Still worth a watch (just)

Rating: 7/10 (21 March 2020)

It's worth noting at the start that, for nearly ten years, 'Avatar' was the highest grossing film of all time. Therefore, you may think that it HAS to be worth watching because so many people obviously did. Yes, it's certainly a technical achievement - writer/director James Cameron uses/refines every special effect trick in the book (and even invents a few new ones!) to bring us a science fiction tale about humanity trying to make peace with an alien race on a far away world, in order to get a rare mineral found only on this planet.
It's a decent enough tale, but I can't help think that its extraordinary performance at the Box Office was largely due to being the first film in the modern 3D age. The film is definitely 'live action,' but so many computer-generated special effects were required to create the giant blue aliens and their planet that half of it could practically be described as a bigger budget Pixar movie.
Sam Worthington is the star - a disabled space marine who gets a second lease of life (with legs) by inhabiting an 'avatar' which is basically a human-built version of the giant blue aliens. Once in control of this avatar, he can then mingle with the tribe and - hopefully - get them to trade their precious supply of 'unobtanium' (no, seriously - that's what they call this rare material!). Sigourney Weaver is about the biggest name on the cast list, but she seems to be playing a character who's a long way from her most famous on-screen incarnation, i.e. Ripley from 'Aliens.' Here, she wants to preserve the alien way of life rather than 'nuking the site from orbit!'
Although I never saw it in the cinema I heard it was definitely an impressive watch, simply because of the outstanding 3D and various effects. It's still worth a watch on the small screen, but, in terms of story, it really is nothing new. You can pretty much tell what's going to happen right from the off and everyone's character is quickly defined as either 'good' or 'bad.' Also, there's also very heavy 'political' messages not particularly skilfully woven into the story. The piece does get kind of preachy and it's strange that a writer as skilful as James Cameron can't find way of putting his own politics a little more subtly than what we end up with.
If you're looking for a sci-fi action film that won't tax your brain that much, you could certainly do much worse. There are great effects, action set-pieces and a story that's believable if you don't think too hard about it. I do always wonder why a film as successful as this never really seemed to linger much in popular culture. No one really talks about it much any more, leaving me to wonder whether it really was just the novelty of the 3D aspect that sold it to the masses. I guess we'll see when the sequels start rolling out?