Time: 10:50am (actual movie started at 11:08)
Party: 2 (my mom and I)
Notable Cast
Jake Sully- Sam Worthington
Neytiri- Zoe Saldana
Kiri Sully and Grace- Sigourney Weaver
Spider- Zack Champion
Colonel Miles Quaritch- Stephen Lang
General Frances Ardmore- Edie Falco
Tonowari- Cliff Curtis
Ronai- Kate Winslet
Review
Can’t make any promises but I’m going to do my best to make sure this post doesn’t take 3 hours to get through…
The original Avatar was such a mind blowing experience I saw it in the theaters twice. Once in regular and once in 3D. The sequel, we saw in 2D.
For a sequel that’s been hyped and anticipated for over a decade, I think it was worth the wait. It was frustrating hearing all of the negativity it originally got from the critics, some even saying that they were “over” the visuals after the first hour.
The effects were brilliant like the first one. For the underwater scenes, which was probably the biggest time sink causing the delay in releasing the movie, the effects were the best I’d seen. As magical and mind blowing as it was seeing Pandora for the first time. However, there was at least one scene where there was hundreds of luminous little creatures on screen and they were blurry, almost like my eyes had trouble adjusting. And we weren’t super close to the screen- the second row of the “stadium” seats where we typically sit.
Like with the original, this movie received many Oscar nominations and it’ll probably earn several technical awards. The original should’ve won best picture and I stand by that opinion. For the sequel, I wouldn’t go quite that far. I still enjoyed as much as the original but it had its flaws.
Some people say how there was some movies you don’t see for a compelling story… I’m a very story oriented movie person so that’s typically one of the key points I look at.
Being well acquainted with how the first movie went, I watched this movie with an unshakable uncertainty. One second I’m in awe and the next there was a “oh crap, this is gonna get ruined by the bad guys, isn’t it?”
The first hour where we got the full scope of the motives of the bad guys… they did a really good job of making humans look like massive jerks. (I wanted to use stronger language here and the situation warrants it, but I held back). The first movie was about mining unobtainium to bring a new energy source back to Earth (or something like that). Now the mission statement is “earth is dying so we’re going to make Pandora a new earth and kill all the Na’vi to accomplish that.”
Ahh!! I’m well aware of the Europeans did the native Americans and all the deforestation that happened in the Amazon rainforests. Nothing (barring time travel) can be done to fix those things, other than not letting history repeat itself. Unfortunately this movie’s big message is that humanity is stupid and it’s going to destroy beautiful things to save itself. That plus one of the plot points involving killing whale-like creatures… the movie hit on a lot of my pressure points and that took away from my enjoyment.
Not enough where I’d never watch the movie again but it was hard not to get frustrated.
The length is the biggest thing that’ll make this a “once every couple years” type of movie. Frustrations aside, I was very much invested. But it maybe ran 10-15 minutes too long toward the end.
I haven’t seen Avengers Endgame since it was in theaters and even with the significant casualties, the biggest deterrent was that it ran just over three hours. That’s a long time to take out of your day for a movie, no matter how entertaining.
In terms of the actual story, the bad guys are back for revenge. Among them is the avatar of the colonel that was killed at the end of the previous movie. (Again, what the hell?!) As to not endanger the rest of their tribe, Jake, Neytiri and their family need to go into hiding elsewhere. They learn “the way of water” from a tribe that lives in an island chain far away from their forest home. One of the leaders makes a comment that the Sullys will be like “babies” and they’ll have to be taught their ways. Something I thought was a funny little reference to the first movie where Neytiri had similar comments about Jake when they first met.
The Sully clan is an interesting bunch because it’s something of a mixed family. They had two sons and a daughter. Plus they adopted the daughter of Grace’s avatar (just go with it… she’s probably my favorite new character). There’s also a human boy they call Spider that’s adapted extremely well to living the way the Na’vi do. He happens to be the colonel’s son, which brings its own complications and challenges.
One difficulty I had early on but eventually figured out after enough time passed… which character is which. The Na’vi all looked the same to me. Most of the time hairstyle was the only helpful detail. There’s two brothers and I couldn’t tell them apart until the younger brother got his own storyline. He develops an affinity with one of the whale creatures after it helps him out of a tight spot. This individual also happens to be an outcast from the species. The reasoning behind this banishment is a bit murky and ridiculous but this alliance pays off later in the movie. It’s also implied that the older brother is the “perfect son” that always does the right thing and the younger resents him for it. This might be something that’ll make a little more sense with repeated viewings because, like I said, I had no idea which brother was which for ages.
Kiri, the adopted daughter, has the greatest ease adjusting to the new life. The scenes with her showing off her affinity for the ocean and its critters- magic. So it’s sad that the other kids from the water tribe bully her and discourage her because, like the rest of the Sully children, she’s a halfbreed. This isn’t fully addressed but my understanding is that they were jealous of her abilities because she’s better at them than they are.
Just like the Na’vi philosophy, pretty much everything that happens in the movie, all the traits and interactions, there’s a reason for everything.
There are two exceptions. One is a huge spoiler but it basically was a plot point whose only purpose was to leave the door wide open for another sequel. (We knew there’d be multiple Avatar sequels but you’re not supposed to make it THAT obvious).
Another one involves Kitty having a seizure underwater when she’s connected to an underwater version of the world tree. Two of the human characters from the previous movie are flown in on a med-evac helicopter to take care of her. One of them says that the seizure happened in the prefrontal cortex and if she links up with the world tree again, she might not recover from another seizure. During the big fight scene in the final hour, she does this again and no seizure happens. She’d also made comments about feeling Ewa really strongly and seeing visions and all of this is also dismissed as part of the seizure event.
Is this a detail the writers completely forgot about and won’t go back to? Were the scientists wrong and the seizure was just a freak accident?
Either way, this one little event is the big reason behind the bad guys finding their location. They tracked the helicopter.
… if you made it this far into the review, thanks for sticking it out with me. I’m almost done.
I just want to reiterate- just because I highlighted a lot of things in the movie that didn’t make sense or sit well with me, it doesn’t mean that I didn’t like it.
I love Pandora and love visiting it in these movies. It just comes with a lot of apprehensions about seeing something so amazing coming to harm. I realize movies and stories have to have conflict or they’re missing a key ingredient. Doesn’t mean I have to like it when it happens.
Grade: A
Trailers
Oppenheimer
The first time I’m seeing this one. It’s not out until July but the hype behind it is huge. It might be Christopher Nolan’s first film since Intersellar but I could be wrong. It’s sure to get hype for special effects, maybe an Oscar nomination for best picture and director.
I know there was a lot of trial and error involving the making of the atomic bomb… but I’m having trouble imagining spending over 2 hours on the Manhattan project and having it be exciting. And will it end with the first successful test or the two bombs hitting Japan in world war 2?
Robert Downey jr is one of the big names on the billing and I didn’t see him anywhere. He’d be my one incentive to see this movie, if I even bother with it. Are they saving his footage for future trailers or is his role a plot spoiler? Or worse, he’s a villain, he dies in the first 10 minutes or he’s only on screen for five seconds and his billing placement is just because he’s a big name…
Then again, other big names have gotten high billing for a lot less. Sigourney Weaver was billed third in Avatar and she has less than five minutes of screen time.
(Ok, my bad. I was adding the cast list and found out that she actually does the voice for Kiri Sully...so yeah, the high billing was warranted in that case
Jake Sully- Sam Worthington
Neytiri- Zoe Saldana
Kiri Sully and Grace- Sigourney Weaver
Spider- Zack Champion
Colonel Miles Quaritch- Stephen Lang
General Frances Ardmore- Edie Falco
Tonowari- Cliff Curtis
Ronai- Kate Winslet
Review
Can’t make any promises but I’m going to do my best to make sure this post doesn’t take 3 hours to get through…
The original Avatar was such a mind blowing experience I saw it in the theaters twice. Once in regular and once in 3D. The sequel, we saw in 2D.
For a sequel that’s been hyped and anticipated for over a decade, I think it was worth the wait. It was frustrating hearing all of the negativity it originally got from the critics, some even saying that they were “over” the visuals after the first hour.
The effects were brilliant like the first one. For the underwater scenes, which was probably the biggest time sink causing the delay in releasing the movie, the effects were the best I’d seen. As magical and mind blowing as it was seeing Pandora for the first time. However, there was at least one scene where there was hundreds of luminous little creatures on screen and they were blurry, almost like my eyes had trouble adjusting. And we weren’t super close to the screen- the second row of the “stadium” seats where we typically sit.
Like with the original, this movie received many Oscar nominations and it’ll probably earn several technical awards. The original should’ve won best picture and I stand by that opinion. For the sequel, I wouldn’t go quite that far. I still enjoyed as much as the original but it had its flaws.
Some people say how there was some movies you don’t see for a compelling story… I’m a very story oriented movie person so that’s typically one of the key points I look at.
Being well acquainted with how the first movie went, I watched this movie with an unshakable uncertainty. One second I’m in awe and the next there was a “oh crap, this is gonna get ruined by the bad guys, isn’t it?”
The first hour where we got the full scope of the motives of the bad guys… they did a really good job of making humans look like massive jerks. (I wanted to use stronger language here and the situation warrants it, but I held back). The first movie was about mining unobtainium to bring a new energy source back to Earth (or something like that). Now the mission statement is “earth is dying so we’re going to make Pandora a new earth and kill all the Na’vi to accomplish that.”
Ahh!! I’m well aware of the Europeans did the native Americans and all the deforestation that happened in the Amazon rainforests. Nothing (barring time travel) can be done to fix those things, other than not letting history repeat itself. Unfortunately this movie’s big message is that humanity is stupid and it’s going to destroy beautiful things to save itself. That plus one of the plot points involving killing whale-like creatures… the movie hit on a lot of my pressure points and that took away from my enjoyment.
Not enough where I’d never watch the movie again but it was hard not to get frustrated.
The length is the biggest thing that’ll make this a “once every couple years” type of movie. Frustrations aside, I was very much invested. But it maybe ran 10-15 minutes too long toward the end.
I haven’t seen Avengers Endgame since it was in theaters and even with the significant casualties, the biggest deterrent was that it ran just over three hours. That’s a long time to take out of your day for a movie, no matter how entertaining.
In terms of the actual story, the bad guys are back for revenge. Among them is the avatar of the colonel that was killed at the end of the previous movie. (Again, what the hell?!) As to not endanger the rest of their tribe, Jake, Neytiri and their family need to go into hiding elsewhere. They learn “the way of water” from a tribe that lives in an island chain far away from their forest home. One of the leaders makes a comment that the Sullys will be like “babies” and they’ll have to be taught their ways. Something I thought was a funny little reference to the first movie where Neytiri had similar comments about Jake when they first met.
The Sully clan is an interesting bunch because it’s something of a mixed family. They had two sons and a daughter. Plus they adopted the daughter of Grace’s avatar (just go with it… she’s probably my favorite new character). There’s also a human boy they call Spider that’s adapted extremely well to living the way the Na’vi do. He happens to be the colonel’s son, which brings its own complications and challenges.
One difficulty I had early on but eventually figured out after enough time passed… which character is which. The Na’vi all looked the same to me. Most of the time hairstyle was the only helpful detail. There’s two brothers and I couldn’t tell them apart until the younger brother got his own storyline. He develops an affinity with one of the whale creatures after it helps him out of a tight spot. This individual also happens to be an outcast from the species. The reasoning behind this banishment is a bit murky and ridiculous but this alliance pays off later in the movie. It’s also implied that the older brother is the “perfect son” that always does the right thing and the younger resents him for it. This might be something that’ll make a little more sense with repeated viewings because, like I said, I had no idea which brother was which for ages.
Kiri, the adopted daughter, has the greatest ease adjusting to the new life. The scenes with her showing off her affinity for the ocean and its critters- magic. So it’s sad that the other kids from the water tribe bully her and discourage her because, like the rest of the Sully children, she’s a halfbreed. This isn’t fully addressed but my understanding is that they were jealous of her abilities because she’s better at them than they are.
Just like the Na’vi philosophy, pretty much everything that happens in the movie, all the traits and interactions, there’s a reason for everything.
There are two exceptions. One is a huge spoiler but it basically was a plot point whose only purpose was to leave the door wide open for another sequel. (We knew there’d be multiple Avatar sequels but you’re not supposed to make it THAT obvious).
Another one involves Kitty having a seizure underwater when she’s connected to an underwater version of the world tree. Two of the human characters from the previous movie are flown in on a med-evac helicopter to take care of her. One of them says that the seizure happened in the prefrontal cortex and if she links up with the world tree again, she might not recover from another seizure. During the big fight scene in the final hour, she does this again and no seizure happens. She’d also made comments about feeling Ewa really strongly and seeing visions and all of this is also dismissed as part of the seizure event.
Is this a detail the writers completely forgot about and won’t go back to? Were the scientists wrong and the seizure was just a freak accident?
Either way, this one little event is the big reason behind the bad guys finding their location. They tracked the helicopter.
… if you made it this far into the review, thanks for sticking it out with me. I’m almost done.
I just want to reiterate- just because I highlighted a lot of things in the movie that didn’t make sense or sit well with me, it doesn’t mean that I didn’t like it.
I love Pandora and love visiting it in these movies. It just comes with a lot of apprehensions about seeing something so amazing coming to harm. I realize movies and stories have to have conflict or they’re missing a key ingredient. Doesn’t mean I have to like it when it happens.
Grade: A
Trailers
Oppenheimer
The first time I’m seeing this one. It’s not out until July but the hype behind it is huge. It might be Christopher Nolan’s first film since Intersellar but I could be wrong. It’s sure to get hype for special effects, maybe an Oscar nomination for best picture and director.
I know there was a lot of trial and error involving the making of the atomic bomb… but I’m having trouble imagining spending over 2 hours on the Manhattan project and having it be exciting. And will it end with the first successful test or the two bombs hitting Japan in world war 2?
Robert Downey jr is one of the big names on the billing and I didn’t see him anywhere. He’d be my one incentive to see this movie, if I even bother with it. Are they saving his footage for future trailers or is his role a plot spoiler? Or worse, he’s a villain, he dies in the first 10 minutes or he’s only on screen for five seconds and his billing placement is just because he’s a big name…
Then again, other big names have gotten high billing for a lot less. Sigourney Weaver was billed third in Avatar and she has less than five minutes of screen time.
(Ok, my bad. I was adding the cast list and found out that she actually does the voice for Kiri Sully...so yeah, the high billing was warranted in that case
Dungeons and Dragons
This looks like fun and I’d never played the game. Chris Pine is all the eye candy I need.
80 for Brady
How big of an ego does this guy have that he financed a movie all about four 80 something’s going to see him in his first Super Bowl?
Not exaggerating, there are very few people I hate more than Tom Brady. So seeing him do horribly this season was very cathartic.
Creed 3
I hadn’t seen the first sequel and I’d only seen the first movie once. But they’re taking this new movie into interesting new territory. He’s not just going to mentor an old friend of his, but it’s going to turn into a huge rivalry. What I’m gathering from this trailer- as kids, both of them were busted for some sort of crime. His friend went to jail and he didn’t and I’m guessing it’s because his friend took the fall for him. Then when he turns on him, he comments about Creed stealing his life and now he wants it back.
This looks like fun and I’d never played the game. Chris Pine is all the eye candy I need.
80 for Brady
How big of an ego does this guy have that he financed a movie all about four 80 something’s going to see him in his first Super Bowl?
Not exaggerating, there are very few people I hate more than Tom Brady. So seeing him do horribly this season was very cathartic.
Creed 3
I hadn’t seen the first sequel and I’d only seen the first movie once. But they’re taking this new movie into interesting new territory. He’s not just going to mentor an old friend of his, but it’s going to turn into a huge rivalry. What I’m gathering from this trailer- as kids, both of them were busted for some sort of crime. His friend went to jail and he didn’t and I’m guessing it’s because his friend took the fall for him. Then when he turns on him, he comments about Creed stealing his life and now he wants it back.
Indiana Jones- dial of destiny
Not sure what to make of this but we’re most likely gonna see it cuz my mom is a huge fan of Harrison Ford.
Something also tells me that there won’t be a single reference to the crystal skull. We all enjoyed the movie and Shia LeBeouf’s contribution to it. Unfortunately, the majority of fans don’t feel the same way.
All these years later, I still don’t know what the hell happened to Shia LeBeouf. Apparently he just became another ex Disney channel kid that lost their mind and their life is in shambles because of it.
Not sure what to make of this but we’re most likely gonna see it cuz my mom is a huge fan of Harrison Ford.
Something also tells me that there won’t be a single reference to the crystal skull. We all enjoyed the movie and Shia LeBeouf’s contribution to it. Unfortunately, the majority of fans don’t feel the same way.
All these years later, I still don’t know what the hell happened to Shia LeBeouf. Apparently he just became another ex Disney channel kid that lost their mind and their life is in shambles because of it.
The Little Mermaid- live remake
The teaser trailer that broke the internet and I hadn’t seen until now… I loved this movie as a kid and her voice does sound amazing. But I’m still having a hard time wrapping my head around recasting classic Disney characters with people from other races. I’m all for inclusion but not rewriting history to push an agenda doesn’t sit well with me.
They did something similar with the live for tv version from a couple years ago where Ariel had sisters that were different races. How would you explain that unless king Triton had multiple wives? I guess in mythology terms it wouldn’t be too surprising. But considering his hatred toward humans started because his wife was murdered by them, I can’t help thinking he married once and due to heartbreak, couldn’t again.
Also a little hard to believe- I know Ariel became a redhead to separate her from Daryl Hannah in Splash. But it’s my understanding that not many black women have red hair. And if they do, they’re not natural redheads.
Ant-man and the wasp- Quantumania
Omg- just stop already with this movie! They’ve been pushing this since before January and I’m so sick of it.
Paul Rudd is great but I never got the hype about this character. I never found him interesting. Then to top it all off, this is taking place in some other reality because there’s nowhere else to take these superhero movies anywhere.
It’s like metaverses and other realities are Hollywood’s newest shiny toy so it’s in everything now. And it’s already to the point of being overdone and I don’t want to even bother with it.
The teaser trailer that broke the internet and I hadn’t seen until now… I loved this movie as a kid and her voice does sound amazing. But I’m still having a hard time wrapping my head around recasting classic Disney characters with people from other races. I’m all for inclusion but not rewriting history to push an agenda doesn’t sit well with me.
They did something similar with the live for tv version from a couple years ago where Ariel had sisters that were different races. How would you explain that unless king Triton had multiple wives? I guess in mythology terms it wouldn’t be too surprising. But considering his hatred toward humans started because his wife was murdered by them, I can’t help thinking he married once and due to heartbreak, couldn’t again.
Also a little hard to believe- I know Ariel became a redhead to separate her from Daryl Hannah in Splash. But it’s my understanding that not many black women have red hair. And if they do, they’re not natural redheads.
Ant-man and the wasp- Quantumania
Omg- just stop already with this movie! They’ve been pushing this since before January and I’m so sick of it.
Paul Rudd is great but I never got the hype about this character. I never found him interesting. Then to top it all off, this is taking place in some other reality because there’s nowhere else to take these superhero movies anywhere.
It’s like metaverses and other realities are Hollywood’s newest shiny toy so it’s in everything now. And it’s already to the point of being overdone and I don’t want to even bother with it.
1 comment:
Well done, Jackie. Have not seen it yet, your description will help me understand things up front.
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