Best Picture. Best Director. Really.

Rating: 10/10 (27 April 2010)

Marine Corporal Jake Sully (Worthington) is drafted to become part of the Avatar Program on Pandora. He is put into a capsule and emerges on the planet as a 10 or 12-foot tall Navi native of Pandora, (but he is still in the capsule. See?). The US is there for a valuable mineral needed. The problem is the Navi are sitting on top of it and the US needs them to move so the US can mine it. Sully's job is to get the Navi to move.
I now know why Avatar didn't win Best Picture and Best Director. The Academy never saw the movie. They heard so much about it by word-of-mouth they felt like they had seen it. Then, Ms Bigelow and a S.W.A.T. Team captured the entire Academy in a room and wouldn't let them out until she had Best Picture and Best Director in a slam dunk for the Hurt Locker. Pretty sure it went something like that.
I didn't watch it in 3-D. But, this is a visual treat regardless of what dimension you watch it in. There are not worthy and adequate words to describe what you will see. You have never seen anything like the visuals in this movie. You will, as I did, rediscover the color Blue. Also, the CGI is absolutely spectacular. James Cameron, the Director, is truly a genius.
Yes, the first half is a visual feast for your eyes. In the second half, the real story starts and as you may suspect, a war breaks out. Unless I missed something in the beginning, I never once heard anyone talk about Negotiations between the US and the Navi. It's possible I missed that because the beginning went by so fast, I had the feeling someone assumed I knew about Pandora, the Navi, the Avatar Program, the hi-Tech equipment and the robotics. I didn't know what the word AVATAR meant. And, exactly where is Pandora? That word-of-mouth didn't reach me.
As soon as those 3-D TV sets become available and affordable I will get the 3-D glasses and give this another go.
Oh, this is a movie you may want to buy, but wait. Wait until some time goes by and another copy will come out telling you this one includes deleted scenes or scenes never seen before. That's the one you want to purchase.
Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Smoking: Yes. Language: Yes, minor ones, but there was one F-bomb.