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Avatar: The Way of Water | Review Thread

It's undoubtedly a visual feast. The story is part multiple retreads, part new interesting dynamics but characters and story are still largely one Dimensional "goodies vs baddies". For those of us who love nuanced storytelling like in GoT where characters are flawed and complex, the Way of Water comes across as the most beautiful, visually flawless but most expensive kids cinematic cartoon ever devised.
You went to see Avatar for nuanced story telling? Lol

Even the first one was like that and therein lies the appeal of these movies. Cameron is a smart man. Nuanced story telling? you may want to go somewhere else for that

annoyed-irritated.gif
 

RaduN

Member
For those of us who love nuanced storytelling like in GoT where characters are flawed and complex, the Way of Water comes across as the most beautiful, visually flawless but most expensive kids cinematic cartoon ever devised.
Depends on what parts of GoT we are talking about here.
Maybe i'm in a minority, but the last couple of seasons were absolutely crap. Offensively bad even.
Sure, most of the kinds are all hot-head teenagers, but I'd say that the antagonist in Way of the Water is a pretty well written and acted character, by any standards.
Also the movie plays a wild card fantastically well, with an unlikely character in the form of the Outcast. That's another one of the movie's high points in terms of characterisation, and a pretty unique one too.
 

Marvel14

Banned
Depends on what parts of GoT we are talking about here.
Maybe i'm in a minority, but the last couple of seasons were absolutely crap. Offensively bad even.
Sure, most of the kinds are all hot-head teenagers, but I'd say that the antagonist in Way of the Water is a pretty well written and acted character, by any standards.
Also the movie plays a wild card fantastically well, with an unlikely character in the form of the Outcast. That's another one of the movie's high points in terms of characterisation, and a pretty unique one too.
You were spoiled....I'm rewatching GoT right now and the last seasons are better on second viewing.

The problem I have is the one dimensional motivations of characters. The goodies want to preserve and be in balance with Pandora and the baddies want to exploit it. That makes all goodies good all the time and all baddies bad all the time. Its like old westerns when you root for one side and cheer when that side kills the other. It's fine for superficial entertainment but I think does a deservice to the complex and nuanced biodiversity and environmental messages. How do you strike a balance, where is sacrifice needed? Etc. In this movie humans refuse to learn anything from their mistakes and they don't even tell us why.
 

RaduN

Member
How do you strike a balance, where is sacrifice needed? Etc. In this movie humans refuse to learn anything from their mistakes and they don't even tell us why.
I think you are selling the narrative short.

I'll agree that some of the bad guys are mustache twirling stereotypes, that's undebatable, but it is very clear that not all humans refuse to do this (learn from their mistakes).
Let's set aside for a moment 1st part's Jake character growth, because it seems that if a human/white guy discovers the true meaning of life (and best scrambled eggs recipe) in a non/human-white collective, is somehow bad these days as well, see, again, the main antagonist of part 2. It starts as the most cliche bad guy ever created, but he slowly turns into something else. We will see the direction this character is headed, but so far, he absolutely fits the human antagonist on the verge of having an epiphany trope.
He is exactly the balance your are seeking.
 

nightmare-slain

Gold Member
thought about going to the cinema tomorrow after work to see it but i don't know. i can hardly remember what happened in the first one and i'm not watching it again. also i'm not sitting in the cinema for over 3 hours lol.

i suppose i'll wait for it to come to streaming so i can rent it.
 

DR3AM

Dreams of a world where inflated review scores save studios
thought about going to the cinema tomorrow after work to see it but i don't know. i can hardly remember what happened in the first one and i'm not watching it again. also i'm not sitting in the cinema for over 3 hours lol.

i suppose i'll wait for it to come to streaming so i can rent it.
Not much to remember and they kind of summarize everything. 3D is a must.
 
thought about going to the cinema tomorrow after work to see it but i don't know. i can hardly remember what happened in the first one and i'm not watching it again. also i'm not sitting in the cinema for over 3 hours lol.

i suppose i'll wait for it to come to streaming so i can rent it.
If you have an IMAX theater nearby, it really is worth the experience. Streaming it in 2D takes away one of the main draws of the movie.
 

Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
thought about going to the cinema tomorrow after work to see it but i don't know. i can hardly remember what happened in the first one and i'm not watching it again. also i'm not sitting in the cinema for over 3 hours lol.

i suppose i'll wait for it to come to streaming so i can rent it.
Best visual effects in history. But you know, it's not for everyone.

Used to be that people could just appreciate a spectacle without a flawless story. Clash of the Titans comes to mind. It's that big of a jump in effects quality. But the script isn't flawless.
 

Marvel14

Banned
I think you are selling the narrative short.

I'll agree that some of the bad guys are mustache twirling stereotypes, that's undebatable, but it is very clear that not all humans refuse to do this (learn from their mistakes).
Let's set aside for a moment 1st part's Jake character growth, because it seems that if a human/white guy discovers the true meaning of life (and best scrambled eggs recipe) in a non/human-white collective, is somehow bad these days as well, see, again, the main antagonist of part 2. It starts as the most cliche bad guy ever created, but he slowly turns into something else. We will see the direction this character is headed, but so far, he absolutely fits the human antagonist on the verge of having an epiphany trope.
He is exactly the balance your are seeking.
Who? Jake or the new main baddie? Agree that his arc is going to be fascinating...but just judged on this movie...baddie is bad except for a few family issues...
 

sankt-Antonio

:^)--?-<
Imo, the baddie in this is worse than the one in A1. In A1 at least you had a ruthless military guy calling in airstrikes while puffing on a cigar and being ruthless all the freaking way until his death. The little bitch in A2 is a blue boyscout in comparison.
 

Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
Imo, the baddie in this is worse than the one in A1. In A1 at least you had a ruthless military guy calling in airstrikes while puffing on a cigar and being ruthless all the freaking way until his death. The little bitch in A2 is a blue boyscout in comparison.
Well he literally died and lives in a new body. And his body will never have a home on Earth now, so he is more attached to Pandora.

I think he's the best character in both movies.
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
Well he literally died and lives in a new body. And his body will never have a home on Earth now, so he is more attached to Pandora.

I think he's the best character in both movies.
The way that personality transfer tech just came out of nowhere (especially after A1 made the human to avatar transfer seem like a wonder from an alien god and the humans scrambled after Jake's brother was killed) you'd think they would be doing it ALL THE DAMNED TIME if a simple "lets go blow up a savage base camp" justified it's use. Why wasn't Jake's brother backed up? Why hunt whales for a bit of immortality juice when you can do personality transfers?

Come to think of it, why send ANY humans AT ALL to pandora if you can just send the personality engram and download it into a pandora suitable avatar?

Hopefully this is where this series is going, exploring the relationship between the original and a copy, where humanity goes with this tech, and the nature of a "soul". The brit sci-fi author Peter F. Hamilton uses this kinda tech a lot in his stuff, it leads to very interesting places when you have little fear of body death because you view an engram (am I just using the cyberpunk 2077 term for this?) as being the same thing as 'you'.
 

Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
The way that personality transfer tech just came out of nowhere (especially after A1 made the human to avatar transfer seem like a wonder from an alien god and the humans scrambled after Jake's brother was killed) you'd think they would be doing it ALL THE DAMNED TIME if a simple "lets go blow up a savage base camp" justified it's use. Why wasn't Jake's brother backed up? Why hunt whales for a bit of immortality juice when you can do personality transfers?

Come to think of it, why send ANY humans AT ALL to pandora if you can just send the personality engram and download it into a pandora suitable avatar?

Hopefully this is where this series is going, exploring the relationship between the original and a copy, where humanity goes with this tech, and the nature of a "soul". The brit sci-fi author Peter F. Hamilton uses this kinda tech a lot in his stuff, it leads to very interesting places when you have little fear of body death because you view an engram (am I just using the cyberpunk 2077 term for this?) as being the same thing as 'you'.
I'm sure you watched Altered Carbon already. Season 1 is a masterpiece.
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
I'm sure you watched Altered Carbon already. Season 1 is a masterpiece.
Yes, similar concept used magnificently (in the books). S1 of the show was a joy, s2.......did not exist....come to think of it, that was the start of the decline in Netflix for me. How they fucked up that glorious salacious, soapy, titsn'gore s1 with that maudlin melodramatic s2 nonsense I'll never know. Book 2 was a great military sci-fi story too, guess it was too expensive to even try to adapt?
 

Spaceman292

Banned
The way that personality transfer tech just came out of nowhere (especially after A1 made the human to avatar transfer seem like a wonder from an alien god and the humans scrambled after Jake's brother was killed) you'd think they would be doing it ALL THE DAMNED TIME if a simple "lets go blow up a savage base camp" justified it's use. Why wasn't Jake's brother backed up? Why hunt whales for a bit of immortality juice when you can do personality transfers?

Come to think of it, why send ANY humans AT ALL to pandora if you can just send the personality engram and download it into a pandora suitable avatar?

Hopefully this is where this series is going, exploring the relationship between the original and a copy, where humanity goes with this tech, and the nature of a "soul". The brit sci-fi author Peter F. Hamilton uses this kinda tech a lot in his stuff, it leads to very interesting places when you have little fear of body death because you view an engram (am I just using the cyberpunk 2077 term for this?) as being the same thing as 'you'.
Remember each trip to Pandora takes like 10 years. They said they keep coming back with better and better tech. Maybe it's just a recent discovery.
 

Stuart360

Member
14.3mil Wednesday. The cold snap and snow effected the number a bit but still the 2nd best Wednesday of the year.

Poor Puss in Boots 3.2mil opening day.

The cold snap could last until the end of weekend i'm hearing, but next week should show a pretty big rebound box office wise.
 

Days like these...

Have a Blessed Day
Fuck these twats.

Cameron is harassed everywhere he goes. He doesn’t owe shit to these entitled children, who are more than likely just seeking to profit off of his time. Flipping them the bird is a damn courtesy.
How did u know they're not actual stans like you guys? Have a little sympathy
 

AJUMP23

Parody of actual AJUMP23
Just got out from watching this.

It should be Spyder kid and the way of translation.

Movie is far too long. Like an hour longer than it has to be. Sentient whales had me laughing. The first time the whale talks I about fell out of my seat.

Same villain is dumb. And the General was awful. Felt like those scenes didn’t relate. The entire earth force is just made up of white dudes with accents. No diverse military from earth.

Overall i would not watch this movie again but it is a spectacle. I hope it flips so Cameron goes and makes other films.
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
Remember each trip to Pandora takes like 10 years. They said they keep coming back with better and better tech. Maybe it's just a recent discovery.
Well, they had to have the back-up tech in A1.

Given the loooong flight time, it actually seems a lot simpler to just buy the engram of capable folks and essentially consign them to a lifetime on Pandora. But if you give them a sexy hot pandora adapted body I bet you'd get quite a few folks willing to cash a check to condemn a copy of themselves to exploiting a hostile alien paradise :p

I wonder if there is a way to reconcile the engram with the original (if still alive). Seems preposterous that the humans, given how exploitative they are, don't have copies of Quaritch all over the place now if he is so callous about his former self and just wants to kick ass. 100% guarantee the A2 Quaritch will have to fight a version of himself at some point :p
 
Did anyone catch what the eclipse was all about? I see there were several scenes with the characters closely observing eclipse event as if something is about to happen.

I was observing if any characters would act out of the ordinary when the eclipse took place but didn't really notice anything.
 
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sankt-Antonio

:^)--?-<
I think having no Avatars being used robed the movie of urgency / time ticking away moments. Plus the angle of mankind actually seeking refuge of their dying planet could have made for some interesting clash of morals.

I really don't understand how the story turned out to be even more simplistic than A1 and in need of another Unobtainium material to make sense of character motivations.

What I really want to watch, once A1-4 are released, is the fan edit cutting out all the unnecessary crap ala The Hobbit.
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
What I really want to watch, once A1-4 are released, is the fan edit cutting out all the unnecessary crap ala The Hobbit.
Given how vanilla the actual story in these films is and the real appeal is either the action, the scenery, or both, a "Avatar Story only cut" would probably be the ship showing up in the beginning and then a scene of human ships fleeing a burning Pandora, as I imagine the end of this tale will be the total destruction of Eywa and that moon. There arent really any twists, memorable character dialog interactions, or plot centric things required for how we got there either.
 

sankt-Antonio

:^)--?-<
Given how vanilla the actual story in these films is and the real appeal is either the action, the scenery, or both, a "Avatar Story only cut" would probably be the ship showing up in the beginning and then a scene of human ships fleeing a burning Pandora, as I imagine the end of this tale will be the total destruction of Eywa and that moon. There arent really any twists, memorable character dialog interactions, or plot centric things required for how we got there either.
After four movies there has to be 90min of coherent content … somewhere.

Cut A1’s ending, the clone protocol is startet as soon as Quiditch is dead, immediately following the hunt of Sam W. Cut out any scenes with kids, whales crying Nitiry and you already have something brewing :D
 
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NinjaBoiX

Member
Just got back from seeing it this afternoon, it was OK I guess? It looked amazing, but almost everything else was mediocre at best:

- the music was pretty nice, and the sound effects were decent
- the dialogue was corny, but it got the job done, pretty much just exposition fluffed up a little so it didn’t sound entirely dull
- the acting was pretty poor across the board, Spider was awful
- the story was OK, kind of uninteresting but it worked as a vehicle to drive the visuals
- …but…

- the pacing was just awful, and it was far, far too long. That whole middle section should’ve had half an hour cut out of it at least, I was willing for it to end by the last 20 minutes or so. Then it kept on with another “final scene”, I actually breathed a sigh of relief when I could get up and leave.

TLDR - it’s was OK, just far too long and only really notable by the pretty CGI

6/10
 
Remember each trip to Pandora takes like 10 years. They said they keep coming back with better and better tech. Maybe it's just a recent discovery.
Parker says the recom is being grown on Earth as they're recording the video. You can see more tanks in the ship as they're decanting one in 0G.
 
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