Better Than What Most People Give It

Rating: 8/10 (15 February 2016)

Avatar is directed by James Cameron and stars Sam Worthington as Jake Sully, and ex-marine that is paralyzed from the waist down. The story follows Jake as he takes up his late twin brother's position on a space exposition to a planet called Pandora. There, he is recruited for an Avatar program, in which his conscious is transferred to a Na'vi's (the locals) body, in order to gain their trust so that humans can harvest a certain metal found on Pandora.
Now, the cool thing is to hate on Avatar, but I like it. It definitely isn't the best films out there, but it's certainly not bad. To jump right in, this movie has the best cinematography in cinematic history. This film is absolutely beautiful. The wide shots of Pandora and all of the wildlife sucks you in every time you watch it. The directing is also good, which is expected of James Cameron. The editing is good, which is obvious due to this movie being in production for 12 years.
The biggest negative starts with the acting. However, only in one spot. Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, and Stephen Lang do amazing in their roles, and make set the tone for the acting. However, the tone is ripped down by the main role, played by Sam Worthington. For anyone who's seen Clash of the Titans or Terminator Salvation, you know that Sam Worthington isn't a good actor. He actually does better in this film that the others mentioned, but he still doesn't do well.
Another nit picky negative is the symbolism for the movie Dances With Wolves. I think that Dances With Wolves is a very good film, and many aspects of this movie come from that of Dances With Wolves. However, nobody can call it a direct copy, just because there are similarities. Another positive is the score. The score for this film is vigorous. Props to James Horner, one of the best movie composers out there, for the score. Some of the scenes where Jake is flying on his Ikran, the pounding score enthralls me every time I watch it. This also leads me to the topic of rewatchability. I've watched this movie plenty of times, and it doesn't really get old. That is a big positive for this film.
Overall, I think Avatar is much better than most people say it is. The directing, cinematography, score, and mostly good acting easily outweigh the bad acting and similarities with other films. Avatar gets a B+, or an 8 out of 10.