Avatar [3D]

Director: James Cameron
Year Released: 2009
Rating: 2.0

Ferngully Remixed ... with a touch of World of Warcraft. Wildly overhyped part-human, part-CGI affair from Cameron has, in its favor, phenomenal visuals - heightened ever so much by the implementation of 3D (this is a movie that has to be seen in a theater to be appreciated in any way) - but suffers from a dismal screenplay, laughable dialogue ('fight terror with terror!') and weak 'subtext' (a unconvincing slap at the U.S. military) that has earned some genuinely stunned responses (articles calling it "racist" are especially fun reads). There is a concerted effort by Cameron - who doesn't know or care when enough is enough - to make it 'epic' in every way imaginable (the blockbuster as spectacle), having pumped an ungodly sum of money into the technical aspects - the picture's inherent slightness is overlooked because it is such a feast for the eyes, and there's that ol' pro-environment slant to keep The "Green" Bandwagon jumpers pleased. Stephen Lang, as the Army Colonel, gets to really ham it up.