Avatar (3D)

I shan't talk about the contrived and cliche-ridden plot. Every Ebert and his mother is already riding up that alley. Rather, has anybody noticed that the mechanical combat vehicles are recycled from Cameron''s earlier "sci-fi" movies? The mechs from "Aliens" and the double-rotored gunships from ""Terminator 2"? I mean, come on, if you're gonna splurge 300 mil on a movie, at least come up with some new weaponry.

Another thing that gets my goat is that the humans are after this mineral called "unobtainium" and nobody lets on what it actually does and how it'll save the dying Earth...

About the story, come on, it's not that hard to write an intelligent, engrossing sci-fi script. Just look at "Gattaca" and "Silent Running"". Besides the other movies flung about by other reviewers, I'd feel it takes a lot from "Braveheart" as well. The 45-minute showdown is also lacking in intensity, with only the Mexican stand-off between the villain and the Avatar any good.

Another thing is no matter how hard it tries to convince everybody it is on an alien planet, it's just too familiar. You don't get H.R. Giger-ish designs or the gooey weirdness of "The Thing". And everytime it tries to bedazzle and awe, it just looks like a preview of "Final Fantasy 14" on the PS3.

About the 3D, it works best when there is overlapping depth, like the rows of soldiers and cryo-tubes. Otherwise, the things on the forefront need you to focus on them and this gives you a headache for 2 hours and 43 minutes.

Middling. 5.5 out of 10 stars.