Although corporations run the show, the military, led by Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), is on hand to provide protection and lend support. In 3D, it's immersive (that's the buzzword everyone uses for the 3D experience), but the traditional film elements - story, character, editing, theme, emotional resonance, etc. Avatar brings his social concerns to the surface. Avatar SCIENCE FICTION: United States, 2009 U.S. Release Date: 2009-12-18 Running Length: 2:41 MPAA Classification: PG-13 (Violence, Nudity) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore Director: James Cameron Screenplay: James Cameron Cinematography: Mauro Fiore Music: James Horner U.S. For a while, Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) had some success interacting with the natives by using "avatars"(synthetic Na'vi remotely controlled by humans) to provide education and technological advancement, but progress slowed and Grace was closed out of Na'vi society.
– James Cameron's sci-fi epic Avatar has been hailed as the future of filmmaking and the stunning fantasy world he has created more than lives up to the hype, say impressed critics. "Avatar delivers," writes Steven Rea at the Philadelphia Inquirer. "Combining beyond-state-of-the-art moviemaking with a tried-and-true storyline and a gamer-geek sensibility—not to mention a love angle, an otherworldly bestiary, and an arsenal of 22nd-century weaponry—the movie quite simply rocks." Calling the world Cameron has created in Avatar " an Eden in three dimensions," Manhola Dargis credits him with returning awe to the movie experience. "Created to conquer hearts, minds, history books and box-office records, the movie is glorious and goofy and blissfully deranged," she writes in the New York Times. "This is the most technically amazing motion picture to have arrived on screens in many years" and easily the best movie of 2009, raves James Berardinelli at Reelviews. Cameron has created "the most vivid and convincing creation of a fantasy world ever seen in the history of moving pictures" writes Richard Corliss at Time. Avatar should be embraced "as a total sensory, sensuous, sensual experience."