Full Title: Avatar
Director: James Cameron
Year: 2009
Grade: B+

If you are thinking of seeing this in any other venue then IMAX, then you need your head examined and then chopped off and kicked down the street like a soccer ball a la George Bush Sr. for you Bill Hicks fans :) But, seriously, it’s worth shelling out the extra smackers to experience this 3D Sci Fi mega blockbuster in an IMAX theater. The sound is simply exquiste. Of course your 3D glasses make the film all the more epic and exciting i.e. people running past you, objects thrown in your direction, and my personal favorite, being chased by an enormous, ferocious animal about to tear you to shreds as you pathetically attempt to foil his monstruous ability to jostle you to and fro. Now, I must admit, I am biased here, in the sense that I am not the biggest fan of Sci Fi, War, Action, or any sort of “epic” film, for the most part. Perhaps if this was an off colour comedy with some young, chic, unconventionally beautiful actress and her hipster, male co star with a soundtrack dominated by my low fi favorites I would probably rate it higher than this even if it was of lesser quality. So, keep that in mind while I disect the film for the remainder of the review. To begin, of course it was visually goregous and the action was entertaining. The story was sound and actually unexpected, at least for me. Briefly, the plot concerns a young jarhead marine named Jake Sully, who is sent on a mission in which he becomes part of an entirely foreign world called Pandora, literally becoming like this new species: blue, tail, etc. As his tenure on the planet continues he questions the military’s motives for his mission and their future plans with the planet. Soon, he finds himself at home and decides to follow a new path. SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

I must say that I really dig the way Jake joins his new blue comrades and does the right thing by helping them fight off their oppressors/occupiers: the American Military. Kinda subversive for such a mainstream film! It would be like an American soldier in Vitenam, who is sent on a mission to be a Viet Cong informant and then he “betrays” the yankies for his new KONG brothers. That would be cool sorta ahah.

Overall: Once again, I don’t typically get boners over these kinds of films, but it was a decent flick, certainly worth seeing at least once. All in all, overrated, with that being said, the story was solid, the acting was nothing special, but worked just fine, and well you know in terms of visual/special effects and what have you, it was top notch.

P.S. Jay Reatard- Turning Blue should have appeared on the soundtrack. What did they expcect Disco? Boring fucks…

Chris