Avatar: Review By Huntsman

Dec 18th, 2009 by Huntsman
Doesn't live up to the hype.
  • OVERALL
    1.5
    POOR
  • Story
  • Acting
  • Directing
  • Visuals
I am very, very disappointed with this movie. The way people talk, it was like this movie was going to change everything about movies. I guess in some ways it did, and in others it failed miserably.

Let me say I've been a big fan of James Cameron until his last few movies. I grew up in the 80's, and he did change film making in the 1980's. From Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss, and Terminator 2. Those movies influenced many people and movies. Sadly the last three films True Lies, Titanic and Avatar have failed or maybe succeeded. I guess it depends on your point of view. What is more important to you a good story and great acting or amazing visuals/action that will blow you away, because that will blow you away. If you are looking for the latter than this is the movie for your.

I don't know what's wrong with Cameron, maybe it's the writers he has but I believe he wrote the story for all his movies. The early ones from Terminator to Terminator 2 all had interesting stories and characters and were able to blend it together with great visuals. So I don't know what's wrong with him, except maybe he's lost his touch.

Oh yes the review for the movie.

First of the good: Simply the visuals/action, it was absolutely amazing. The world and life he created is stunning. Do I think he will change film making with what he's done with this heck yes. The world comes alive and you feel it. Sadly that's the only thing alive in this movie and leaves me thinking what could have been.

Now for the bad:

Story: It's absolutely terrible. It's essentially what we(The Europeans) did to the native Americans of North and South America. This story has been done many times over and much, much better. Also the anti-American/imperialism is rampant through this movie. I can understand if Cameron wanted to make some kind of statement, he just should have done a better job of it.

Characters: Thanks to left-wing story, the characters are cardboard cut outs and uninteresting. From the company man who only cares about the making money and nothing else. The evil colonel who thinks the indigenous population are nothing but savages and hold no value. To the stereotypical Indians(The Na'vi). I mean some on it is down right laughable. The only characters that interested me were Trudy(Michelle Rodriguez) and Grace(Sigourney Weaver), but they were stuck to the back ground.

So overall if you enjoy nothing but great action/visuals/special effects this movie is for you, but if you also enjoy a good story and interesting characters this movie isn't for you and will leave you disappointed.

It left me wondering what could have been. What if this movie had a decent story interesting characters and good directing. Than I truly believe this movie would have been one for the ages and people would be talking about decades from now.

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Comments (21)

  1. Huntsman

    @moviegeek: First thanks for the support. As for sounding persnickety as you say. I really wanted to like this movie I thought it was going to be a good if not great movie. Was it close to the worst movie I've seen. No where near the worst. But as I said in another comment all this movie is Dances With Wolves in Space with great special effects. That was the only thing close to being unique or original about the movie. I've lost a lot of respect for James Cameron. He was amazing in the 80's.but ever since his directing and writing has been bad to terrible.

    2 years agoby @huntsmanFlag

  2. Huntsman

    @Worth5Bucks: Thanks for the support even though it sounds like you like the movie. All this movie is Dances With Wolves on a alien planet with admittedly great special effects.

    2 years agoby @huntsmanFlag

  3. Worth5Bucks

    Wow this sucks, people seem to have pressed thumbs down just because they didn't like your rating when in fact, this is an excellent review. I don't agree with your rating but I see where you're coming from. I will agree to disagree.

    2 years agoby @mattbierwagenFlag

  4. moviegeek

    Well-written, but you sound persnickety, not willing to just have a good time. Relax, and just enjoy the movie-going experience.

    2 years agoby @moviegeekFlag

  5. MovieWiz001

    U suck!

    3 years agoby @moviewiz001Flag

  6. Huntsman

    Really is that the best insult you can come up with, come on you can do better than that.

    3 years agoby @huntsmanFlag

  7. Red Camera Man

    You suck, Huntsman. This movie was AWESOME and it truly deserves an Oscar!

    3 years agoby @redcameramanFlag

  8. Huntsman

    Thanks IamBatman.

    As for Yelsew 136: Well you agree with Brian and that tells me everything I need to know about you.

    3 years agoby @huntsmanFlag

  9. Yelsew136

    Im with Brian... u suck

    3 years agoby @yelsew136Flag

  10. IamBATMAN

    great review man

    3 years agoby @iambatmanFlag

  11. Huntsman

    Thanks GK

    3 years agoby @huntsmanFlag

  12. GK

    Great review.

    3 years agoby @indianajonesFlag

  13. Huntsman

    Pandora was amazing, but you can get the same just by watching the Discovery Channel or Animal Planet. You can see a beautiful planet, full of wondrous plants, animals and insects. That's what everyone should just do instead of wasting their time with a nearly 3hr boring movie.

    3 years agoby @huntsmanFlag

  14. Brian

    How the hell wasn't Avatar and interesting story? Oh, sorry, I forgot you all have spent a lot of time on Pandora.

    3 years agoby @brianFlag

  15. Huntsman

    Narzion: That point I explained in my review. Of course there's no true original stories anymore. The trick is finding a way to make the story interesting to the viewer, and for me Cameron failed miserably. He tried to cover up a terrible story, almost as bad directing and bad acting with what I readily admit was wonderful special effects/visuals.

    3 years agoby @huntsmanFlag

  16. Narzion

    guys there is no such a thing like completly original story today - every theme is more or less said trough history of art

    3 years agoby @narzionFlag

  17. Newkill3000

    huntsman, great review dude. Pay no attention to Brian. He believes that if you didn't like this movie then your stupid or didn't really see it. He's bi polar.

    3 years agoby @newkill200Flag

  18. Huntsman

    guidotkp3: Thank you for your support.

    For everyone else who commented below: Ah yes the immature people who can't stand it when people don't like the things they do, and if you don't agree with them they insult you instead of just giving their honest opinion or just saying they disagree.

    3 years agoby @huntsmanFlag

  19. guidotkp3

    DCMX - Your 6th grade teacher just called, and said you need to re-take your spelling test from last week. If you are going to rip on somebody, at least learn to spell. And why rip on his review? I totally agree with it 100%. He is dead on. This film is NOT for everyone. Everybody will NOT like this movie! To me personally, this is the most over-hyped movie of the season. Being someone who works in the theatre industry, I am excited for the business this film will generate, but I just cannot and will not ever put this movie at a level that certain fans of this film will do. It just wasn't that good. Get over it.

    3 years agoby @guidotkp3Flag

  20. Huntsman

    That's because the visuals like I said over and over again were great, but that was it. Did you read my review or did you just look at the score and decide to try to offend me.

    As for you second thing did you read my review for GI-JOE and or Transformers 2. I think the answer is no you just looked my score for them and voiced you opinion.

    Look I can be like you. Should we value your opinion when you gave movies like Watchmen 3 stars and the box set of Starship Troopers 5 stars.

    So if you love the film and disagree with me that's fine this review is just my opinion. So just give this review a thumps down and don't leave a hypercritical comment.

    3 years agoby @huntsmanFlag

  21. Brian

    "absolutely amazing" and "absolutely terrible" in the same review? I think you're a little bi-polar. You wanna hate this because everyone loves it so much.

    As well, how are you to be trusted? Ha! You gave the crapfest known as GI JOE, and the garbage known as TRANSFORMERS 2 higher ratings than Avatar?

    Give me a break.

    3 years agoby @brianFlag