3D age cornerstone - the future of action cinema begins here.

Rating: 10/10 (19 January 2010)

Just a quick preface and caveat before continuing. I am NOT giving this a rating of ten for great story, script writing or acting (farrrrrr from it). I'm simply giving Avatar a ten for no other reason than it will be remembered as the 3D film that launched a new era in cinematography and movie making. That's it. Too much carping from the Cannes Film Festival crowd about it being crap because of it's shallow storyline (wading pool shallow, actually) and being a rehash of a classic theme (which it is). Really guys......do you go to a Spielberg or Cameron movie for depth? Even their attempts at serious stuff turns predictably melodramatic and overripe regardless how naturally serious the original material might be (Titanic, Shindler's list, Munich......etc.). For goodness sake, don't go to see these guys' work for anything more than sheer FANTASTIC (not to be believed, literally and figuratively) entertainment and an affective purge (have a good cry and heart thump).
Now to business. The plot line is blatantly simplistic, yet classic: foreigner meets primitives, ulterior motives, love affair with chief's daughter (sleeping dictionary / Dances with Wolves themes), then betrayal, epiphany, motives change to altruistic, rescue of primitives, becomes one with the primitives.....you know the drill. Any other movie and that would be the "mother of all spoilers", but for this eye candy of a presentation the story is almost irrelevant.
However, despite the predictable plot and storyline, this visual banquet has to be seen to be believed. I don't think I'll be able to watch a TV or DVD / Blue ray rerun without 3D enhancement technology. I guess that's the whole point: get us hooked on this stuff (no comparison to flat lander cinema for action movies) and then bring on the 3D TVs / Blue Rays / AV / etc.
Lastly, 3D may inevitably be prerequisite for superior action and sci fi cinema, as well as sports, but it will NEVER replace or usurp the fundamentals of good movie making and acting. Personally, I don't want to see ANY of the classics remade in 3D (I didn't even like colorization......more like "bastardization"). 3D is just a cool tool; that's all. So you puritans out there......just relax! See a good proctologist, lay down, roll over and say AHHHH! He'll have that CFF corn cob out of there in no time. Then you can enjoy life again.
P.S. that last bit with the hanging O2 mask and last grasp / gasp scene was just way too "Spielberg" for this kid. That kind of stuff doesn't make my heart pound, it makes my blood boil.