A Stunning Visual Extravaganza

Rating: 9/10 (25 December 2009)

Much has been made of Hollywood's investment in 3D, and in "Avatar", 21st Century 3D technology has come of age.Director James Cameron has realised another world in a largely computer generated set which will take your breath away.Without doubt this is a landmark film in the technological advancement of film. Watching it in anything less than the largest cinema screen you can find in 3D will not do justice to this magnificent production.
The story itself, by contrast, is much more routine. Pocahontas meets Independence Day.The heavy "green" sub-text is a little over bearing, and the characters one dimensional in jarring juxtaposition to their setting.The world, on planet Pandora, is reminiscent of "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" and "Jurassic Park" with prehistoric inspired creatures adding danger and colour to the forests.The bad guys in a far flung part of the universe want to plunder rich mining deposits which are inconveniently located where a hunter / gatherer Tribe exist in perfect harmony with their surroundings.As the bad guys muscle in for the booty the indigenous Tribe fight back, guess who wins? The modern tendency of big budget films to unfold in a computer game friendly way is very evident as was the case with "District 9" and "Batman Begins".Indeed,the climatic showdown feels as though it is shot as a computer game set.Yet the sheer scale and excitement of the action makes this a minor irritation.
The 2hour 40 minute running time is a little bloated with the first 40 minutes the culprit, as the scene setting is laboriously presented.But as soon as the action transfers to the Rain Forest, the pace picks up, never to falter. And it is in the Forest that the 3D effects stagger the viewer, giant birds swoop, vegetation has an incredible depth, and the battle sequences dwarf anything that we have ever seen in the cinema before for imagination and scale.An instant classic, set to have an impact for many years to come.