movie Avatar: The Way of Water | Billions: 2 | Oscar Noms: 4 | Best Picture Noms: 1

[Zerocoke]

A masterpiece. Literally the best cinematic experience ever created and this is no hyperbole. 
 

The original Avatar opened to 70M in the US. Do not bet against this movie just yet, everyone in the theatre was RAVING after it ended (plus a huge applause) so I’m expecting strong lengs.

[Donquizote]

 

 

Global tingz.

[Donquizote]

 

 

Global tingz.

[#Beautiful]

6 hours ago, TOKYO. said:

make it make sense

you're complaining about spoilers in the thread of the movie that you haven't watched yet. read slow as many times as needed

Edited December 17, 2022 by #Beautiful

[Hector]

Incredibly visually stunning. Didn't think the Screenplay was that strong (especially for the length of the film) but deserves a Visual Effects Oscar and some other technical wins. Not a Best Picture winner for me though.

Edited December 17, 2022 by Hector

[SmashingMiley]

Tickets almost completed sold out for the first week here in my country. The hype is unreal it’s literally insane. No other movie since End Game has taken the GP by storm like this one 

 

Sadly now i have to settle for bad seating just to experience it in IMAX 3D

[Anye]

7 hours ago, Richmond said:

I could care less what POC group it appropriates, that doesn’t help your argument. The entire cast imitating those “indigenous” individuals are ******* white  there was not ONE POC in that entire 3.5 hour movie. Yikes. 

What? What are you doing in this thread exactly?

[Donquizote]

7 hours ago, Richmond said:

I could care less what POC group it appropriates, that doesn’t help your argument. The entire cast imitating those “indigenous” individuals are ******* white  there was not ONE POC in that entire 3.5 hour movie. Yikes. 

Breathe in, breathe out

[Anye]

2 hours ago, Donquizote said:

Great that King Cameron is being underestimated again  His movie like the first Avatar and Titanic were never frontloaded.

The girls never learn.

 

This. They never learn.

One more thing, our queen Kate is winning big time.

 

Spoiler

She’s definitely coming back for the next one 

 

[Broken]

2 hours ago, Sweetestsecret said:

This is flopping but I'm not surprised...no one is interested for an Avatar movie in 2022... 

 

The projections keep dropping. Yikes.

It was $175M couples of weeks ago. 

[Roberto]

19 minutes ago, Broken said:

The projections keep dropping. Yikes.

It was $175M couples of weeks ago. 

A flop. 

 

[Gorjesspazze9]

The opening weekend is turning out to not be as massive as projected, but his movies generally have long legs. I remember titanic didn’t start blowing up until weeks later, same with the first avatar. But I was dragged along by my parents to see Avatar 1, I have no hype for this film and probably won’t even go see it. 

[Lovett]

1 hour ago, #Beautiful said:

you're complaining about spoilers in the thread of the movie that you haven't watched yet. read slow as many times as needed

Some people want to share their excitement for the film, or read people's feelings about the film without it being spoiled. The spoiler functionality is literally there for this purpose.

 

There is also a rule in place for this specifically on the forum: When it's okay to post spoilers: Movies: one month after the theatrical release date.

[Da Vinci]

21 hours ago, Da Vinci said:

Interesting how critics gave No Way Home's plot holes and tacky dialogue ("Let's Scooby Doo this ****!") a pass but suddenly give a much higher standard for Avatar 2

 

Even The Force Awakens was literally A New Hope 2.0 and Endgame had a generic Saturday morning cartoon plot of heroes time traveling to save the world from the big bad guy but somehow Avatar needs to have a complex, mind-bending, never-been-done-before plot or else it's total crap!

 

OMFG I saw it last night and I ******* take BACK this post I completely think of the OPPOSITE now, I knew that Beyond The Trailer hag stanning this sequel after hating the original for years was a HUGE red flag

 

Avatar 1 SWEETIE  James Cameron has lost it!

 

I was one of the only Avatar fans on this forum defending the first movie for YEARS but I just have to S K U L L D R A G this travesty!

 

 

The story - I thought critics were exaggerating but the story really was generic not in an archetypal and universally appealing way like Avatar 1, Titanic, A New Hope/The Force Awakens, Hamlet/The Lion King, etc. but more like a random kids' cartoon episode that you'd forget about 15 minutes after it airs.

 

At least Endgame's cartoony time travel plot was covered up by the sheer scale and excitement of that final battle. No Way Home's plot holes were covered up by the nostalgia and the novelty of the 3 Spider-Men getting together and their Id/Ego/Superego symbolism. But here, there's nothing but the updated CGI that wasn't enough to cover up the lack of entertainment value or novelty. Underwater motion capture (the biggest innovation) was great but you forget about it after a couple of scenes when you're used to it. The underwater world was pretty but very limited in scope and wasn't as exciting as entering a whole new 3D alien planet in its entirety for the first time with Avatar 1.

Where was the mythological vibe and exciting hero's journey/folk tale plot like the first Avatar? Where was that sense of wonder? Or at least an interesting conflict/overarching objective? By the time they hit the water (very abruptly btw, that scene transition gave me whiplash) I was too annoyed about how unnecessary it was that they were in that environment in the first place to even enjoy the underwater world. The "conflict" was so weak and there weren't even any high stakes to begin with. Then when **** hit the fan it's like so what was the whole point of the first 2 hours? I didn't find the villain to be THAT much of a threat this time. Not even that new military boss lady.

 

My jaw dropped multiple times, not because of the visuals but because the characters' actions and dialogue did NOT land well at all. I was so perplexed at why the characters did what they did and said what they said. And there was reference after reference after reference from the first movie like what was the point?? Even The Force Awakens didn't have this many references to A New Hope, imagine if Empire Strikes Back was like this lmfao I'm so sorry but this movie was the most disappointing **** I've ever watched since that equally hollow copy and paste Lion King remake back in 2019 which at least was an actual remake, what's this movie's excuse? All the land/forest scenes were completely RECYCLED right down to the animals and characters' movements it was INSANE

 

James Cameron's filmography was also recycled and referenced to NO end (even the ending was literally Titanic's ending even the dream scene ASJHAJSDKJSS was I supposed to cry for that?)

The dialogue - Again I thought critics were exaggerating but HOLY crap it was so bad. Makes the MCU's snarky quips/pop culture jokes sound Shakespearean. This was Transformers levels of bad. Borderline a parody. So many quotes were pulled from Avatar 1 which makes it even more like a parody. I lost brain cells every time I heard "baby girl" and "bro"/"baby bro"

The characters - I was too annoyed at the story and horrible dialogue to form an opinion on the new characters. Tsireya was the most likable I guess but her character design was terrifying, her eyes were so big and her double eyelids were freaky af. The old characters were kind of a shell of their former selves.
If animals count I guess the whale was cute. It was hard to connect to the death scene at first cause it was so similar to Grace's death from the first movie (both the cause and circumstances like really??) but Zoe's reactions to the death were great at least. Her amazing acting in that scene was the ONLY time I felt emotionally connected to the movie.

It was also hard to connect to the new ocean clan when there was way less of a real community vibe unlike the forest people clan that they just completely ditched for no reason. That was so dumb! Let's just endanger this new clan instead!!! What happened to Neytiri's mom like WHAT?
There was also almost ZERO spirituality which was what made the first movie so powerful (along with that sense of community).
Eywa felt like a computer now rather than a deity.

Lo'ak and Tsireya's romance was introduced then sort of got lost in the shuffle. Another aspect of what made Avatar 1 so entertaining and empathetic completely gone!

My excitement for Kiri's possible "chosen one who has powers" storyline vanished when she turned out to be just slightly more connected to the plants and animals than the other characters and has no real powers.

The editing - Some scenes would just abruptly cut from one moment to the next it was so weird, the whiplash was insane. I can't get this scene out of my head where there was an abrupt cut to a captured character screaming while being tortured for information and it was so LAUGHABLY bad omg again it's like a parody.
Honestly it felt like it was originally an 8 hour movie and they cut so much to fit 3 hours (which is probably what happened lmfao)

The score - This one was unfortunately affected by James Horner's passing so I can understand why they just reused a lot of his themes but it was so jarring hearing a track they already used in a specific scene in the first movie so now my eyes are seeing an underwater scene but my mind is visualizing the scene where Jake was flying the Ikran in the first movie, so strange.

TLDR - The first Avatar deserved a 90% score or higher on Rotten Tomatoes and a $3B gross, Avatar 2 deserves a 50% score on Rotten Tomatoes and to gross less than $1B

I feel really bad cause I saw the effort by the actors (esp the kids) over the years but I wish this sequel didn't exist. I saw an recent interview where James said he's more of a scientist and would rather go out exploring the ocean than make films and it shows... it really shows.

The MCU and James Cameron all peaked and are past their primes, Avatar 1 will probably hold onto its crown until inflation catches up to it in a decade unless theaters just go out of business entirely.

[Donquizote]

Grade A on cinemascore and 94% on RT (audiences). 

GP love this and will have longevity

[Da Vinci]

Honestly I think it could still have a chance to outgross No Way Home cause there's a whole new generation that never experienced or were too young to remember experiencing the first movie in theaters. No other movie since then has ever captured that 3D spectacle.

 

James Cameron hinted that Avatar 2's plot/script was the worst out all the sequels and 3 and 4 are way better especially 4

It'd be tragic if those ones really are better films but since 2 flopped, 4 won't get made

Ugh honestly idk anymore

[Vignesh]

Watched this in IMAX 3D the other day and I have to say it was like a RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE! 

[BNF91]

The movie is doing amazing numbers in dozens of markets worldwide and some girls are still using the "flop" word  

 

On track for $300-325M overseas weekend (huge), worldwide debut should be between $435-460M. Then holiday legs. Not even close to a flop. 

[chiliam]

The girlie in here have absolutely no ideal how box office works and pray for this to flop.

Guess what, its smashing your honor.

 

Just back from the theater, the imax screen are full even the 1st row. The visual is amazing, how the hell they made the water look so real, it was like you are in a real aquarium. The plot is a bit weak but it does it job to building, expanding the world of pandora. This will smash hard and so those the next 2 parts.

[chiliam]

Wait who is queen Kate playing.

I was looking out the entire time for her role but she never show up.

[FinleyGates]

This was amazing I need to see it again  couldn’t help giggling every time the na’vi hiss at each other though 

[BNF91]

$77M Friday overseas, biggest of the pandemic era (ahead of No Way Home $67M and Doctor Strange 2 $62M.

 

Massive jump in South Korea on Saturday, up 94% for $7.6M, biggest Saturday of the pandemic era ahead of No Way Home. Already up to $17.3M opening with Sunday still to go. 

 

2nd biggest Hollywood opening day of all-time in India, behind Endgame. Huge 

Edited December 17, 2022 by BNF91

[X~MoviePoP]

I need this to cross 500 opening weekend

[Madonno]

Gonna watch this tomorrow

Now I need to watch Avatar so I can remember everything 

Its been 12 years tho

[toanythingtaboo]

Feel like people are doing a lot on either side of the fence with this film.

 

Ultimately, Avatar has - and probably will - always be about the spectacle...grounded in a loose 'we need to look after the planet' sentiment. It's James Cameron's love letter to nature (particularly the ocean) in a blockbuster wrapping. It's not really supposed to be super original or high brow.

 

I thought it was entertaining and a solid second episode, but definitely felt like you could predict pretty much everything because the tropes/references were clear (from the rebellious second son vs. perfect eldest son arc, to misunderstood chosen one arc, to befriending a beast by helping them with a wound, to the whales being slaughtered for valuable product). Don't think that makes it bad per say though, just...like the first film...you knew what was coming and just enjoyed the ride. I personally feel it would've been a little less predictable/cluttered if Jake & Neytiri only had one son and the adopted Kiri, with Spider rounding the kids up. Have Lo'ak be the only son who is overshadowed by -and jealous of - Kiri and her natural abilities...which leads to him rebelling and his strained relationship with his dad. Kiri in turn has a bitterness toward Lo'ak for being ungrateful that he has his parents/origin. And Spider rounds it up as the human who tries the most to impress, but can't be one of them/goes unappreciated...which leads to rivalry with Lo'ak (/Kiri) and justifies his actions with his estranged father who maybe also promises he can make him a Na'vi (like he did with Jake originally). A big theme is seeing/empathising through others eyes...and I feel that'd hit all the beats it needed to, but better IMO.

 

I'm sure audiences will watch and enjoy it, which will justify the third film...but I definitely feel this film suffered from being held back to save plot for the sequels. Rather than trying to be an amazing movie in its own right.

Edited December 17, 2022 by toanythingtaboo