By now, you will probably have read twenty reviews not only on this site, but on several others. Each review is slightly different, but overall the same: "Awesome! This movie is just shy of perfect!" No disrespect to others, but this movie is DEFINITLEY not perfect.
Is this a movie that some would hate? Maybe. Do I? HECK NO!! Now, Elektra I hate. Ang Lee's Hulk I despise with a passion. It's just that this film is not what I expected. It did not have quite the amount of action or violence I was hoping for. Nor was the pace constant. But there are two definitive aspects that will remain noteworthy.
The first are the perfromances. Sam Worthington as Jake Sully was surprisingly sympathetic. His disability was not used as a plot tool. His paralysis was there and he dealyt with it. Ney'tiri, portrayed by the stunning Zoe Saldana, was awe inspiring. I could not even remember that she played Uhura in Star Trek. Sigourney Weaver gave an average performance. This means that she did a GOOD job but I felt that her character, Grace, could have left more of an impact with the audience. But it was Joel David Moore's character Norm that came out of left field. Norm, from what I saw before the film, I thought he was going to be the comic relief. He was to a degree. But almost every character, including Quaritch, was the relief. Norm was the Neville Longbottom of the group and just like in the Deathly Hallows, Norm steps up. Stephen Lang is your generic villain as Quaritch. Like some have said: "If he had a mustache, he would twirl it." Overall this was a rather outstanding cast.
The second aspect of this movie is of course, the special effects. From start to finish, there were probably only three seconds where I noticed that it was computer generated. The rest of the two hours, thirty-nine minutes, and fifty-seven seconds the effects dazzled me. The f/x fit seamlessly into place and made me feel that Pandora actually existed. Whenever a Na'vi hand was running over a human's flesh, not once did I think that it was fake. Of course, the 3D kind of helped make the transition easier.
Each review that I have read for this movie pointed to one inescapable fact: I needed to see this film in 3D. Not only that, I needed to experience it in Imax 3D. Like almost anyone else would tell you, 3D is a gimmick. It is a marketing tool that doesn't help the movie at all. Roger Ebert has called 3D unrealistic and distracting. But for once, 3D isn't used as a gimmick. This is just another tool to immerse you into the lush world of Pandora. Unfortuatley, I was a tad bit disappointed in the 3D. I don't know what I was expecting. Maybe I wanted more "Pop Out." But of course that would have required more action and the plot didn't deliver on that deal despite the trailers.
Most of us knew going in that this story was overall, wholly unoriginal. A child could predict the outcome. But when I look back at Jim Cameron's other works like Terminator 2, Titanic, The Abyss, etc., all prove that this movie did not live up to it's potential. I love long movies. But it is a sad day when I say that a movie needs to be shorter. There was, I can't beleive I'm writing this, too much character development.
When I go see a movie, I invest myself in it. I try not to become distracted. But six times I checked my phone for the time. SIX!!!! I would have hoped that I was entertained 100% of the time. Quite frankly, I was not. This was not helped by the fact that I got two phone calls during the film. Now before you start shouting at me, my phone was on silent. But I just got this phone and silent means vibrate. So I basically lost my focus for about four minutes. Five if you count the number of times my grandmother started to nodd off. Now do not get me wrong. I believe this movie was excellent. But like I stated before, it dod not live up to it's potential. If Mr. Cameron had cut off about fifteen minutes, I would have enjoyed it more. But this film did change my opinion about one thing.
A few weeks ago, DogsofWar posted an article about the Visual Effects Oscar Contenders. I had commented that I wanted Revenge of the Fallen to win. I now humbly change my vote to Avatar.
Story: 3/10
Performance: 8/10
Effects: 15/10
Total: 86.66/100