Avatar (James Cameron, 2009)

Avatar is James Cameron’s Phantom Menace.

Fortunately, most of the film going public will probably get so caught up on the, frankly, extraordinary visuals that many will fail to notice how truly weak the story actually is. However, after the first hour I no longer bought it. It’s essentially Dances with Wolves on a £300 million dollar budget with blue Indian aliens and things popping out at you.

My problems with the film are many. It’s too long. In his twelve year absence Cameron seems to have lost his ability to pace a movie as well as he used to (its miles away from the economy of The Terminator) and, as such, the middle is bloated and over loaded with baggage. I was bored on more than one occasion. There were also parts that caused the odd unintentional giggle from the audience. Dry humping Na’vi aside, the film is riddled with moments that were horribly corny to the point where you half expected the cast of 90210 to show up bemused wondering “what the fuck are we doing here?”

This, however, is not to say I hated the film. Cameron still has a dab hand at action and the main set pieces are both engaging and thrilling. Each beat has a great sense of place and, on a geekier note, it was quite cool to see a battle for the planet whittle down to a one-on-one skirmish. Also, everything already said about the visuals are true: it’s set the bar for effects heavy movies in the future. The world of Pandora is stunning and, finally, the 3D added an extra layer of immersion rather than just being a gimmick.

But I knew I wasn’t enjoying the film as much as I thought I would when I noticed the Na’vi horses made the same noises as the Velociraptors from Jurassic Park and that James Horner’s score sounded like every other fucking thing he’s written in the past. A flawed yet visually impressive piece that works when the stakes are high yet falls when the sentiment starts.

A very good example of a movie overloaded by its own hype.

3/5