Emotional and Visual Delight

Rating: 10/10 (20 December 2009)

If you are going to see the film expecting to have beard-stroking conversations in the coffee shop afterwards, discussing "what did the director *really mean* behind it, then you are going to be disappointed.
Yes, the message is blatantly obvious, yes, the plot is reasonably predictable (though there are one or two surprises), yes there are plenty of subtle Terminator and Aliens references in there if you are looking for them (Giovanni Ribisi's character stands out for me as being not only similar in looks to Paul Reiser's from "Aliens", but his attitude and dialogue made me wonder if they were supposed to be related),and yes, it isn't a story which hasn't had its elements told before in some form or another.
But, there is not one second of the film which is not relevant to the development of the story, or that does not engage the basic emotions, and that is a powerful feat over the course of nearly three hours. Even if you can work out what is likely to happen, the film engages you so much that you want to see how it plays out; and only the most cynical hard-cases would not find their emotions pulled enormously.
What binds it all together in the most spectacular fashion is the truly jaw-dropping scenery and aliens - where this movie does push the boundaries for me is in the photo-realism stakes, for which it has entirely no parallel. The 3D element is used carefully, and adds to the experience rather than being the main point of it, fortunately.
It's been a while since I last saw a film which absorbed me as completely, both visually and emotionally. It will surely be seen as a milestone in cinema.