Out of this world!

Lou Lumenick
Blog: Movies

MOVIE REVIEW

AVATAR King of another world. Running time: 163 minutes. In English and “Na’vi” with English subtitles. Rated PG-13 (intense battle scenes, sensuality, swearing). At the Lincoln Square, the Chelsea, the Union Square, others.

It isn’t easy being blue, the trans-species hero of James Cameron’s spectacular “Avatar” learns when he’s forced to defend a planet in a distant galaxy from earthling imperialists determined to lay waste to a paradise.

Part eco-fable, part “Dances With Wolves” in intergalactic drag and part kick-ass action flick (à la “Aliens”) with a decidedly left-leaning political agenda, Cameron’s first movie since “Titanic” may sometimes speak in Velveeta, but it’s rarely less than absorbing and never boring over its nearly three-hour length.

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Extraterrestrial versions of Sam Worthington and Laz Alonso in “Avatar.”

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Reportedly the most expensive movie ever made, “Avatar” really pushes the envelope in its awe-inspiring depiction of Pandora, home of the slender, blue-skinned, golden-eyed Na’vi race, which co-exists peacefully (mostly) with gigantic flying reptiles, dinosaur-like beasts and other fearsome creatures.

Unfortunately for the Na’vi, in the year 2154, Pandora is the only known source of a mineral that can save a despoiled Earth from ecological disaster.

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And the invading military commander, Col. Quaritch (Stephen Lang, excellent), is just itching to unleash some major “shock and awe” (cue Iraq war allegory) on the unwary Na’vi. Quaritch turns to Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a Marine who has lost the use of his legs after an accident. Gung-ho Sully has volunteered to become an avatar, a hybrid that combines DNA of a Na’vi with a human.

Though Jake is supposed to be on Pandora researching the Na’vi under the supervision of fellow avatar Grace (Sigourney Weaver), he secretly agrees to chart the species’ positions for Col. Quaritch. Jake’s covert mission is compromised — and he begins going native — when his blue skin is saved by sexy Na’vi warrior Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), who brings him ever deeper into their civilization. Jake, like the other avatars, leads a split existence, returning to consciousness in his crippled human body when his avatar is sleeping, and vice versa.

The Na’vi and the avatars have been created using motion-capture animation, which now permits convincing humanoid characters.

Peter Jackson’s and several other special-effects shops have crafted a truly eye-

popping world that is well worth the price of admission.

Cameron has in the past promised that “Avatar” would be a breakthrough for 3-D, but it is employed with relative subtlety in the version that I saw. (The 3-D IMAX and 2-D versions were not screened for the press.)

Worthington does a good job of conveying the naive Sully’s conflicts, Saldana is a fearsome vision in blue, and Weaver, a veteran of Cameron’s “Aliens,” is very good as Pandora’s Margaret Mead.

The nonstop action in the movie’s last half-hour or so borrows not only from “Apocalypse Now,” but also from “Aliens.”

There are giant robot suits, a female fighter pilot (Michelle Rodriguez) and a slimy corporate type (Giovanni Ribisi, following in the footsteps of Paul Reiser, who played a similar character in “Aliens”).

“Avatar” does boast some groan-worthy dialogue, but it’s likely you’ll get so wrapped up in this glorious epic you’ll scarcely notice.

lou.lumenick@nypost.com