Astonishing film for the start of a new decade: 1990

Rating: 6/10 (2 January 2010)

So how to make a film that keeps cinemas open through the recession? Use new technology, and make sure the story works all over the world. The 3D is of course the only point of this release. It is a mark in the sand. There is no throwing things in your face 3D here - just giving an extra depth to a new world.
I see people asking "Why does Avatar make marines bad?" Its because this film must pull its weight around the world - and retelling the invasion myth of America with different winners appeals to world opinion in this particular time with unethical wars appear to be the fault of America.
But appealing to world taste may have gone awry here. This film seems to place itself about two decades backwards in film chronology. It isn't just using Signourey Weaver that signals this. Blade Runner was 1982. Aliens was 1986. Dances with Wolves was 1990. The Matrix, 1999, looks clearly advanced in ideas compared to the sub L. Ron Hubbard rubbish that Avatar develops. Compare "World tree" to "We are all Avatars unless we unplug".
I thought Lord of the Rings achieved something with a real myth retold strongly in a modern idiom. Avatar seems more applicable to a Dr Who episode from time gone by.