Avatar 2: The Way of What The…?

I was dubious about seeing this one. To be fair, I’m always dubious about watching the second installment of a movie I really enjoyed the first time around. My feeling has always been, Why tamper with perfection? Sometimes it turns out okay. I was pleasantly surprised with the second Toy Story movie. And Bladerunner 2049 exceeded my expectations. Even Top Gun: Maverick got my adrenaline pumping.

But then there were sequels like Independence Day: Resurgence, and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Jaws 2 that just absolutely should not have been done. They cast a dark shadow over their original counterparts and throw the whole franchise into a pit of cringiness.

Avatar 2 was … well … menghhh … somewhere in between. It wasn’t horrible. I mean, the motion capture and digital effects were quite amazing at times. Better than the original? I wouldn’t really go that far. As the film progressed, I found myself constantly comparing the two, asking myself if what I was seeing on the screen was really any better than what I remembered from the first film back in 2009, and the answer was pretty much, no, no it was not. In thirteen years, the technology doesn’t seem to have progressed all that much. Which seems very strange to me. The first film cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $250 million to make. The second cost nearly twice that much — $450 million. The only thing I can figure was … inflation, maybe? It just doesn’t feel like we got that much more bang for the buck.

(NOTE: I did my best to avoid SPOILERS in my comments below, but might have inadvertently slipped in one or two. You’ve been warned.)

My wife and I saw it in 3D, just as we had the original. Quite honestly, I think 3D films have sadly retrograded over the last forty years. I can remember seeing 3D horror movies on television when I was a kid that were way better than what I see in movie theaters today. Back then, creatures and weapons and debris and flora and fauna actually jumped off the screen and came right at you. We were always laughing at each other for jumping or ducking or bobbing to avoid getting a sword to the neck or a cannonball to the face. 3D just isn’t like that anymore, and I think that’s a real shame. My wife explained today’s 3D effects perfectly: instead of things flying at you, it’s more like you’re looking through a window. There’s a good amount of depth extending way off into the distance, which is kind of cool, but it’s not the same thing. I miss swatting at bees in my face and monster teeth chomping down over my head.

The story, in my opinion, was disappointing. It just seemed to be Avatar 1 all over again, with the same heroes and villains making an encore appearance and doing the same stuff as the first movie. It was the rebel alliance being forced to blow up yet another version of the death star. Ho hum. (“But this one’s different…it’s unfinished! It’s the size of a planet!”) In Avatar 1, greedy corporations and heartless baddies kill indigenous people and destroy the trees. In Avatar 2, greedy corporations and heartless baddies kill indigenous people and destroy the oceans. (Oh! And the whales! Don’t forget about destroying the whales!) And *smack* goes the 2×4 upside your head. KAPOW! I feel like it was such a huge waste of story-telling opportunity. Cameron created this vibrant world on Pandora with a rich culture and unique biodiversity, and rather than blazing a new, adventurous path for us through an unknown part of the jungle, he took us on a guided bus tour over the same paved roads that he smoothed out thirteen years ago.

I also need to mention the janky frame rate used off and on during the film. Cinematic movies are typically filmed at 24 frames per second (FPS). At certain points in the film, especially some action sequences and underwater shots, Cameron went with twice that rate — 48 FPS. The sudden shift in rate was quite jarring. Imagine watching a scene that looks like what you’d expect in a typical movie, then suddenly seeing things as if you’re watching a soap opera, then switching back again to cinema mode a few seconds later. This happened on and off several times throughout the movie and immediately jerked me right out of the film. The reason behind this switch, so I’ve read online, is that a higher frame rate reduces blurring and makes things look more natural and lifelike. But, as a film-going audience, we expect movies to have a certain look to them. And when they don’t look like that, we get jittery. Things seem off for some reason. It’s why I’m always complaining to my parents about the settings on their new OLED TV. “Why does that look so weird? You guys should change that.” I know why they don’t — it’s because they can’t figure out how to navigate the hundreds of sub-menus to change the settings. They can’t tell me that though. No way would they admit they don’t know how to work their own television. They just say the next best thing: “But we like it like that.” No you don’t. Nobody likes it like that. Only soap opera fans like it like that. Maybe Cameron really digs Days of Our Lives. Or maybe he just couldn’t make up his mind which way to go with the frame rate. Either way, it was terribly distracting.

To be fair, I didn’t hate Avatar 2. Visually, it was very stunning. And the acting was superb. Honestly, every time Zoe Saldana cries, it just wrenches at my heart. But the characters themselves, for the most part, are basically forgettable. I mean, I remember Jake Sully. And Neytiri. And … Spider … boy? … or something? I dunno. As I sit here and type this, I can’t recall the name of one single other character. There just wasn’t anything new or unique enough about this film to make it stand out for me. Definitely not enough to make me sit through another three and a half hours’ worth. When the first film came out, I believe we went to see it three or four times in a row. It was just that good. This one? I saw it once. I likely won’t see it again. I hear Cameron is making three more of these. A quintet. I also hear there will now be a fifth Indiana Jones movie. Again, I’m dubious.

Tell me your thoughts in the comments below.