Visually groundbreaking but story falls short at the end

Rating: 8/10 (3 September 2010)

Visually, Avatar is probably the most stylish and groundbreaking film in the history of cinema. Its use of CGIs and visual effects are truly at whole another level from everything else I have seen. This technique may be the first of its kind. This a science fiction/war story with strong dramatic elements. Humans are colonizing another planet due to its rich resources and they engage in a battle with the planet local inhabitants (the blue creatures). At the end, it is a classic battle between strong evil enemy and the less powerful, good guys. I think the ending was contrived and unrealistic. Something about it just didn't feel right. I think it could have been written better, more intelligently, but it felt as if they wanted to bank on the visuals so they stretched the story to include more action scenes which, in my opinion, is the only downfall of this movie. I still think it should have won the best picture (instead of The Hurt Locker).