Visually stunning, but...

Rating: 7/10 (19 January 2010)

This movie is so visually stunning that you almost forget the flaws in the story line and the characters. It's beauty and creativity takes your breath away. That alone makes it worth going to see.
The plot is standard sci-fi simple/stupid and the characters fit in to the story well, with one glaring exception. The character of Colonel Miles Quaritch is like the video game character Duke Nukem, except with less depth. He is so unfeeling and hateful that you believe mountains can float more than you believe this guy could really exist. Considering that he is a main character this is a huge impediment to our willingness to go along with the plot. He needs some kind of back story to justify his hatred, like his family being savagely murdered by a Navi warrior or something. Just being a gung ho mercenary isn't nearly enough motivation for his behaviour.
One thing I noticed but I haven't seen any mention of anywhere is during the battle where the big tree is destroyed there seemed to be a glimpse of some boiling black smoke that looked exactly like the black clouds of smoke billowing from the top of the World Trade Center. I hope that was only a coincidental resemblance.