Special Effects Can't Overcome Odious Worldview

Rating: 3/10 (8 March 2015)

Avatar was a stunning 3D cinematographic achievement, but it's pantheistic, neo-Marxist message weighed it down. Though James Cameron's story is not expressly a commentary on the United States as an evil imperialist power, that message is pretty thinly veiled and is scripted with shallow, obvious characters. There's nothing wrong with a bankable storyline being repeated, and we all enjoy watching a noble underdog defeat a powerful oppressor, but Avatar's power-to-the-people stridency recalls Billy Jack in all it's naive glory. Watch Avatar for the 3D effects, but turn your brain off to the tired message it conveys.