Sci-Fi Avatar: The Way Of Water

[Lily Adler]

RIP James Horner.

 

[TheVileOne]

James Horner truly was a one in a million composer, and it's no wonder Cameron ended up making him his guy for most of his films.

 

[moviedoors]

I really liked this score actually. Horner does some great work on the first one (the main theme is absolutely divine), but there's a Rainforest Cafe vibe to some of the more world music sounding cues that's I've never been entirely on board with and those kinds of sounds are absent from this score. I love Franglen's new theme for the humans. It's foreboding and eerie whilst Horner's was a more on-the-nose brassy tritone thing.

Also that chord the score hits when the Tulkun does that one very awesome thing ****ing rules.

 

[DarkKnight88]

I really think it was missing an experienced action composer. Much of the finale could have used something to get the heart racing even more considering the set up for the finale was well done.

Yeah, I liked the score but nothing in it quite matched this at 4:00 in...

 

[TheVileOne]

Horner's Aliens score was so iconic that movie trailers started cribbing it for years.

 

[Kane52630]

 

[Stringer]

Horner's Aliens score was so iconic that movie trailers started cribbing it for years.

His Commando score still has me feeling I can single handedly flip over a phone booth with a grown person inside if given the chance.

 

[Kane52630]

His Commando score still has me feeling I can single handedly flip over a phone booth with a grown person inside if given the chance.

 

[sueb1863]

Horner was great but parts of the Avatar score sound almost exactly like his score for "Glory".

 

[Dr.]

Horner was great but parts of the Avatar score sound almost exactly like his score for "Glory".

Horner was kinda famous for borrowing from himself.

 

[Drizzle]

Horner was kinda famous for borrowing from himself.

Spoiler: Avatar: The Way of Water

I did like that they brought back that particular Horner theme in Avatar 2 in another "humans are absolutely terrible to nature" moment.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

It feels weird to say this is James Cameron's worst sequel considering I enjoyed it a lot. It doesn't quite match the first movie for me but man what a visual spectacle and Cameron always gets you invested in the characters. It also helps that Whales were my favourite animal as a kid!

Saldana was awesome in this and Worthington is definitely better under Cameron as well. I do think Neytiri was kinda given the shaft but with the way the movie ended it might mean more for her to do in the 3rd movie. I did like the kids even though they did generic silly kids stuff at times which for them in trouble.

Lang's return as Quaritch delivered also and there is the potential for more it seems. The movie does feel a bit disjointed at times especially in the first hour, and at times I did feel the run time and I think both of those things may hurt the BO a bit. But I do plan on seeing this again before it leaves cinemas and I haven't done that for a movie since before Covid.

8/10. I am definitely down for more movies in this universe.

 

[TheVileOne]

Spoiler

Is there any hope for peaceful coexistence between humanity and the Na'vi at this point? Seems unlikely. Like you need a coup on Earth to overthrow the RDA and compassionate humans who would have to be willing to listen to the Na'vi and let them call the shots. Seems unlikely.

 

[Dave McFly]

I cannot even tell that was Kate Winslet as the water chief's mate she was awesome

 

[Dave McFly]

one of my fave Horner scores has to be his Zorro films I loved how he used a
Japanese flute for parts of of it

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Spoiler

Is there any hope for peaceful coexistence between humanity and the Na'vi at this point? Seems unlikely. Like you need a coup on Earth to overthrow the Na'vi and compassionate humans who would have to be willing to listen to the Na'vi and let them call the shots. Seems unlikely.

Spoiler

With dying as mentioned in this movie and humans needing a new planet which looks it's gonna be Pandora, I doubt it. Though there were always be parts of humanity who disagree with the military response.

 

[Kane52630]

 

[Iceman]

I cannot even tell that was Kate Winslet as the water chief's mate she was awesome

Yeah, I knew she was going to be in the film and I liked that character but didn’t put 2 and 2 together till after the film.

 

[Brother Jack]

Saw this over the weekend, unfortunately not in IMAX. Overall I really liked it. I think it was an improvement over the first, which I had kind of dismissed and forgotten about in the intervening years but have recently gained a new appreciation for in the lead-up to the sequel. Cameron once again pushes the technology farther than ever. This really is the (current) pinnacle of performance capture and CG compositing and at a certain point I kind of forgot I was watching animated characters on the screen.

It is too long, and it does repeat a lot of the same story beats from the first film. I found myself wishing Cameron had gone deeper with the central moral conflict, like maybe having the Sully clan deal with villainous Na'Vi rather than more pillaging "sky people". It's also pretty sequel-baity in parts, which seems a little preposterous for a film this length. But it definitely did make me eager to see where Big Jim takes this saga and I can say I'm onboard for whatever he wants to do and however many films he wants to make, which is something I probably would not have said before this.

 

[Drizzle]

I found myself wishing Cameron had gone deeper with the central moral conflict, like maybe having the Sully clan deal with villainous Na'Vi rather than more pillaging "sky people".

The way I see it, there's no way that Cameron doesn't introduce antagonistic Na'vi if he's planning on doing at least another 2-3 sequels (as in native Na'vi, not like Quaritch and his squad). Greedy humans are a tried and true villain but you can only do the same thing so many times.

 

[Brother Jack]

The way I see it, there's no way that Cameron doesn't introduce antagonistic Na'vi if he's planning on doing at least another 2-3 sequels (as in native Na'vi, not like Quaritch and his squad). Greedy humans are a tried and true villain but you can only do the same thing so many times.

Yeah, I would think so. It's the natural next step for the story to go.

 

[moviedoors]

You guys are in luck, because Cameron confirmed the "Ash Clan" for AVATAR 3, and they will not be good Na'vi. He's also going to bring aboard more human characters that aren't bad guys.

 

[samsnee]

I read Stephen Lang was going to be the villain for next few sequels. Sounds like that might get stale.

 

[Dr.]

Avatar: The Way Of Water Crosses $600M Global Box Office – Deadline

($183M domestic + $427 international)

 

[henzINNIT]

I watched this. It felt almost like an obligation, can't say I was excited to do so but I wanted to see the visuals on the big screen. The effects work is undeniably impressive. Very nice water, heh. Think it was a smidge better than the first overall. Doubt I'll ever watch it again.

I miss younger Cameron and his more interesting films, but I can't really be mad at it when his previous two films were two of the biggest ever made. He seems to have nailed the broad audience appeal equation. The stories can be a bit cliche, a bit basic, but he knows how to make a story and set-piece function, and diverts the ambition into the technology to create a little wonder, something that has become very hard to do since CGI became common.