Avatar - A breathtaking glimpse into the future

BY TOM CARDY

OPINION: I have seen the future of cinema and it is blue-skinned, about three metres tall, with large cat-like eyes, pointy ears and a long tail.

That's just one type of alien finally revealed in a 15-minute peek at James Cameron's sci-fi movie Avatar in Wellington yesterday the first showing in the world.

Most of the US$200 million 3D movie was shot in Wellington and 850 staff at visual effects studio Weta Digital continue to work on its completion.

But until yesterday, there were few details of the film, and only two officially released images.

A giant Cameron, in 3D, introduced the excerpt, filling in some of the details of the story, including the 22nd-century setting.

The biggest surprise in the excerpt is not the quality of the 3D, but the level of realism to the computer-generated visual effects.

In the film, a paraplegic soldier has his personality and memories downloaded courtesy of a red-haired Sigourney Weaver into the body of a blue-skinned native. It becomes his "avatar" so he can walk and explore the deadly rainforest of a planet.

It is a lush, brightly coloured jungle populated by giant reptilian creatures, some similar to triceratops dinosaurs, others a cross between giant eagles and pterosaurs. At night it becomes luminous and is as brightly coloured as a coral reef.

The 3D glasses give an inspiring depth to the landscape. But it is Cameron's aliens, with Australian Sam Worthington as the avatar and Zoe Saldana as a "Na'vi" native, that are jaw-dropping.

British actor Andy Serkis was used as the basis for the computer-generated Gollum in The Lord of the Rings and Kong in King Kong via motion capture technology. The same technology, as well as purpose-built 3D cameras, is used for Avatar, but, simply put, the aliens look real.

It is hard to believe that several scenes, including a breathtaking ride on one of the flying beasts, is entirely computer-generated.

These surpass the best visual effects I have seen in any film and, going on just 15 minutes, they are likely to have a bigger impact on film-making than the visual effects in Cameron's The Abyss and Terminator 2.

Avatar has computer-generated characters that audiences can fall in love with. "Technology has put us at the point where we can tell stories that could not otherwise be told that's enabled us to tell Avatar in a way movies in the past couldn't express themselves," said producer Jon Landau after the screening. "We hope it will use technology to create an immersive experience where you come out of the theatre saying, 'I experienced a movie' and not just, 'I saw the movie'."

Avatar opens on December 17.

- © Fairfax NZ News