'Avatar' - the visuals deserve better

Rating: 6/10 (22 March 2013)

James Cameron; what a chance you had here.
When I saw the reviews praising this as a piece of brilliance, I thought I had to see it. I didn't watch it for a while, but eventually got round to putting it on and seeing what all the fuss was about. It probably didn't help that my expectations were so high, but I was so disappointed by what I saw. I really wanted and tried to like this film, but I couldn't.
To start with, the film is incredibly long. It's such a needless length for a film that is really quite basic in it's plot and story. After an hour and a half I was watching the clock tick down, and then it drags on for another hour or so. It doesn't need to be that long. It almost feels like when you write an essay or do a piece of homework and you need to get to a word count, but you're 500 words short. So you just waffle about everything and anything that you can think of. That's very much what this movie is.
Don't get me wrong, it's visually stunning. If you get a chance to watch it in HD or 3D, then please do because it does make a massive difference. The world in which it takes place in is a real quality piece of animation and it is the high point of the movie. The only problem is that, after a while, it starts feeling like it's boasting and becoming complacent. You see the visuals and you think "wow!". Then you're an hour in and you've got over the visuals and you're looking for something more. You just don't get it. There's nothing more to give, and it just becomes a bit like it's constantly reminding you how good it looks, and it does look great. When the credits roll, it should be that you can't stop thinking and talking about the quality of the visuals but, instead, you end up not appreciating them as you should, and would, in any other film that looks as stunning as this does.
Because the film is 160 minutes long, it's hard to remain interested in the plot and storyline. It feels like it's a chore to watch. I think one of it's flaws is that it doesn't seem to have a genre nailed down. Is it a romance? Is it action? Is it fantasy? In the end, it mashes it all together and feels like it's lost in this mystical world. Many films get away with not focusing on a specific criteria, but this one is so bold in how it tries to display the movie, that it feels like it could do with just picking one or two (at a push) and focusing entirely on that. One of it's major strengths is the peaceful nature of the setting, but the end action sequence (which seems to go on for an eternity) ruins that feeling and overshadows any depth the film has. Don't get me wrong, I like action. It just doesn't belong in a film like this, certainly not for that length of time.
And the blue individuals just don't quite do it for me. They look strangely animated to start with, and there's something missing. It's almost too simplistic for everything else the film stands for. They don't appear complex enough as people or in appearance. The main character is a bit emotionless. I don't know if it's his voice or not but he doesn't feel like he has enough substance.
Musically it's good. It coincides with scenes to give you that powerful feeling and, again, reminds you that you should be impressed by how it looks. It acts almost as a prompt for when you should go "yeah, that bit is cool".
There is a good film in there, but it's just been mashed up a bit too much. The length makes it hard to retain focus on such a predictable plot and you don't end up caring or hating any of the characters. If it had been a bit shorter (maybe 90-105 minutes), it may have been better and I might have clicked with it more. The expectation probably didn't help either, I'll admit. It thinks it can get by on how good it looks but it can't. It needs something more than that, but doesn't find it. It's a shame.
It was just a visually stunning disappointment for me, which goes on so long you forget what happened in the first half an hour, and don't really care that you can't remember.
It was a fraction short of being an 8/10, for me, but it fell short for trying too much at once.