Review: Avatar

For lack of anything better to do, I went and saw Avatar this past Christmas.


Actually, I saw it twice over the holidays. Not because it was that good that it needed to be seen more than once, it just sort of happened.

This was my first ever 3-D movie experience, and I figured this would be the movie that would make or break my support for 3-D movies in the future. The technology has been around since the 50s, and recently took a huge step forward leaving those funny looking red/blue glasses in the dust, and replacing them with some newer slightly tinted glasses.


Personally, I think it makes the entire theatre look like it's filled with Buddy Holly wannabes.


Avatar was cool. Visually speaking, it was amazing. I wasn't completely blown away by the gimmick of 3-D, and I think it probably would have been just as fine to see in 2-D. 3-D was okay, and sometimes the images really 'popped' and were amazing for a few split seconds, but to summarize, I'm underwhelmed. Fantastically shot and rendered movies are still fantastic; 3-D visuals or no.

As for the plot: pretty hum-drum. The movie vilifies humans (A.K.A. North America) as greedy, planet destroying monsters who are raping and pillaging a beautiful alien planet (A.K.A. The environment). Put simply, Avatar is a cowboys versus Indians scenario, in the future, featuring robots and tall blue cat-people.

Avatar is a straight up visual experience with just enough plot, and characters just interesting enough, to keep you invested during the 2 ½ hour film. If you like science fiction, fantasy, and action, this movie will be right up your alley.

If you like 3-D, despite the extra cost, it's worth checking out. But if the novelty of seeing some arrows and dirt fly by is lost on you, you're not going miss much by seeing it in 2-D.

Overall:

8/10

This will be chalked up as a major visual spectacle for very good reasons. It had a passable plot and was good enough to pay altogether too much money to see it twice.

Also, there's naked blue alien women. Captain Kirk would be all over this.