1. "Eh...the one thing that was special about the first one" In response to Reply # 0
was the visuals, the 3D (which was cutting edge at the time) and overall CG. This don't look any more impressive than that from 2009, beyond showing different environments like water. The story was blah at the time and it's been 13 years. I really don't see what the hook is.
3. "Not sure if I'm ready for James Cameron's Ferngully 2" In response to Reply # 0
Took my little cousin the first one at the Cinema Dome with the special 3D glasses and that was the best part of it, taking him. Now he's graduating college with his Masters on Saturday, so not sure if I"m ready to go back to Pandora 13 years later.
Only willing to go back if he goes full Aliens with this one.
sometimes u gotta leave ur inner nigger in the bank vault. - desus
9. "I hated Avatar and think I still do...BUT" In response to Reply # 0
I will say that the Chapo Trap House reading of that movie is one of the more compelling takes I've ever heard in favor of a movie I thought was absolute dogshit. Like, it makes me feel so comprehensively wrong about what I thought sucked about that movie in a way I've rarely felt in my life...but I'm still never gonna see that movie again and couldn't care less about this one, lol.
Frank Longo Member since Nov 18th 2003 86670 posts
Wed May-11-22 10:56 AM
11. "lol it's def worth a revisit imo" In response to Reply # 9
Just listened to this Chapo review for the first time, and I basically agree with everything here, especially the idea that a movie's "cultural touchstone" these days tends to be memes, and a movie this earnest, contextual, and non-quip-oriented was never going to be that by design-- and that that's part of the beauty of it.
And yeah, it's so nakedly anti-capitalism, anti-military, anti-...America, basically-- that it's our moral obligation to refuse to be a cog in the machine. Exceptionalism plays no role here, and that's completely by design. The heroes aren't cool badasses with sick one-liners. They're boring Americans who make the choice to lay down their lives-- and, in Jake's case, make the choice to no longer be human-- in service of standing up against American imperialism.
Cameron makes some of the best "fuck the rich profit-chasing overlords who fuck over the workers" blockbusters ever. And Avatar fits beautifully in that mix imo.
>Exceptionalism plays no role here, and that's completely by design
the point of the movie, and Cameron has been extremely explicit about this in interviews
is that literally one average unspecial white man would have been good enough to make native Americans win the battle against colonization.
It is Exceptionalism the movie, and that is why it's so bad. It doesn't make sense that Jake should win at all, there's nothing about him that conveys that.
This has always been my issue with it. It's fucking Tarzan, and it's fucking insulting that people EVER thought this way and it's especially insulting that people STILL think this way and are willing to give this passes.
As a person of color, how can you NOT be insulted by this shit?
10. "Finally. A sequel to the most overrated movie ever made." In response to Reply # 0
Thirteen years later.
"James Cameron tricked yall man, like he made a good movie. It was just Dances With Wolves running around a jungle with CGI, doing nothing." - Russell Westbrook
---------------------------------------
"The world is before you and you need not take it or leave it as it was when you came in." - James Baldwin
19. "It's good. Way too fucking long." In response to Reply # 0 Tue Dec-06-22 04:15 PM by bwood
Your mileage may vary on this one.
I personally liked it more than the first, but it's too fucking long for its own good.
It's cool to see Cameron with so much more money at his disposal as you can see, this nigga lost his fucking mind. I mean seriously nothing makes happier to see one of our top teir blockbuster directors remind us who he is.
The visuals, the action, and the acting are miles better across the board with exception of a new human character. And there's an actual story this time (thank God).
But it does get repetitive and it falls into the Marvel trap of setting up for all the sequels in the pipeline.
The 3D is INSANE!!! My screening this morning was in Dolby Cinema 3D and my god the sound and picture were crisp. Can't wait to see this again in IMAX 3D.
The High Frame Rate is incredible and I honestly preferred it to the stuff in 24 frames per second. It looked much smoother and the details on everything was much more life-like. Seriously, there's stuff in here that felt like I could reach out and touch.
But yeah, there's whole sections I could easily make shorter or just cut.
With that said, definitely check it out at least once in a premium format in 3D or regular 3D. This does have me mildly excited for the next one.
EDIT: I was thinking the whole time that if Cameron gets to do this with a mega-budget then I can't wait to see what Denis Villeneuve gets to do with more resources with DUNE: PART TWO.
Also, my boy said a movie this big, he wished we could've seen it in IMAX to take up a greater field of view versus the the slightly bigger Dolby screen. And he's NOT an IMAX guy.
Frank Longo Member since Nov 18th 2003 86670 posts
Fri Dec-16-22 12:52 AM
32. "Genuinely might have the best special effects in cinema history." In response to Reply # 0
Like, there aren't words to describe how impressive and immersive this is. To give you some idea, the first Avatar looks better than more or less any movie today... and that was *thirteen years* of FX advancements ago.
Storywise, brilliant to center it around the family, brilliant to expand the scale to the level he's done, brilliant to bring back Weaver and *especially* Lang, who is truly terrific here.
It makes me mad that so many blockbusters these days could've been doing *this* level of work and instead settle for "good enough." We need more mad geniuses like Cameron. (It helps that he actually pays his FX artists.)
I'm sure those who thought the original was "too corny" or whatever will still have plenty to poke fun at here. Cameron's still super-earnest, still loves the planet, still will throw everything he's got into unsubtly underscoring his pro-nature, anti-capitalist themes. You won't find any tongues in cheek, any "*that* just happened"-style quips. It's unabashedly old school in a way few blockbusters today are willing to be-- and I unabashedly dig it.
Tiger Woods Member since Feb 15th 2004 18385 posts
Sat Dec-17-22 08:10 AM
34. "an actual marvel, pun totally intended" In response to Reply # 0
I’ve never seen anything like this
This world feels real and lived in. It’s long, but also the pace goes a long way in building out this world , there’s no rush to get anywhere but I don’t think it ever dragged either.
It’s legitimately hard to distinguish what’s tangible and what’s CG. There’s -no- bad green screen work at all. You know at the end of Endgame when Rhodey’s head is just floating in the Iron Patriot suit? Yea there’s zero of that in this movie.
The textures in the characters skins, weaponry exteriors, particles floating in the water, waves crashing when the whale creatures jump from the sea … it’s all just so fluid and tangible.
And the characters themselves convey emotion in a way that’s never been achieved before, full stop. The tension between the Water tribe king and queen , the pain in Jake’s face throughout as he knows the horror of war and does everything in his power to avoid it , all feels authentic. I know Gollum is sort of the standard for computer-generated characters but this flick makes Gollum look like Space Jam.
They showed the trailer for Ant Man 3 and it looks like an even stinkier pile of shit on screen that it does on my phone. Why even make bad blockbusters , or at least why go SEE bad blockbusters, at all if Avatar shows what’s actually possible?
I hope they don’t hop around for scenery - next movie in the desert, next next movie in the snow…I like the characters around sun and trees and water. But whatever Cameron does I’ll be there. I’ve never had a movie going experience like this before, and despite the long runtime I’m gonna see it again.
Frank Longo Member since Nov 18th 2003 86670 posts
Sat Dec-17-22 06:12 PM
36. "lol, this is 100% true" In response to Reply # 34
"They showed the trailer for Ant Man 3 and it looks like an even stinkier pile of shit on screen that it does on my phone."
Watching that trailer-- and *then* watching the first few minutes of Avatar? It's just a completely different world, visually. Like, where is the money going? lol
normal35762 Member since Oct 20th 2004 13246 posts
Mon Feb-06-23 05:29 AM
60. "Question for all of y'all. What do you think happened? Or why..." In response to Reply # 34
do you think Marvel is doing this? Being cheap? Not caring? Too many things going on at the expense of quality? The No Limit Records Theory? Thinking their brand is invincible therefore they can do the minimum? What can they do to solve it? Slow down?
I'm not initiated like y'all so y'all see things I may not see.
38. "I thought it was better than the original (KINDA MILD SPOILERS)" In response to Reply # 0
This is a gorgeous movie. I will watch in IMAX when I have the chance. I like the story arc for all the major characters, and it didn’t really drag much except for some of the scenes where they’re learning to swim. I think it actually felt shorter than the original somehow.
If I were to pick a couple nits (MILD SPOILERS BELOW)…
-The big death that happened towards the end was fairly predictable. It didn’t bother me that much because it had the intended effect on everyone else. I just thought it was obvious that all the other major characters had more importance moving forward. Plus that death/who would feel guilty about it was foreshadowed early on, so it stuck in my brain that it would almost certainly happen for real at either the midway point or late in the film.
-Kiri connects to a sea plant a 2nd time and it has NO effect on her health whatsoever. I didn’t need to see her have another seizure, but it was weird that she was 100% fine the 2nd time around when they told us that death was a likely possibility. Again, not a huge deal, just a minor oversight imo. She also seems like she may be the most important character moving forward, so it was pretty clear to me that she wasn’t gonna die, but putting her in more jeopardy would’ve made that scene a little more meaningful.
Frank Longo Member since Nov 18th 2003 86670 posts
Wed Dec-21-22 02:14 PM
40. "Crossed half a billion worldwide in under a week." In response to Reply # 0
There's a good chance that, by the time it's been open for two weeks, it'll have grossed more than any Marvel movie in 2022-- and maybe *any* movie of 2022 save Top Gun.
And that's *with* New Year's Weekend still to come.
I saw plenty of weirdos taking victory laps, claiming Avatar 2's opening weekend box office was a disappointment... when it's likely to become the top grossing movie of 2022 (and one of the ten highest grossing movies of all time) by MLK Weekend. And it'll run for at least another month after that. It's the same thing Titanic and Avatar did.
42. "Yeah...all they had to do is look at the box office from the first one," In response to Reply # 40
or Titanic. His films have a LONG tail. And for something like this one specifically you have folks waiting for the chance to see it in a specific format and not just jumping on any screening. I'll likely go see it next week...
I missed the first one in theaters. I was a new dad and it just didnt look appealing to me. I caught it on tv a few different times over the years and didnt get the hype. The story was weak and the visuals didnt blow me away. For 13 years I listened to people say OH BUT YOU HAVE TO SEE IT IN 3D. I stood my ground that if the story is weak 3D isnt going to help it. Also the CGI people during fight scenes looked like a video game cut scene.
I saw this one in high frame rate 3D titan luxe with dolby atmos like the good Lord James Cameron meant for it to be seen. Immediately 5 minutes into the movie the 3D and visuals were FUCKING AMAZING! I was blown away. Holy Shit! It is not even close in how much better this looks than any other movie ever made. Even the stupid looking blue people looked less stupid. They are still a wonky character design imo. Also the blue screen stuff with live humans looked seamless. Especially the submarine flooding in the 3rd act. That was done so well. The 3rd act was gorgeous. The fight scenes were amazing and the high frame rate really helped. There was a scene where they were shooting a rail gun at the fleeing kids. INSANE!
I had some issues with the acting. Spider was just not good. I know it was hard to act to dudes in suits and blue screen. But if he is going to be front and center he has to do better than that. The voice acting of the two sons was also bad. I hated all the bros in their dialogue. Generally i dislike kid actors 90% of the time anyway. So this is probably a me problem...nah it was bad. Its a them problem.
The story wasnt WAAAAAAAY better than the first one. Had some small issues. But a huge improvement. No major complaints.
Now to the long elephant in the room. THE MOVIE IS FUCKING LONG. It felt like all 3 hours and 12 minutes. It started off fine and ended fine but jesus christ the 2nd act dragged. A lot of the movie seemed like really cool cut scenes thrown in for the visual wow. It seemed like almost every single location change had a "welcome to jurassic park" moment with music and all. Even if we had seen the location before. Yes I understand you made some amazing visuals but lets move the story along and stop felating ourselves. 30 minutes could have easily been cut off from the 2nd act. Probably more if you really wanted to. I was fighting sleep and my son actually went to walk around in the lobby for a few minutes to wake up.
Overall it was good but waaaaaaaaay too fucking long. I did find that after two movies I dont care about the blue people and their battle against humans. It was visually amazing but Im good never seeing another Avatar movie again. I do believe you need to see it in 3D to full appreciate it. When i got home and saw a commercial for the movie I thought wow these commercials look like shit in comparison. I dont think the amazing visuals would have made me like the first one. Now that ive seen the amazing visuals. 8 out of 10.
November 8th, 2005 The greatest night in the history of GD!
The original was beautiful to watch and obviously a huge leap forward in terms of effects. But the story was thin and derivative. This was somehow even MORE of a leap forward, and I thought the story was much better. There was more depth to the characters instead of them all being cliched character types, and the story itself while still predictable definitely had more complexity which made it interesting.
But the visuals? My goodness. The bar has been raised.
50. "I loved the middle section" In response to Reply # 0
it's rare to have a blockbuster movie spend time basking in its own world. "nothing happened in the second act" -- oh, as if the deadpan one-liners, long-winded plot-point dialogue and backstory drivel that fills up most major films count for anything.
but soaking up Cameron's insane visuals, with a new incredible scene every few minutes and no hurry to go anywhere? that's a fucking movie-going experience.
53. "RE: 0% drop at the box office week 3. ZERO." In response to Reply # 52
It's funny reading the hater comments, well it's not gonna get to 2 bill. Just wait, then goal posts move to yeah but inflation like it's not still making more than anything else is by far at this point. While I wouldn't mind seeing Cameron try other things he's locked in with Avatar world now and I'm fine with that too.
54. "I need to see the fully executed vision of five films now. " In response to Reply # 0
So far, he's 2-2 with these. IMO the legitimate criticism is both minor and minimal.
He's smartly setting up a Star Wars-esque arc here with the family.
spoilers
Kiri was probably the most engaging new character for me, given her connection to Aiwa. Are we all agreed that this was an immaculate conception, with no father? That seems to be the obvious conclusion there.
Emergency Awesome speculated on a Darth Vader-like arc for Quaritch, which I'm open to, if not particularly thrilled about. I don't really care about him or Monkey Boy, but I didn't hate the dynamic.
I enjoyed the arc with the son and the Tulkuns, which my wife referred to as the Free Willy arc. They did a find job making the humans as repulsive as possible with the whole fountain of youth serum bit, talking about how intelligent- and emotionally intelligent- the Tulkuns are, in light of the downright savage way they hunted them.
My lone significant gripe was the "Titanic" portion of act three. Nah. Not for me. I didn't need the whole "we're about to drown!" bit. It gave Kiri a chance to shine, so there's that, but the process was anything but exciting or interesting- particularly so late in such a long film. they could have cut that out and given Kiri other, better shit to do IMO.
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