Wonderful character development!

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

I would say that of all the Cybertech cum 'Nueromancer' copycat movies done so far, Cyber Wars is a pleasant surprise.This movie is not about cyborg-assassins and Net-punk-gangs rampaging through a dystopian corporate wasteland. It's about a puzzle that happens to envelope the entire world, and the unraveling of a conspiracy.The female lead is kind of wooden, which is why I give this movie a 7, but all the other characters flesh out her shortcomings with a modicum of depth. And the antagonists are actually characters with feeling, far from cardboard cut-outs. The technology is showcased nicely as holograms the 'Netlink' trips are cinematically neat. But the best part of this movie is that the SFX does not unduly distract you from the Story itself.The core of this movie is this: Would you live in a world where everything is working Okay and Just Right if you knew that the reason everything worked just right was because a secret cabal was minutely Playing the World as a Game to keep everything in 'Balance', but only for their amusement?Is it Wrong to want to End this game?For those of you looking for something like the "Matrix" on the Cheap-- sorry guyz-- No samurai swordfights. No Off-the-Ceiling Flying Ninja kicks. No non-stop guns 'n' ammo urban warfare battles. No epileptic level pyrotechnics.Just an interesting story with a Puzzle of a Question about Choices.This movie is Girlfriend Friendly and a good pick for a light Friday Night flick with Nicely salted French Fries.

Not bad, not bad at all. I gather this is Australian, at least in part, and it seems of a piece with the generally good quality of Australian films, at least those imported to the US compared with the US domestic product.As my title suggests, it combines general plot elements of Domino, The Matrix, and the general concept of Blade Runner; it doesn't try to outdo any of them, but instead is a somewhat stripped down, sleek SF action film, more in the spirit of Domino than the somewhat ponderous senses of The Matrix and Blade Runner, which had to set up the cyberpunk world that this movie can now take for granted.What's nice about it is a general lack of crap or cheesiness; actors are all good, including Joan Chen and William Sanderson, apparently a permanent fixture of the cyberpunk world since Blade Runner; dialogue is good; no cheesy effects, performances, dialogue, etc. I find this compares favorably with something like Freejack, which had the faint whiff of fromage floating about it, as well as Mad Max (the original) which was sort of obviously cartoonish.

In the grand scheme of things this film probably does not deserve a 7/10 - which places it with countless other "better than bad" films. A movie like this is all about expectations going in. High expectations? Not a great movie. Low expectations? Well, this movie is a pleasant surprise.There just are not many solid cyberpunk inspired films these days. Classics like the original Matrix and Bladerunner are singular standouts. Movies like Hackers or Brainscan are more the norm. Certainly there are stinkers like Johnny Mnemonic that has too much in common with a bad episode of Earth Final Conflict (an already terrible TV show). Avatar reminds me of the made for TV movie Cypher, though it is not as good as this little known film.Avatar is a movie made for the film buff who has seen FAR too many movies. The director clearly has a vision, it keeps a solid consistent pace, and despite what other reviews here state, there is a great deal of ideas and content to like. Perhaps this is an easy movie to hate on, but reviews here that state that "the story is bad," and "the acting is bad," don't give clear reasons to back up their claims. If there is a clear weakness, it would be the casting. I don't mind looking at Genevieve O'Reilly, and one may believe Dash's (yea, thats her name) intelligence, but not the street hardened marksman that the viewer is supposed to buy into. Standout performances would be Joan Chen as an surgically and chemically "enhanced" 90 year old woman, and Kay Siu Lim as Julius. Julius is completely believable as a master of the net, someone who has given up their humanity for a life in cyberspace. I also liked a couple of the other "game masters" in their limited, but clearly fun roles.At its core, Avatar is a mystery movie with a cyberpunk backdrop. I feel it could have been improved with noir characteristics of seedier characters, dark relationships, and perhaps more of an antihero. Regardless, the viewer is introduced to a "head hunter" or modern detective who specializes in the apprehension of identity thieves. I have to admit the telling of the story is much better than the story itself. I enjoyed following the main character through her quest to first find an identity thief, then dig deeper into the real story when it becomes clear she is just another pawn in a much larger game. The story suffers from anticlimaxes - points at which the story needs more impact, but somehow the importance of these moments are missed.And yet I still enjoyed the film as a whole. Its fun, has style, and though not in the same league as so many other big budget films - still has much to offer in ideas and concepts, which deserve attention.

Although this movie has a bit of a slow start, the plot develops quite nicely into an interesting movie dealing with the idea of a controlling class playing 'the game', the only activity that such a group has to do once they have everything. This group of illuminated 'players' work in competition to build the Utopian society in which everyone lives, sometimes making sacrifices for the greater good; either theirs or society. Of course, the controlled wish to be free, and they figured a way to crash the system, thus bringing the powerful out of power and leaving the non-players to be free in a world of chaos, after which a new order will be found. The only problem is that of the rogue player, one which does not desire status, or material wealth, but true power, although one with imbalance is easily removed from the game (as seen near the end).An interesting take on game philosophy and the theory of modern revolution. The production was decent, acting improved as the show went on, and the story had few major holes (probably due to editing to keep the runtime down). Recommended for those that like cyberpunk with a touch of Bladerunner and a hint of the matrix, along with philosophy and illumination. Don't expect it to be perfect, but some of the ideas presented are worth watching.-- kruhft