OldBoy

**SPOILERS WITHIN**

Please continue pre-release discussion here.

Movie:
"Avatar: The Way of Water" (Starring: Big blue things)

Release Date:
12/16/22

Rating:
PG-13 (for sequences of strong violence and intense action, partial nudity and some strong language throughout.)

Running Time:
192m. (3h. 12m.)

Budget:
$350 million (estimated)

IMDb Synopsis:




End credit sequence(s):
No.

IMDb Info and Rating:
0.0 (0 votes as of 12/11/22)

Rotten Tomatoes:
Total Critics Count: 0 (xx% as of 12/11/22)

Metacritic:
xx metascore ('Good reviews' as of 12/11/22)

Trailer:


Poster Art:

OldBoy

bump for tonight.

Wolf359

Just spectacular. Can't wait to see it again on Sunday.

Dan

IMAX 3D HFR was worth it for all the underwater shots and the last hour of action.
THIS is the right way to use HFR. Even though I could easily tell the differences shot by shot, it didn't bother me and definitely enhanced a big chunk of the movie. It just won't be the same on home video.

was a highlight for damn sure.

ViewAskewbian

Can't seem to find a theater in my city doing 3d, IMAX and HFR.
Best I get is either IMAX or HFR with the 3d though there is an option for 3d HFR and and ultra AVX so I might go that route

dex14

Technologically and visually a treat, but otherwise I was kinda “meh” on it.

Alan Smithee

So the IMAX theaters are NOT showing this in HFR? So frustrating that theaters aren’t giving out all the info, I’m trying to find someplace that has 3D, HFR, Atmos and D-Box. All theaters should have those all regardless if they want to compete with my living room.

Shannon Nutt

Exact same reaction here. The visuals were amazing. The storyline? Not so much...this movie is filled with clunky dialogue and tired movie cliches/tropes we've seen dozens of times before in much better movies. I actually think I liked the story to the first movie just a tad better (and I wasn't a fan of THAT story, either).

TomOpus

99% of the reviews I've seen say this. Like the first one.

Pretty much what was expected. It'll make a shit-ton.

The Cow

I saw it this afternoon. Only 5 other folks in the theater.

I thought it was decent. As expected, the visuals were good. Pretty much all of the story is foretold or obvious how it's going to play out, but it was presented well. I never felt any tension at all (probably due to my nitpick below). It was just a simple story that played itself out. Outside of the humans, the rest of the acting was decent. I'm glad I saw it, but I don't have any desire to see it again.

Nitpick: Way too many instances of someone/something in peril and then something/someone coming in offscreen to save them.

Huge roll eyes moment (spoiling this as it is plot point):

Dr. DVD

Caught this today with about a half full RPX theater, which is a lot for a mid-day Friday showing, as this theater doesn't typically draw many people.

Script wise this is a 5/10, maybe even a 4. Cameron writes everything since T2 likes it's some kind of afternoon cartoon designed to sell toys. However, if the toys are the visuals, he delivers. Those were a 20/10 IMO. One thing that is very obvious with this one is that it was made with the knowledge that there would be more movies, so they leave some plot threads dangling. I have read about the third one having a rough cut that's 9 hours long...damn. If Cameron really wants to make all of the movies the way he insists, he needs to look into really serializing them and putting out maybe one every year or two until the story is complete.


In all honesty, this came across more like a legacy sequel than a direct sequel to me, and maybe that was Cameron playing into the fact that so much time has passed since the last one. If that was the intention, more power to him.

Why So Blu?

I watched this last night in a sold out Dolby Cinema theater and it was sick! Best use of HFR I've ever seen in my life. Part of me wished it was completely in HFR all the way through. What I did notice from the 3D was that there was no gimmicky objects or creatures that came at you like the jellyfishes in the first film. This one's 3D added a shit ton more depth and made the HFR look incredible.

I knew how it would end considering there's a few more sequels coming out. Definitely a part 3, so no surprise there. I do have tickets for tomorrow afternoon in IMAX 3D.

Dan

HFR for all the more dramatic shots (close-ups, etc.) would have looked as bad as The Hobbit movies. Keeping those at 24 made them better, IMO.
I think this is the best use of HFR so far, and I hope, IF the trend continues, it's used in similar ways, and not 48 across the board.

rexinnih

Pretty much what I was expecting but will still see it in the theater.

RocShemp

Wasn't this shot/created in both 30fps and 60fps? Even at just 30fps, wouldn't that still technically be HFR?

Dan

The original plan was 60fps across the board, but that was changed to 48fps and 24fps. Probably because 30fps would look like crap, and 24 doesn't evenly go into 60.
And it sounds like the 24fps shots were actually shot at 48fps, then had every other frame removed in post. But the 24fps shots are still shown at 48fps... they just duplicate every frame, just like our 120hz TVs display 24fps by multiplying every frame by 5 (or using atrocious motion smoothing)

DJariya

I just got back from a 215pm show in IMAX 3D. I personally am not a fan of seeing movies in 3D. I wear glasses and cannot see 3D movies taking them off, so I have to wear them over the glasses, which sucks.

But it is what it is. Well, the movie is really long and I kind of felt the length. I looked at my watch initially when I thought 90 minutes went by and then I saw only 45 minutes passed, I was like shit.

Anyway, I enjoyed the movie and I think I liked it better than the 1st movie. Amazing visuals and the 3D was eye popping, Also a lot of action sequences. I swear the last hour was non-stop action. Cameron can direct the hell out of action and it's amazing that most of it was CG.

The thing I did like was that we saw the Jake and his family living their lives over the last decade plus since the 1st movie was 13 years ago. I think that IMO helped me get attached to his family. The Mateo death scene was sad.

I rewatched the 1st movie last night. The 3 hour extended cut and honestly I thought some of it was a little boring. I had not seen the 1st movie in over 10 years.

Cameron was the only credited writer for part 1. But, damn this movie had 5 credited writers. It must have went through many drafts.

B+ from me. Maybe I'll see it again in standard Dolby without the damn 3D glasses in a week or so.

RocShemp

I remember the initial goal for 60fps across the board. The last I recall reading was part of it at 30fps and 60fps. I wasn't aware they switched to 24fps/48fps. Shame. I was intrigued by the previous two approaches.

Ash Ketchum

Fun review from Rolling Stone:
https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movi...13E2Vt_8SJENlw

dsa_shea

This was a nice special effects driven movie, but it wouldn't be worth sitting for 3 plus hours to watch it for the story and without the 3D/IMAX offerings. Also, the obsession with finding and exacting revenge on Sully was a bit much for me. Actually, they should have created a second film that didn't involve the outsiders and dealt with the Naavi and Pandora. They could have then re-introduced the humans towards the end or in the third movie. It is tough to see this carrying for potentially three more movies.

TomOpus

Weird, I also had a 2:15 show in IMAX 3D. I wear glasses, too, but have no problem wearing the 3D glasses.

tanman

Overall I think the movie was great. I like what they are doing with Quaritch and hope they continue to develop his character into something more then a one dimensional villain. Which was a major complaint with the first movie. I don't really buy the human's motivations though and think they are even worse then the first movie. It's just they've really kind of gone overboard in making the entire species of humans the villains now. It was much more nuanced (outside of the military guys) on if humans were the "bad" guys in the first one. Now there are almost no scientists and even the ones from the first movie are in a greatly reduced role. But then the movie is already over 3 hours long so I don't necessarily want to see more human stuff. So even though it's very much humans=bad maybe it's for the better. While the plot itself is pretty lacking the visuals, and more importantly, the heart of the story are really quite amazing. Of course everyone is talking about the visuals and they are amazing. I was worried at first that they just dived right into the plot too quickly without letting us explore Pandora but they really just put that exploration part in the middle of the movie. I have to say that that entire part of the movie was pretty spectacular. Not only were the visuals just optically pleasing but the directing and the storytelling within those visuals was really something to behold on as big of a screen as you can get to. It really is worth the price of admission alone. Nobody does world building like James Cameron. I'm really looking forward to Avatar 3 and hopefully there'll be enough story for 4 and 5.

DJariya

My point was wearing 3D glasses over my glasses is not ideal and a little uncomfortable. But, I have to. I have pretty bad Astigmatism and cannot see distance without glasses. If I took off my glasses to just wear the 3D glasses, I wouldn't be able to see shit. It would be a complete blur. I mean who wants to wear glasses over glasses while watching a 3D movie? It is what it is. That's why I don't really like seeing movies in 3D, but Avatar is pretty much a must at least for the initial viewing. But, if you have no issues wearing 2 glasses together, then good for you.

DJariya

This movie might be hard to get repeat business as well. I mean you have to dedicate an entire afternoon or a night show that could last until Midnight or 1am to see this. I saw a 2:15pm show and with trailers, I didn't get out until after 6pm. I'm not surprised this thread is pretty slow compared to most blockbusters. It's a huge time commitment. And I don't sense a lot of excitement or urgency to see this by the demographic of this forum.

I asked a co-worker of mine if she planned to see it. She said it's probably unlikely for awhile. She has 3 kids, 2 are babies and the cost of hiring a baby sitter to watch her kids while she and her husband go out is a lot of money.

Why So Blu?

Jaded cynics all up on the MCU's jock. Simple as that. Although Disney will get the last laugh and last $$$.