very good but not great

Rating: 7/10 (21 December 2009)

It's a tremendous achievement of film-making, but it's not the second coming as has been widely rumored. Things I liked: incredible imagery, awesome 3D, excellent acting, a simple well-executed story, characters that we care about (even the aliens), action drama romance--the works. Things I didn't like: I hate it when I see movies which glorify "indigenous peoples" and act as though our modern day culture has nothing to offer. I think it's too simple minded, and offensive to both sides of the coin. I'm insulted because there's a lot of good things about the culture of the developed world, and there are good things about the undeveloped world--or primitive worlds of the past. However, to paint the Na'vi as a people who're totally happy, need nothing, have everything...who seem, somehow, to have the perfect life living the primitive life they do...it's irritating. It takes greater skill as a writer and director to paint both sides in an accurate way: both sides having good and bad traits (as is realistic), both sides having good and bad individuals. Instead, here we have the Na'vi as ALL good, the scientists ALL good, and the corporate folks all bad. Retarted. Additionally, I felt like the anti-corporate slant was a little tired. It just pandered overtly to the recent anti-"fat cats on Wall Street" and sense of resentment about those unidentified rich people who started the recession. Lame. Grow up. We're such a society of self-loathing, self-hating people who resent it when others make more than we do, always wishing to be like those societies of old who mythically had the perfect life...and this movie seemed to be attempting to tap into that self-hatred. Anyway, masterful film-making with that last exception.