Review: Avatar

There are acres of the internet dedicated to explaining just how expensive James Cameron's follow-up to the world-conquering TITANIC has proven to be. My estimate is that, once distribution and marketing costs have been added to a mammoth production budget, you're looking at a film that has cost nearly $600m to bring to the screen.

Of course, one of the costs has been the sheer lengthiness of the project. For the last four years, Cameron has been in the various stages of the production process, including using a brand new camera, in order to make the film look the way he wanted. This new camera has made quite the difference, this is by far the most impressive looking 3D film to date.

What Cameron has done, in a way that at least equals the achievement of Peter Jackson's THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, is create a world that is so real and so believable that you are completely transported. AVATAR is a towering technological achievement, and a sumptuous, visual delight.

It's not without flaws, though. The film is 164 minutes long, and while this is less of an issue than might have been feared, there are moments when it drags. The dialogue is, on occasion, Lucas-esque and the focus on environmental issues is woolly, and abandoned somewhat for the money shots (isn't nature great? Well, yeah, but look how much greater it is when we blow the living shit out of it!)

It's probably best to compare it to some of the films that have been the best or biggest blockbusters since TITANIC. It's infinitely better than any of the Star Wars prequels, for example, but not as good as any of the LORD OF THE RINGS films.

You could argue that the balance of the film is askew, there's about 65% of it that could, uncharitably, be described as bollocks. On the flip-side, though, the other 35% is marvellous, more than good enough to make the film a captivating, and compelling watch. In fact, so brilliant is Cameron's film, when in full flow, that it would be easy to proclaim it as more than it is: a genuine, visual marvel, with a story borrowed from several places (most notably the legend of Pocahontas), some dodgy acting and shonky moments, levied by moments of genuine brilliance.