Dave Lopez Dec 10, 2022
David Chen (AKA davechensky)

[Here's my non-spoilery reaction to AVATAR 2]

AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER is visually spectacular, with some of the best action scenes you are likely to see this year.

But imho it is THE FORCE AWAKENS of the Avatar franchise. It has new characters & new locations but it's fundamentally repeating the same story beats, character beats, even thematic beats of the 1st film. If that sounds good to you, you'll probably love it!

Cameron is a great filmmaker but this left me pretty disappointed.

Dec 7, 2022 at 7:15amWeb
Show threadThomasDec 7, 2022
@Davechen Did it feel as long as it looks on paper?
Show threadJTDec 7, 2022
@Davechen I want to argue with you, but I haven’t seen the film. Cameron films have always blown me away. Appreciate your perspective, but my gut reaction to your take is negative. Why do I feel this way? Haha. I’ll be back after the 26th after I’ve seen it.
Show threadAndrew OlsDec 7, 2022
@Davechen Given the praise I’ve seen from others on [unnamed social media disaster] I’m surprised to see read this reaction! Checking it out myself next Friday, LIE-MAX 3D. Looking forward to what is sure to be a lively Filmcast review!
Show threadピース エズラDec 7, 2022
@Davechen The script seems to be the lowest stakes place to get it right. Why is this a thing that keeps happening
Show threadMike CermDec 7, 2022
@Davechen Haven't seen it, but sounds like a bummer. The first one was an impressive coat of paint on an entirely unoriginal paint-by-numbers story—basically a feature-length tech demo for performance capture and VFX. At the end of the day, it's impressive that JC made a movie (again), but can't help thinking that 20+ years should be enough time to hammer out an interesting story to tell in that world.