Spoiler free...

I just saw Avatar in IMAX 3D. The 3D-ness didn't really add anything, but I agree that it does "work". This is the second IMAX film I've seen of late. The previous one Star Trek, wasn't 3D, but I was in the second row. Combine that with Star Trek's ShakyCam (tm) effect, and it was worthless. This time, we made a point of getting in the queue an hour before showtime, and were able to get better seats.

(I was in London in '95 and saw a film, and they had assigned seating for movie tickets. Wonderful stuff for an IMAX 3D film. Sit 3/4 of the way back in the center, if at all possible.)

The plot was entirely predictable, and had techno-stupid holes as well as military-protocol holes you could drive a truck through. Nonetheless, it was entertaining and visually rich. The whole 3D gimick is fun, but I won't shell out $15 again, the next time a 3D film comes around.

Was Avatar a groundbreaking film? Yes and no. Does anybody look back fondly on Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow as a feat of cinematic greatness? Does anybody look back at Jurassic Park as epic cinema? No, not really, and I assume Avatar will be similarly treated by future critics.

What I do expect will come out of Avatar is that all the technology behind the film will find its way into unusual and interesting places. Once the price comes down, we'll be able to see far less conventional scriptwriting that can leverage this technology toward realizing much cooler results.

For contrast, District 9 was bonkers good, with far fewer drive-a-truck-through-them plot holes as well as far less moralizing about how The Man is an agent of pure and unadulterated evil yet doing a far better job of demonstrating the very same.

We're long overdue for an alien film where the aliens are emphatically not humanoids (with or without blue warpaint).