Ridiculous... Plus, A Full Out Slap At America's Military

Rating: Null/10 (18 December 2009)

Surrogates meets Apocalypto; Ewoks meets the Keebler Elves this is a visually stunning movie that's far more ridiculous than it is interesting. I saw it in 2D and I think the format will have a lot to do with one's enjoyment of the film. The entire first two acts are geared only to show off the visuals. The story itself boarders on the offensive but is poorly written in any case. Plot points involving a stereotypical military as the evil arm of corrupt corporations that want to harm innocents as well as "great mother" hippie babble surrounding tree energy reduce this film to epically absurd levels. The last film that gave tree energy this much focus was The Happening. Need I say more? It also wouldn't be much of a stretch to call this a 200 million dollar potential Al Qaeda propaganda film. The evil military use terms associated with the current Iraq/Afghan conflicts. Drawing parallels to American military action is a cheap shot by Cameron. Untrue, but his intent is clear even if he thinks it's veiled and clever. Ignorant politics aside, the third act does save this movie. The action as the CG natives take on the oppressive military is outstanding. I still think the CG movements are off in terms of realism but the action was impressive. Overall, I'm sure seeing the first two-thirds of the movie in 3D would've been better but as a film, it was almost painfully bad to sit through the presentation of glowing bugs, scenery and creatures in repetitive 2D.
A VERY overrated film.