Avatar - I'm not convinced.

James Cameron's new film Avatar has been gathering some serious momentum in the hype and anticipation from fans. Supposedly Cameron conceived the idea years ago, but that the technology didn't exist to realize his vision at the time. Avatar has been heralded as being the next step in special effects, as significant a change to film as black and white to color, and it's had comment from Steven Spielberg, Steven Soderbergh, Jon Favreau and others praising the film.

Now that the teaser trailer has been released, it has to be said, I'm not convinced that this is going to be the next step in cinema. In fact, I'm not even convinced this is going to be a good film. There's a considerable and sometimes very harsh backlash against the film on many internet message boards, with a lot of people bashing the computer generated effects that were lauded to be photo realistic. I wouldn't be quite as harsh, but I do think the teaser has been disappointing, and it could take more before I am excited about Avatar.

Here's hoping the 15 minute preview is better.

I do think that some of the effects shown are incredibly good, in the moment where Sam Worthington's character awakes in his new form, the detail as he examines his hands and stretches his toes is extremely impressive, but elsewhere the CGI looks obvious and cartoonish. I'm willing to grant that what we've seen in the trailer isn't completely finished work, after all, some of the CGI that was shown in the Iron Man trailer was considerably worse than what was shown in the finished film. And I'm also willing to grant that we cannot judge a film that's pioneering 3D techniques until we've seen it for ourselves in 3D on the big screen.

The reason I'm not all that excited is because I'm afraid that Avatar will be a case of style over substance. Even if it's the greatest spectacle in cinema history, that fact won't make up for a poor story or shallow characters. I want to be excited, because this is coming from the man who made The Terminator, Aliens and The Abyss, but I'm not even intrigued by the teaser. By comparison, a film that I am extremely excited about seeing is Neill Blomkamp's District 9, I'm counting the days until it's released here in Ireland (September 4th).

I can't help but compare the two films, even if it's only on a superficial level as they're both big science fiction films featuring aliens, and the main character in each fights against their former allies with the aliens. But in contrast to Avatar, the teaser (which you can watch here) for District 9 was something that completely grabbed my attention, I was extremely intrigued and fascinated, this was a film that I desperately want to see. I was sold long before the full trailer came along. The methods of advertising the films are just so vastly different, Avatar's teaser seems to be all about the spectacle, it's saying "Phwoar! Look at the CGI! Look at the alien creatures!" whereas District 9's teaser entices and piques curiosity.

So far, Blomkamp's film is getting great reviews (that for the most part, I'm ignoring as I don't want to spoil it for myself), and it's already hit imdb.com's top 250 at #29 at the time of writing this. I've no doubt it's going to be something very special indeed. That's something that Avatar has yet to convince me of. To me District 9 seems like a vastly more thrilling film, the story looks to be more compelling, and the main character seems more engaging. I'm hoping that James Cameron's Avatar will turn out to be every bit as fantastic on a storytelling level as it is visually, and we'll be treated to something that is as revolutionary as it claims to be, but if I was to make a bet as to which film will be considered the greatest in years to come, my money would be with Blomkamp's District 9.