‘Avatar: The Sense of Water’: a dazzling spectacle or just soulless technology?

in favor of

An extraordinary hallucinogenic sensation, by Julian García

Someone who hates the universe ‘Avatar’ (2009) I will change my mind after watching “Avatar: Sense of Water” (2022). Although the first installment is the highest-grossing in history to date with nearly $2,900 million raised worldwide, there are plenty of ‘haters’ who are disgusted by the film. Bluish creatures from the planet PandoraThe soapy ‘new age’ atmosphere and its arrogant label as a film that came to change the history of cinema. So you better not waste your time.

Or… maybe yes.

it is true that no one asked James Cameron New episode of ‘Avatar’ because it’s always intergalactic journey to pandora there was enough. It’s also true that the script for this new episode is pointless, with a shallow adventure story, a silly development, and characters drawn with a thick felt-tip pen. Even so, and assuming your situation, ‘Avatar: The Sense of Water’ is a gigantic show can awaken the old and almost lost sense of wonder. A simple hallucinogenic visual and sensory experience.

There is almost no script and almost everything is nonsense. Its ecological and anti-colonial message is confined to aesthetic poses, and, truth be told, it exudes an alarming patriarchal masculinity in its fervent defense of the traditional family. But to experience ‘Avatar: The Sense of Water’ movie theater and brand new 3D The closest thing to entering a dream or an old fairground stand is where everything doesn’t have to be logical or transcendent. Technologically and visually, Cameron’s film dazzling, as if coming from the XXII century. The amniotic water footage activates a comforting weightlessness before leading to a furious final act where the director lets his hair down and wildly quotes himself. the kettle where all the previous (great) action cinema convergesFrom “Abyss” to “Titanic”, from “Terminator” to “Aliens, return”.

It’s all there, ultra-concentrated, at that last hour, and even if it’s for that reason alone, don’t hesitate and go to the movies: like its predecessor, ‘Avatar: The Sense of Water’ won’t change cinematic history (but it will save your box office), because no one else in their right mind except Cameron. not willing to undertake such projects. technological megalomania. But today, in times of sizzling cynicism and disbelief, he’s accomplished what sounds pretty good: leaving the audience speechless, huddled under a blanket, if only for a while. wonder and wonder. It’s like from another planet.

Against

A great technician with little to say, by Quim Casas

This second episode of ‘Avatar’, which is more than just a movie, full blown event. And so it is more subject to technology than emotion, with projections on 1,983 screens across Spain in its first week of release, including Imax rooms and 3D ones. In the now distant 1991, when it premiered Terminator 2: DoomsdayJames Cameron has shown that in a good fantasy genre the story can be told through a creative technique of very detailed digital effects, but they’re still first-timers. Twenty years from now, I have a feeling that the second movie starring Schwarzenegger as the old-gen android will be as visually stunning as it was back then. “Avatar” and “Avatar: Sense of Water”plus the other three episodes that Cameron plans and promises to do by 2028, they will have aged much worse.

It’s not just a matter of getting the right effect, surprising us with impossible shots, and taking the possibilities of three-dimensionality to the extreme – the director’s greatest conquest – it’s also about creating something more or less believable and convincing. to instill this feeling in them says the person in charge knows how to transfer ‘Aliens, return’.

This last avatar was icy cold, tense to exhaustion—not long because it took 192 minutes, not because he didn’t have much to tell in such a long time. mind blowing images– Bland, slightly ugly long shots of overhanging rocks inspired and exaggerated in testosterone-fueled youth fights in the generational conflicts Jake Sully and Neytiri spawn with his big band Covers for Roger Dean Yes albums. Even the last salute of tragedy Titanic‘ – self-respect or creative impotence? – is forced. The environmental tone of the film is also very simple, although the episodes with the huge illegal marine mammal covered in that ‘mainstream’ patina so common in the director’s recent films have their reasons.

Cameron believes he is the messiah of big screen cinema, and there’s no doubt that rooms hold up better after the pandemic, thanks to products with these features. But too many megalomaniac tires. He has little to say, but yes, he uses 3D more than anyone else. In fact, if he had devoted himself to researching CGI and quit directing, we would have lost an ordinary director who spent unnecessary millions on gaining an exemplary technician.