Solid Hit

Rating: 8/10 (20 December 2009)

Well, I'm going to have to give this movie a full rating because it really lived up to my expectations.
We have here a science-fiction epic set on an alien world. It's a classic story of a "good-guy" hero who must overcome a battle within himself to do what is right.
Although the movie doesn't exactly have the biggest twists, turns, or surprises, it simply sets out to do what movies like "Star Wars" (the ones in the 70s, and 80s, that is) did... to stun us a little with the latest in special FX, give us a classic "Romanesque" story, and enchant us with a very creative world. This movie did what it set out to do, perfectly... and maybe even a little better than perfect.
The world is so detailed, and rich. Every animal looks as if it is real... and everything just matches and seems convincing. The "humanoid" race that inhabits this world is very interesting, and the way the world works "together" is amazing. This may be one of the few sci-fi adventure movies where the computer animation actually works in favor of the storyline. Animals and beings do not look like animations. This realism, this pushing of the limits, is what science fiction is all about.
But you obviously cannot have just a beautiful movie without no storyline or character to back it up. There is a lot of character in this movie. All of our human characters, the alien race, and the avatars all equally have great character. And the storyline, although nothing extraordinarily original, is chiseled from "classic" storytelling. Good versus evil... doing what is right... all spun neatly together.
What a wonderful escape this was! It was dazzling, and even got me thinking a little about what life is really out there on the various billions of stars that make up our galaxy, and the other billions of galaxies out there.
And that's what movies like this should do.