Over the past year or so, there has been a lot of buzz over this film; with the talk of the $300 million budget, the "ground-breaking" filming technology, etc., I couldn't help but think that this film was going to be absolutely stunning. Then September 2009 hits and we see the first trailer for "Avatar" and a resounding "What the hell?" came from the sci-fi, CBM and film world. While the film was astounding to watch, I couldn't help but feel that something was not right or missing. More on that later.
Like many others have stated in their reviews, the technology used to film this movie is incredible and damn near seamless. The colors, the movement, the detail, all were just stunning to watch. When "Transformers" came out a few years back, I was amazed at the CG work in that film, but this...this is unparalleled and will change how movies are filmed. Cameron's mind was somewhere else when he envisioned Pandora, and it paid off, big time.
On to one of the more heated discussions about this film...Mr. Sam Worthington and his "skills." While I don't think he was horrible, he was not even close to the level that Zoe Saldana was on. She blew him out of the water. And for those that said his accent was non-existant, try again. I heard the Aussie accent all through out the film. So, my vote is still no on him playing "that" role. As I mentioned, Saldana was amazing in her role. She showed such emotion through out the film. Stephen Lang's character was easily the most annoying and cliched in any film this year. I don't think it was possible for him to chew any harder on the scenery. Sigourney Weaver...enough said. Has no one noticed that the one and only CCH Pounder was in this film? While her speaking parts were not large in number, she made the best of them.
Now, I'm not going to go into detail about the storyline here, because most everyone else already has and that would just be pointless. I will say this: Shame on James Cameron for not coming up with a more original story to go along with this incredible world he created. I think with a better and more unique story, this could easily have been one of the best films to be released in years. But unfortunatly, it's hard to look past the re-hashed telling of the "Dances with Wolves" and "Pocahontas" story lines.
Having said that, I think this film is worth seeing, just for the sake of witnessing such an amazing and stunning atmosphere that is created. Just don't go into this film with expectations of being blown away by some amazing story, because it just isn't there.
Grade: B+ (Most of that just comes from the filming and CG)