Visually stunning, but boring story hinders it from being a masterpiece.

Rating: 6/10 (21 December 2009)

Here we are in 2009. It has been 12 years since Cameron last gave us one of his blockbusters in Titanic. With Avatar he set out to change the way we watch movies with his new motion capture technology all in 3D. Did he succeed? Sort of. While no one can deny the visual masterpiece this film is, there are some major problems that hinder Avatar from being one of the greatest movies of our time. The big problem I had with this movie was the story itself. It was redundant, one dimensional and well, boring. There were times throughout the film that I was compelled and on the edge of my seat, but for a 2.5 hrs + film, you need to feel that way 90% of the time. I am not naive, I knew going into a James Cameron film the story and especially the script wasn't going to rivet me out of my chair, but I at least expected to be entertained by it. I wasn't. The commentaries Cameron seems to do on anti-war and environmentalism just did not resonate with me. The dialogue in parts had my eyes in a constant roll.
With that being said however, whenever the story was boring me to tears, I could just sit and look what was going on around the story. There was always something to look it, always something to fascinate me. Sigourney Weaver turned in a very decent performance and was the only actor in places to be able to rise above the dialogue Cameron gave them. However, there were times even she could not do it. Sam Worthington I feel was miscast, but he fits Cameron's niche for male leads, a la Arnold. I do believe this film will be showered with technical awards for its revolutionary technology and will get a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars in March. But, we must all remember that if you take away the visuals of this film, it is nothing more than a camp-fest that would go straight to DVD. With most of Cameron's previous movies they were much more layered beyond the visuals and special effects. I feel he got too caught up in wowing our eyes and completely forgot about what's behind them.
6.5/10.
**1/2 out of ****