way we view modern cinema. Also, the visual effects company used for Avatar, New Zealand company, Weta Digital, deserves praise for the spectacular lighting and shading effects which makes the world of Pandora look so real visually. The general visual effects supervisor for Avatar, Joe Letteri therefore, winner of five academy awards for his work in visual effects over the last 20 years, deserves credit for this advancement in rendering computer-graphics on film.

    However, for all his reputation is worth as a man who is notoriously difficult to work with (in the film the character of Grace Augustine, played by Sigourney Weaver, is closest in reality to Cameron's personality, an uncompromising idealist and perfectionist who has a soft and compassionate side to their character once you get to know them), we can't discuss Avatar without praising James Cameron's vision, commitment and willingness to make the film the way it needed to be made, without compromising on the technological requirements of the film. Cameron's previous film, the $US1.8 billion record box-office success, Titanic almost severed his relationship with 20th Century Fox during shooting. Could Mr Cameron please cut back on the budget while shooting in Mexico? No! Mr Cameron would make Titanic the way he had envisaged. Despite critics saying that Titanic would be a box-office disaster (aren't all troubled productions predicted to be so usually?) the film of course was the first film that got repeat customers at the cinema before home video recorders were mass-marketed. So, Avatar was thought of as the next film to Titanic in 1996, but Cameron refused to make it until he saw the CGI effects used for Gollum in The Lord of the Rings. Even so it wasn't until after 2006 that Cameron seriously began pre-production on Avatar.

    The hype that built up in waiting 12 years certainly helped to make Avatar a much-longed for follow-up to Titanic. There are some characteristic James Cameron motifs and trademarks in Avatar that are seen in all of Cameron's films. This includes making the character of Jake Sully a paraplegic. All of Cameron's protagonists are flawed in some way, Michael Biehn's Kyle Reese develops an emotional attachment to the person he is supposed to protect in Terminator. In True Lies, Arnold Schwarzenegger's Harry Tasker lies to his wife about his true profession. In Titanic, Leonardo Di Caprio's Jack Dawson is a talented artist who can't escape his lowly class. All these lead characters rise above their flaws in some way, as does Jake Sully in his connection with the Na'vi people. However, Avatar is the first film in a long time that does not feature Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton, Jenette Goldstein or Arnold Schwarzenegger (however, once Arnold Schwarzenegger retires from politics in his role as governor of California, a planned collaboration with James Cameron will be on the way) and is also Cameron's first science-fiction film that does not include a nuclear explosion.

    The release of Avatar on Blu-ray and DVD has also set records for sales in the United States and United Kingdom at the time of writing this review. It sold 6.7 million copies on Blu-ray in the United States after 4 days alone, breaking the previous record held by The Dark Knight. I have no doubt that Avatar will be the biggest selling Blu-ray and DVD release of 2010 in Australia also.

Video

    Avatar was released in cinemas in 2D and 3D version in a 2:39:1 aspect ratio. It was released on 3D at IMAX cinemas in a 1:78:1 aspect ratio.

    This 2D release of Avatar utilises the 1:78:1 preferred aspect ratio of director James Cameron. It is 16x9 enhanced for widescreen televisions.

    The 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer for Avatar is unlike anything you've probably put into your Blu-ray player previously. Avatar uses nearly all of the 50gb of space on a dual-layered Blu-ray disc for the 162-minute film. I did not recall the bitrate dropping below an average of 25mb/sec while watching the film, often it was above 30 mb/sec. The shadow detail on the film's CGI effects are extraordinarily fine and stunning.

    Colour is also incredible, I believe the full spectrum of colours, from black to white have been captured with vivid, rich brightness and dark, immense blackness. Of course, there is a strong tinge of blue throughout the film, as this is the colour of the Na'vi people and their planetary moon, and in cinematographic terms it is a favoured directorial motif of Cameron to shoot his films featuring deep blue colours.

    There are no film artefacts whatsoever.

    Subtitles are provided in English for the hearing impaired, Portuguese, Spanish and French, with the dialogue of Na'vi characters burnt-in on the screen.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The soundtrack to Avatar takes up where the visual transfer left off in creating a realistic and enveloping sound to the world of Pandora.

    The main audio soundtrack is a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that will give your home theatre system a real workout, even at lower levels. Portuguese, French, Spanish and English Audio Descriptive soundtracks are also included which are all encoded in Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448 kbps. A Dolby Digital surround-encoded 2.0 track at 224 kbps is also provided.

    Dialogue is clear and audio is synchronised.

    The music by James Horner required him to work 18-hour days at one stage to merge the alien Na'vi soundtrack with the traditional film score he composed for the film. Not everything associated with Avatar has been successful however. For example, you won't be humming the theme song I See You by Leona Lewis after you've seen the film.

    Surround channel usage renders the environment of the film with sounds of the jungle, nature, helicopters and war with perfect balance between action, drama and dialogue.

    The subwoofer also gets a workout in this film with many action scenes and explosions.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    Avatar has been released in a Region ALL version in the United States and in Region B in the United Kingdom, Germany and Holland. These all include a version of the film on DVD except for the German release. They only differ slightly in their languages and subtitles.

    The Region B Australian release is also a standalone version, like the German release, without a DVD included. However, like the United Kingdom release, the Australian Region B version of Avatar includes a registration code for the official Avatar website that enables access to exclusive content.

    I would say that you have already purchased this version of James Cameron's Avatar prior to reading this review. Also, you have done this knowing that a possible 4-disc ultimate edition is on the way in November, 2010. Despite this, you will probably buy a version of Avatar complete with extras later in the year. So why get Avatar in 2D?

    The advent of 3D television technology may revolutionise the way we watch films at home and a 3D release of Avatar would be a 'must-have' addition if you purchase a 3D home cinema system in the future. However, this 2D release of Avatar is the equivalent of the Sony Superbit DVD release of the early 2000s, it is the new reference Blu-ray disc for your home theatre system, although Baraka on Blu-ray will always be a reference-quality standard in my Blu-ray library for traditional films shot without CGI (shot in 1992, it is the last film shot in 70mm).

    Watching Avatar at home, my 11-year old son remarked to me that it looked better than when he watched it at the cinemas in 3D in December, 2009. Having watched many films on my home theatre system in my role as a Blu-ray/DVD reviewer, I can safely say that Avatar is still worth the experience of watching it in your own home in its present 2D format, it is simply that much better, visually and aurally, than any other blu-ray releases you own...period.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall