5.0 out of 5 based on 2 reviews. – Customer review on 30/04/2010

I want to start out by saying that though I understand that this movie was far more "Special Effects" than "Actual Plot" - it was still such a stunning movie technically speaking that my heart broke when I found out it didn't kick butt at the awards... but at least it has proven it's mettle by being the highest grossing film in history.

Boy meets girl, boy hurts girl, boy does mindlessly stupid things to get girl back, eventually succeeds, and saves the world from the evil invading hordes.

Of course, this all happens 4 lightyears away on a moon orbiting a gas giant, orbiting as part of the trinary "Alpha Centauri" system... the girl's a 3m tall blue alien, and also happens to be the alien equivalent of a warrior princess (No, NOT Xena!), the boy isn't really the boy, but the cloned DNA-spliced alien body the real boy is 'driving' from inside a doozy MRI scanner with speedstripes, and the evil invading hordes are the human crew he arrived to join as they brutally strip-mine the planet for a super-conducting mineral that can make mountains literally float a couple of miles above the planet's surface...

Oh yeah, and the whole planet is a massive super-parallel-processing psychic symbiotic network, with every life-form a hard-wired part of it.

I tell ya, when James Cameron gets a 'big' idea in mind, he really goes BIG! Big technology leaps to enable the filming, big back-story behind everything seen on screen (Just check out some of the books about the movie!), and some really big 'tongue in cheek' references too. As Cameron himself explained it in a recent interview, this story maps onto some real-world issue of great importance, such as ecological destruction, forced endangerment of indigenous peoples and species, as well as global climate awareness, to name a few of the bigger ones.

On a technical level, the movie broke through some amazing barriers in order to make production a reality... new cameras and computer modelling techniques, way-ahead-of-cutting-edge computing systems, image compositing technologies, the list goes on... and the result was something truly spectacular. (Not to mention, as a proud Kiwi I have to be pleased that a lot of it was achieved thanks to the hard work of our very own Weta Digital and Weta Workshop crews!)

The actors were pretty spot-on, and it was great to see some familiar faces back again, such as Sigourney Weaver and Michelle Rodriguez, but also the relatively new face of Sam Worthington who I first encountered in the Australian hit "Bootmen", but who has made a more recent appearance in the lead role of Perseus in "Clash of the Titans". I have to wonder if perhaps he could be the newest Vin Diesel or Russel Crowe...

Overall, though it is a shame we'll not see this in any form of 3d at home (yet), this was still pretty darned good for the small screen. Also a let-down that the discs don't come with anything but the movies... no extras, no bonus features, nothing but a code to give web surfers access to some online goodies... apparently all that will be in a later 'Big Boxed Edition' later in the year. A pretty nifty plot that falls a little light on the ground, but more than made up for by the overwhelming visual effects and amazingly seamless image blending of live- and CGI-based footage. Top notch, if not quite perfect. Mind you, rumours are confirmed, there's going to be a sequel so let's hope they pack that with more plot. If you haven't seen it, now's the time!

This review, and many more, can be read at http://www.kiwireviews.co.nz/review/2424/fishpond

5.0 out of 5 based on 2 reviews. – Customer review on 30/05/2010

Put simply, Avatar is the most visually fantastic film I've ever seen. It will be hailed as the groundbreaking 3D release of its time while setting a new standard by which all blockbusters are measured. Yes, it's that good. After 2 1/2 hours, I am exhausted far more than the same amount of time playing an FPS would make me, but Avatar was so remarkable that it was well-worth the work of watching it.