Outstanding cinematic creativity + retelling of an old-westish story

Rating: 1/10 (23 December 2009)

I knew the plot was going to be similar to Battle for Terra which might have stolen James Cameron's concept in the first place but ten minutes into the film, its sheer visual force made me forget all that. I agree with the reviewer from Spain who commented that "you've seen this story a hundred times." In place of the blue-skinned ten-foot aliens with tails, I kept seeing native Americans from The Last of the Mohicans and Dances with Wolves. In Sam Worthington's turn as a hero gone over to the other side, I kept seeing Daniel Day Lewis and Kevin Costner from the said films, and during the end-credits I realized Wes Studi from those two films also had a part in it. It even reminded me a bit of The Last Samurai. This wasn't exactly a setback cos I wasn't expecting big plot twists anyway. One of the things I enjoyed most was Sigourney Weaver's return as Cameron's heroine. Though decidedly mellower, the feisty Grace shares a lot in common with Aliens' Ripley character-wise. Kudos to Jim Cameron for having the heroic heroine smoke. I'm not a smoker myself but I'm tired of Hollywood's "only villains smoke" cliché. I also enjoyed Stephen Lang's villainous turn but is it just me or does he start looking more "alien" than the aliens themselves toward the end of the film? In spite of having no major plot twists, I admired the way Cameron handled the character arcs of some of the secondary characters. Like f.i. Giovanni Ribisi's character who starts out more or less seeming like Paul Riser's soulless yuppie in Aliens but surprises us a bit when he starts showing some conscience.