avatar 2: the way of water


 I saw Avatar: The Way of Water tonight. I expected it to be visually stunning and weak on story and dialogue. And that's EXACTLY what it is.

The story is very VERY similar to the first movie, except without (I'm afraid) the best part of the first one. To me, the genius of the first movie was the AVATAR aspect - that Jake Sully and his friends got into the pod thing and became the big blue people. It was amazing to go through that transition with him. Kind of like when Toby McGuire becomes Spiderman for the first time. We feel like we're along for the journey.

Well, in this movie, they're all blue people all the time. We see a couple flashbacks or "Great Mother" moments when we remember or revisit normal humans. And there are some normal human bad guys. I don't want to give too much away, so I'll just say there's one normal human who may or may not be a bad guy - the main bad guy from the first movie's son. Sort of. I'll let the movie explain that part. But we don't really get the Avatar aspect in this. We're just on Pandora all the time with the big blue people. If you like that, especially the hunting and flying that they do, you'll like this movie. If you really dig the spirituality of the first movie - the big self aware tree and the little flying jellyfish that draw you into the big cosmic self awareness - then you'll like this movie.

And yes, it's the way of water, so much of the movie is underwater. Now, I feel like the filmmaker kind of had the deck stacked against him because he tried really hard to create some alien creatures underwater - but there are so many creatures in real life that look weird that nothing he created seemed that alien. One funny thing about the underwater bits is that several characters "drown" during the movie (they struggle to breathe and then just go unconscious and float until someone saves them and brings them up to the air). But they never spit out water or vomit or cough. They just start breathing again. It's pretty funny.

Like I said, the plot is pretty flat. The same bad guys from the first movie, still trying to kill a bunch of the native people, this time for revenge against Sully as well as their usual greed. And the dialog is very cliche and not at all witty or snappy or original. I did get into the movie during the middle part when they were learning to live among the water people. But the "we're so sad because the evil sky people are killing the peaceful sea creatures" motif that ran through the last half of the film got old and wasn't entertaining.

I do recommend seeing it, and do see it in 3D on the big screen. It is JUST a big spectacle. Go in with high expectations regarding what it looks like, and very low expectations for the plot and dialogue, and you'll enjoy it. It's rated PG13 for partial nudity (the blue people are pretty naked, like in the first movie), intense action, and some pretty graphic violence. For example, one guy gets his arm ripped off and it flies through the air. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

the Banshees of Inisherin

Image
I just started watching this. I'm about five minutes into it. it already grabbed me. this is gonna be good.  UPDATE: So I finished this one and it's a masterpiece. The SUBJECT of the story is twisted and interesting. One character, pictured on the right above, decides one day that he doesn't like another character (played by Colin Farrell, pictured on the right). He tells him to stop talking to him. The Colin Farrell character refuses to stop, so the other guys says every time he talks to him, he's going to cut off one of his own fingers. That's the kind of twisted I mean. I'm not going to give you any more spoilers. But the tone and setting and mood of the movie is the real reason to watch it. You get TOTALLY drawn into the life of these simple people living on an island off the coast of Ireland. It's a beautiful and tragic movie that explores human relationships and their importance and limitations.  I highly recommend it, though it's not for the faint...
Read more

lost in translation

Image
 I had a funny experience when I watched Lost in Translation the first time. I watched it with some friends who were not the brightest lights in the harbor. And they did NOT get it. They kept complaining about little things throughout the movie that they were clearly not understanding. I thought that it was extremely apropos and hilarious that they were misunderstanding a movie called Lost in Translation. This is a wonderful movie. It's slow and warm and deep. It's about a friendship between two unlikely people, played by Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson. There is sexual tension between them, and I'm not going to give away the movie by telling you what happens, but I found it delightful. It's directed by Sofia Coppola, and it was the reason I fell in love with her as a director. It's rated R for language.  I highly recommend it if you like slow, warm movies about unlikely friendships - and great acting and writing.
Read more

puss in boots

Image
 I went in with high expectations. It surpassed them. Puss in Boots (2022) is the best movie I've seen recently. It's laugh out loud funny throughout the whole movie. The writing is witty and snappy and really fun. Antonio Banderas is perfect reprising the role of Puss in Boots. Salma Hayek is fantastic as Kitty Softpaws. I don't know the actor playing Perrito, but he's very funny in this role. John Mulaney is great and nasty as the evil Jack Horner. And Florence Pugh is fun as Goldilocks with her adopted family of three bears.  All of the characters are searching for a map that will lead them to a wishing star, and that star will grant the person one wish. I won't give spoilers by telling you what they are all wishing for or what happens. But the end is VERY satisfying. The movie begins with a song that is EXTREMELY catchy and gives us one of the best movie openings I've seen since Capt Jack Sparrow stepped off the sinking ship in Pirates of the Caribbean.  I H...
Read more