Avatar A Decent But Flawed Sci-Fi Action Adventure Epic

Rating: Null/10 (21 April 2010)

Avatar is a decent but flawed sci-fi action adventure epic from writer/director Jameson Cameron who's admirable in giving audiences amazing state of the art special effects but some flaws which I'll get into later weighed it down for me. Sam Worthington turns in a solid performance as Jake Sully a paraplegic marine dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission who becomes torn between following orders and protecting the world he feels is his home. His CGI counter part is involved in most of the action but Worthington does what his role requires I guess. Zoe Saldana is very impressive as Netyiri a beautiful alien warrior instantly drawn to Jake who can certainly kicks some serious ass when she wants to. We never see Saldana only her CGI counter part but she brings life to her role and leaves an impression. Well done. Sigourney Weaver is good as always as Dr. Grace Augustine a scientist studying the planet of Pandora in her limited screen time. Michelle Rodriguez does what she can with her small role as Trudy a tough female pilot who eventually helps Jake in his quest to save Pandora from their own people. The rest of the cast are okay but none of them are really developed because most of the focus is on Worthington and Saldana. The special effects are fantastic including the planet of Pandora with breathtaking landscapes, floating mountains that defy gravity, and amazing creatures of all sizes but spectacle alone doesn't make a movie. Now that I've mentioned the good things about Avatar I'll touch on what I didn't like about it. I thought the story itself was very predictable right when Jake meets Neytiri I knew exactly what will happen next and how it was going to end. The dialog wasn't the greatest at times either. I felt Stephen Lang wasn't that great as the gung-ho Colonel Quaritch. I mean he gets attacked once by the the Na'Vi and all of a sudden he's hell bent on eliminating them off their own planet. I'm not sure if was really Lang's performance or the poor dialog he had to work with like "Let's boogie", "Shut your pie hole", and "We fight terror with terror" to a name a few because to me he simply wasn't the best villain. However I was glad to see that his character finally gets whats coming to him. The same can go for Giovanni Ribisi who is a talented actor but this isn't his best performance. No offense. His role amounts to only a handful of extended appearances playing greedy corporate figurehead Parker Selfridge whose after a precious material that goes for 20 million a kilo. Ribisi like Lang do what their roles require I guess playing stereotypical one dimensional characters but they were just jerks all the way through who felt no remorse for the crimes they were committing against the Na'vi. If their characters were developed more and had better lines they could've been memorable villains instead of making them feel like after thoughts. The pacing of the movie was slow at times making the 162 minutes drag and there wasn't as much action as I thought there would be because most of it is in the third act but it's well executed none the less. I was frankly a little disappointed with Avatar and it wasn't the classic many people are making it out to be. Don't get me wrong it's not the worst movie I've ever seen but I'm just not sure why a lot of people out there are hailing it as a masterpiece. Yeah the special effects makes it worth watching at least once but I thought it was going to be better. I read somewhere about Dark Knight fans and Avatar fans arguing which one they think is better. I for one enjoyed the Dark Knight a lot more and that one is 153 minutes but it moved at a much faster pace. No movie has been able to match it yet. Avatar isn't that bad of a film it just has some flaws that weigh it down. Overall Avatar has great special effects, action, a little humor, and good performances from the cast for the most part (especially from Saldana and Worthington) but it isn't the best movie I've ever seen. If you're a big fan of Cameron you may enjoy it more than I did after watching Avatar though I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.