Zoe Saldana

A dozen years later, James Cameron has proven his point: He is king of the world. As commander-in-chief of an army of visual-effects technicians, creature designers, motion-capture mavens, stunt performers, dancers, actors and music and sound magicians, he brings science-fiction movies into the 21st century with the jaw-dropping wonder that is “Avatar.

And he did it almost from scratch. After writing this story many years ago, he discovered that the technology he needed to make it happen did not exist. So, he went out and created it in collaboration with the best effects minds in the business. The movie is 161 minutes and flies by in a rush. The story takes place in 2154, three decades after a multinational corporation has established a mining colony on Pandora, a planet light years from Earth. A toxic environment and hostile natives.

Humans dwell in oxygen-drenched cocoons but move out into mines or to confront the planet’s stile creatures in hugely fortified armor and robotics or as avatars. The protagonist, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), is a disabled former Marine who takes his late twin brother’s place in the avatar program. Without any training, Jake suddenly must learn how to link his consciousness to an avatar, a remotely controlled biological body that mixes human DNA with that of the native population, the Naive. Since he is incautious and overly curious, he immediately rushes into the fresh air to a native to throw open Pander’s many boxes.

Jake manages to get taken in by one tribe where a powerful, Amazonian named Integrity (Zoe Ashland) takes him under her wing to teach him how to live in the forest, speak the language and honor the traditions of nature. Yes, they fall in love but they must overcome obstacles and learn each other’s heart. In his months with the Naive, Jake experiences their life as the “true world” and that inside his crippled body locked in a coffin-like transporting device, where he can control his avatar, is as the “dream. ” The switch to the other side is gradual for his body remains with the human colony while his consciousness is sometimes elsewhere.

The battle for Pandora occupies much of the final third of the film. The planet’s animal life the creatures of the ground and air give battle along with the Naive, but they come up against projectiles, bombs and armor that seemingly will be their ruin. As with everything in “Avatar,” Cameron has coolly thought things through. With every visual tool he can muster, he takes viewers through the battle like a master tactician, demonstrating how every turn in the fight, every valiant death or cowardly act, changes its course. The screen is alive with more action.