Avasnore

Rating: 4/10 (6 August 2013)

OK, this is the big one. The highest grossing film of all time yadda- yadda-yadda. People call it the next Star Wars and it has 3 squeals lined up for release. So what did I think of it?
BORING.
I love sci fi. I love James Camron. This is the man who made Aliens, Terminator, T2-I know Camron can make good sci fi movies. This is a snooze fest.
So how are the actors? Bland. I can't remember anyone in this film except Stephen Lang as the Colonel guy (I can't remember any characters name). He is OTT as the stereotypical gung-ho military commander and is so enjoyable to watch. In any other film he would be silly but against everyone else he's OK. The other actors through comes across as they could not be arsed.
The effects are impressive but the designs bland. The humans look like the colonial marines from Aliens, and the mechs look like the ones from aliens but painted black. The base to looks like your normal sci-fi base and the vehicles look like they are from HALO. Pandora looks like the jungle from Disneys Tarzan. I know it's realistic but this is sci-fi you can be imaginative! The star wars prequels for all it's CGI flaws has great location (Mutasfar, the Gungun city and kamino instantly come to mind). The beasts look nice but the limited colour palette on them makes them hard to tell apart. The Nav'i are cartoony. I think it's the eyes. However there is to much CGI and I think the bland designs mean the CGI isn't the best. I don't get why people bash the Star Wars prequels heavy use of CGI when this CGI while solid has bland designs and just as much in the films.
The story is lovingly ripped from Disneys Pocahontas. The names and settings are changed but that's about it. I know the concepts are good, I know the morals are good, but it's executed so bloody poorly it's unsalvageable. The characters are boring with the broken soldier, the gung ho military guy, the greedy American....yeah, this is just Pocahontas all over again. In fact, this film is just like Pocahontas- looks really good visually but is boring with bland characters and having a moral everyone has done before and is shoved done your throat.
Overall, on your first viewing you will be wowed by the effects but then you realise on re watching it that the boring plot and laborious pacing hurts the message and concepts this film is trying to get across.