Visually astounding, flat plat and character

Rating: 4/10 (17 December 2009)

As visually mind-boggling the movie may be - it is a step back in storytelling as well.
Sure, for a blockbuster movie it's a solid experience - but nothing more. The plot and characters are as flat as in a cheap b-movie.
While setting a new standard for a visual experience, this movie is on the level of a cheap kids movie about indians when it comes to the script. The story is a science-fiction conversion of old native Americans stories combined with the worst you would expect of a science- fiction b-movie. Actually the science-fiction elements and characters are quite similar to tarantinos planet terror which was made to look and feel like a b- movie.
The computer-generated world in an realistic 3D look could be so compelling, so near to real life that you could lose yourself in this second reality - but for me - the story was so see-through that you could predict a least the next 15 minutes of the movie at any time.
Cameron uses so many elements of typical native American clichés that this setting can't be understood as alien - it is an alien world, but with indians riding through it, fighting white men with bows and arrows.
This movie lacks a deeper understanding of any kind of scriptwriting - it's a more than just straighforward story with a few quotes from the characters than simply match what you expect them to say. There aren't any twists and turns - and to the intellectual mind - this movie is quite an insult. From it's story it's merely a better children's story.
But as said before the visuals are groundbreaking and are making this movie worthwhile. I found myself just gazing at this amazing scenarios - even if Cameron choose to give wide parts of the world a much too colourful, toy-like appearance.
This movie is a rather entertaining time-killer with amazing visuals. Not more. Not less.