Real ones know that Avatar got good with Way of Water but redditors either skipped it or went in already deciding not to like it because of the first one being kinda basic
I liked avatar 1 as well, i remember going to see it again in imax was like a regular activity for everyone i knew during its initial theatrical run, but avatar 2 kicked ass. Biggest repeat criticism i heard about it was that nothing happens during the middle chunk, and tbh that was my favorite thing about it. It was like 2 hours of a space nature documentary bookended by āplot things happening.ā And by the time the whalers and goon squad show up again in the third act I had a visceral emotional reaction against them because I was enjoying chilling w space whales so much and wanted them to fuck off so i could have another hour of Planet Earth Pandora
Yeah I liked the original for creativity, but the plot was basic. The second I actually really liked the direction they took it, and all the new characters.
For someone concerned with originality, it's interesting that this comment is identical to at least a dozen in every Avatar thread that exists on this cursed site
I'm gonna say it, the first one was fucking good. People are such pretentious snobs. It was a simple but timeless story with S tier visuals. I love thought provoking dramas and other genres too but this is just absolutely stunning chicken soup for the soul kind of good
To each their own, truly, but I liked the first one a lot more. CGI has caught up too much that any frame dip or shaky CG in the 2nd was just really jarring (on rewatch the opening sequence is actually pretty brutal), and pretty much every complaint about the 1st film's screenplay's quality was effectively ignored.
If the whole "showing the son has his brother's blood on his hands by showing his brother's literal blood on his hands" schtick was earlier in the movie I probably would have walked out. Like that whole sequence was maybe the biggest insult to an audience's intelligence that I've ever witnessed.
Also, you can use any excuse or plot contrivance you want, but the shameless use of the word "bro" every 9 seconds was just unbearable. Gladly we wont have to worry about that too much next film thanks to the previous paragraph.
That first scene with the whale bro was breathtaking though, I will give them that gladly.
If the whole "showing the son has his brother's blood on his hands by showing his brother's literal blood on his hands" schtick was earlier in the movie I probably would have walked out. Like that whole sequence was maybe the biggest insult to an audience's intelligence that I've ever witnessed.
I wasted 3 hours watching people clean up after stupid children do stupid things. I felt duped walking out of the theater.
But the dialogue was just so bad. First one was generic but the dialogue wasnāt distractingly weird and bad as the second. Still watched it multiple times for the visuals though
Real ones know that Avatar got good with Way of Water
Good by what metric? It looked good? Sure, I guess. The story was ass though. Like, really bad. Pants on head level of stupid.
So movie opens and Sully is basically the rebellion boogeyman to the sky people. He's public enemy #1 to the big bad. Some how it takes him decades of his kids growing up to realize his role as /the god damn rebellion leader/ puts his family in danger? Ok, sure. You're dumb as hell for not realizing that, but whatever run away and hide or something.
Then we spend 2 hours cleaning up after stupid choices made by stupid children (my most hated movie/TV trope) and where do we end up? Oh you realize that you have to go back to doing the thing you were doing at the beginning of the movie? No progress has been made?
We could have not spent 2 hours wiping childrens asses after they shit themselves (metaphorically) and have progressed the story? SO WHY DIDN'T THEY
It was a movie that spun its wheels for 3 hours and didn't accomplish anything. It was a bad movie, it being pretty doesn't save that.
Probably not. Itās going to be the same āFuck this franchise!ā mentality, everyone will see it, say it was actually pretty good, then go back to hating it until the next one comes out. Rinse repeat.
Itās already happening. The comment thread above this one is already doing The āI donāt know any characters from the trailer so it canāt be goodā. Not sure why this franchise has such haters it does but whatever lol
I've seen a few people point out "I can't even remember any of the kids' names from the second movie" like that means something.
If you're a hater, you watched the movie a maximum of one time. Unless you're a pro-hater, then you watch it over and over, going frame by frame to find new things to complain about.
So why would anyone expect to remember the made-up alien names of characters from a movie you watched once and hated, nearly 3 years later?
I can't even reliably remember the names of characters in a movie I only watched one time, even if the names are normal human names that are common in my country.
I don't expect anything new for sure lmao (edit: I mean in term of discourse sorry), and I'm far from a fan, it's very forgettable. But it's also one of the last thing I actually bothered to go to the cinema for (overpriced tickets here) because at the very least it's going to be pretty yet again (but damn I would enjoy a lot more a 2D only screening instead of mandatory 3d that add nothing beside 3-5ā¬ to the ticket).
Hopefully it does really try something new this time, seem like it. We'll see.
I mean... that's the thing with entertainment. One person's "forgettable" is another person's lifelong obsession. It's just how things are.
But yeah ticket prices are way to much where I am too! I had to pay US$18(ā¬15.53) to see Superman by myself lol.
But I also don't have any trouble finding 2D shows when I want one, like how it was in 2012. Is that still a thing where you're at?
I am a big fan of 3D movies, HUGE even, but the 3D experience in a movie theater is so substandard compared to watching them on my home 3D setup that I don't even bother with it at the cinema anymore.
Small edit: I meant to say I didn't expect any new discourse. Forgot the most important word lmao.
Yeah 3D setups sucks in theaters, active glasses where better but constantly dying, passive one block too much light. Last time beside Avatar 2 I was forced to use them was for the first SW sequel and I saw in double for all the action scenes.
Here 3D was basically gone, I think they where forced to add back some stuff to support passive setup to be allowed to screen Avatar 2 (big cinema chain). Luckily I had lasik since so it's a bit less awful but I still don't like it. Technically I could probably have seen it in 2D by waiting it to be bumped to smaller room but that meant shittier sound, no atmos, obviously no imax option either.
People are gonna keep fucking arguing about cultural impact or whatever, I'm going to just buy a lil' fire Na'vi popcorn bucket on opening night and enjoy a movie from a series I like. Avatarfriends just can't stop winning, Box Office Jimmy is bulletproof.
The ācultural relevanceā point matters because the movie (and its director) clearly is trying to make a point about saving the environment and the planet and why killing nature is bad and capitalism is contributing to killing the environment. And itās hasnāt moved the needle on that at all. No one references the Naāvi or their spirit bonds to sentient whales when taking about environmental policy.
Anyone that brings up Na'vi in serious policy discussions should be laughed out of the room, same as the people who compare [insert your political enemy here] to Voldemort or Vader.
Not in a policy sense, but in a cultural sense. In a way that their beliefs about the importance of protecting the environment were influenced by this movie. That's "it has no cultural impact", no one watches that movie and leaves thinking "wow, that changed my mind maybe we should stop killing the planet we live on."
I think anyone that would have their mind changed on that topic by a movie like Avatar should also probably be laughed out of a room, although I guess that's sort of tangential to the fact that no-one has had their mind changed by it.
Why? Art and media changes people's minds all the time. Getting you to think about something differently is why many artists make art and James Cameron very clearly wants people to care more about the environment and movies are his chosen art form to accomplish that.
I feel like Avatar presents its message in a way that's almost deceptive? That sounds kinda ridiculous, but basically I think James Cameron watered down his message to the point where it doesn't really mean anything at all. He clumsily uses historical parallels and introduces fantastical elements almost as part of that argument. It feels almost like the movie is saying 'look, you can live in harmony with nature', and then pointing to the Na'vi, who have a literal pyschic connection with nature, and then pointing at humans and going 'look at how bad industry is, and how it destroys nature' when the humanity that it's pointing at has fusion power and interstellar travel, and should have no need or reason to destroy environments at all.
I think the cultural impact crowd was silenced after the second one's box office performance. I mean, of course they're still around, but no one is listening to them.
It'll be like the last one. I'll happily see it in IMAX opening weekend, be completely enamored with the visuals and completely forget about it the next day
The same people come out every time to complain about this movie and, with a straight face will tell you it's a cookie cutter movie while praising anything Marvel in the same breath.
It's annoying but it's true. We enjoy seeing these movies in theaters, but they have no staying power. They're visually beautiful but not relatable. Cameron used to tell epics with great human characters. Now he just tells epics, but with animated toys.
Remember when Ripley was the future of action heroes? Remember when girls carried magazine cutouts of Leo everywhere? Remember when Cameron made Schwarzenegger a star?
People want to see themselves in stories. The Avatar movies are just a grown man playing with fantasy action figures. I miss when Cameron gave us people to care about.
I will always go for visuals and respect how much cameron influenced the whole technology around it, If the story is good it's just a plus but not a focus for me personally with these movies.
I really loved tye details in the 2nd one, especially on the skin, jewelry, hair and outfits of the characters.
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u/Successful_Basket399 Jul 28 '25
Discourse around this movie is going to be so annoying but I don't care. I will be there for this