Finally, took me long enough!

So I put off writing for a while as there has been little to write about. So apparently, this is an exception, and a worthy one I think.

Last years big blockbuster, James Cameron's Avatar offers much commentary on militarism, capitalism, racism and the influence those factors have had on the political climate of decades and centuries past where few have brought guns and germs devastating the landscape and the people who lived on them. This story takes place far from our home planet, but in a way, not so far from home, as it is in a way, a very human story.

The Na'vi and their way of life depend deeply on the health of the forests they call home. They live without concern for economy and social class. Their concern is the forest, the lush and gorgeous world of Pandora, where the geography bares similarity to Earth's tropical rain-forests. The creatures and people of Pandora so strange to our eyes much like the flora and fauna of the tropics may have been to European explorers in centuries past.

And much like the conquerors of times past, people from earth, a powerful corporation using military personnel and weaponry, have come for one thing: extracting the mineral unobtanium. Oh so expensive, and whose purpose to the Na'vi remains a mystery, but like the conquerors in history, they cared none about whatever uses petroleum, copper, gold and other minerals had to the indigenous people they took these resources from. Their "need" for X-mineral trumped all concerns for human rights and environmental impact, but who cares? Someone's getting rich!

So, would I say go see it? I'm no cinephile, nor a huge Cameron fan, but I'll say, the effects render a gorgeous looking film, however the character development is alright, though I thought the antagonist Quaritch, to be much like characters in Cameron's other flicks, I.E kind of un-real, they can be sometimes to evil, to smarmy, etc. The change to humans as invading aliens and the Na'vi as defending their home is pretty well executed and not often seen in Sci-Fi.

The other main aspect, the modern man becoming part of a tribal society, and gaining greater respect for the natural world that is his new home. Well, that's been done often before, I.E Ferngully and Dances With Wolves, and while not done poorly, it's not done in a stunningly original way either.
Overall, I liked this film.