Brilliant on the outside and OK on the inside.

Rating: 8/10 (25 September 2016)

James Cameron's long awaited return to cinema! His first feature film since Titanic. Cameron has always been a filmmaker who brings something new, so of course the hype was really high for his next film. And information of what Avatar was going to be just kept increasing everyone's anticipation for it. This looked like something different. Cameron has long been a favourite filmmaker for me. Terminator 1 & 2 are definitely on my list of best movies ever. So did it live up? Well Avatar is a great movie. It is not an amazing one. The expression style over substance has been used many times and by me before but Avatar is exactly that. Cameron ones again takes the special effects to new heights and also reintroduced 3D to cinema. Technically the visuals are a masterpiece one could say. Also the design and creativity of the world and creatures is great. Not on Star Wars like levels but Avatar looks pretty much flawless. The whole movie has this very epic theme to it. The action is also great as should be expected. It's not as mind-blowing as his Terminator movies or as intense as Aliens or as ridiculously (in an entertaining way) as in True Lies. But Avatar is better than most released at the same time. However, it is underneath this brilliant surface that the flaws are. The story is Avatars weakest part. It totally lacks in originality. It borrows heavily from many different sources. I feel that even if one has not seen a lot of movies Avatar is unfortunately very predictable. You can early sense where the story is going. It is a story that entertains rather than surprises. It is the writing that lacks. Cameron's earlier movies had great dialogue and memorable quotes. Avatar honestly doesn't have those. And then we have the actors. Unfortunately, if I shall be honest Sam Worthington is not a charismatic actor. But it's not all his fault. Cameron can create amazing characters but here they feel thin. None of the actors here are bad but their characters are weakly written. The characters have this predictable feel too them in the same way as the plot. Not bad in any way just nothing more than pretty standard. All this said sounds so negative, the problem is just that I guess my demands on James Cameron are so high. Avatar is a very good and greatly entertaining movie. Technically amazing but when you see past the brilliant effects this is not the masterpiece some were expecting and some are claiming. 8/10.