Avatar

James Cameron's 'Avatar' stars Sam Worthington as Jake Sully an ex-Marine who has lost the use of his legs, who replaces his scientist twin brother as an avatar driver on Pandora a moon of another planet. The avatars look like the indigenous people of Pandora (the Na'vi). The intention is to convince the Na'vi to give up their ancestral home so that the invading humans can mine for Unobtainium (imaginative, I know). Jake is rescued by Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) the daughter of a Na'vi chief. Somewhat surprisingly Jake and Neytiri fall in love. Basically, the film is the bastard love-child of Pocahontas and Dances With Wolves. The racist undertones - the indigenous people NEEDING the white man to help them win - can make the film a little uncomfortable. The fact that many of the Na'vi most noticeably Zoe Saldana are black does not help this situation.

The direction is fine, however, the characterization is poor to say the least. None of the characters are fleshed out. We know little to nothing about Jake's life on Earth or his motivations. Some of the acting is a little ropey, but given the material they are forced to work with I cannot blame that entirely on the actors. Also, Sam Worthington needs to work more on his accents, his native Australian breaks its way through regularly.

The much discussed 3D aspects of the film were, to me at least, unnecessary. The quality hit of making it 3D far outweighed the small improvement gained from the extra dimension. I am, however, willing to admit that this might have just been where I saw it.

The film is fine for 161 minutes of escapism. But to build it up to be the future of movies is just ridiculous. It's not even one of the best films of the year. As a result of the massive hype surrounding the release of the film it becomes a major disapointment. Now Academy Awards, I mean really? Nine nominations? Hm why does Avatar get recognised by the Academy, while The Dark Knight (a better acted and directed film with more originality) had to make do with the minor categories?

'Avatar' has superb effects. However, effects do not maketh the film.

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