Entertaining but unsatisfying

Rating: 5/10 (20 January 2010)

Normally this (sci-fi)would not be my kind of movie (leaving aside 2001: A Space Odyssey, but then Kubrick was a brilliant director). But the hype worked and I felt I had to see it.
The 3D imagery and the CG effects are, indeed, very impressive. The plot, however, is much less so and seems to be a familiar story seen before in the Wild West and elsewhere: noble native people ruthlessly exploited by technically sophisticated invaders, one of whom falls in love with a fair native maiden and helps the beleaguered savages to defeat - temporarily, perhaps - their tormentors. It all seems, well, a bit trite.
The movie is, however, entertaining. There's plenty of action - in fact rather too many battle scenes for me - and there's always anticipation of some even more magnificent visual display to come.
But guess what? We're supposed to be in the year 2154. Within minutes we see one of the main characters, Dr Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) ostentatiously smoking a good old-fashioned 20th century cigarette! How much did the tobacco corporations pay to achieve that piece of product placement? What are they trying to do? Convince today's kids that smoking will never die (even if they might as a consequence)? Probably 'yes'.That turned me off big-time.
So, worth seeing but more for appearances than meanings.