Film Name: 阿凡达：水之道 / Avatar: The Way of Water / Avatar 2
I’ve never purchased a ticket for a second viewing of a movie before, and “Avatar: The Way of Water” (hereinafter referred to as “The Way of Water”) made me do so irrationally, and there’s nothing to say that James Cameron and his Avatar franchise are that magical. “James Cameron and his Avatar series of movies have that kind of magic.
After the screening yesterday, I was in a state of awe and reminiscence for a long time: I once again returned to the dreamlike planet of Pandora, where everything became even more real and magnificent, and the magical world of The Way of Water was worthy of the audience’s nearly 13-year wait.
Of course, after calming down a little bit today, I can still realize the slight regrets that exist in this film, but that in no way prevents me from giving top-notch reviews and praises.
Some people may wonder: is it necessary to blow up a commercial movie with good special effects? It’s true that there are all kinds of good movies in the world, some have good plots and are very brain-burning, some have deep feelings and can move people, and some have big brain holes and are novel enough, and I understand and respect everyone’s preferences and standards very much, but it’s hard to come across a movie like this one which is truly rich in pioneering spirit for decades.
So why am I blowing Avatar: The Way of Water? Because it achieves things that only it can.
[WARNING: There will be a handful of spoilers below, but they don’t detract from the viewing; this movie can only be seen to be believed].
The most praiseworthy aspect of The Way of Water is, naturally, the special effects and creativity, a part that can follow the movie’s plot.
Thirteen years after the conclusion of the first Avatar, protagonists Jake Sully and Neytiri have five children, including three biological hybrids and two adopted Fae. Unfortunately, the good times don’t last long, as the human invaders, the RDA (Resource Development Authority), return and intensify their efforts to build a city on the planet Pandora, Jack has been fighting a guerrilla war for over a year, but his nemesis, Colonel Miles Quaritch, has also returned as an avatar warrior with a back-up memory. When Jack realizes that he has become a target, he decides to move his family to the ocean for the sake of his family’s safety and that of his people.
Above is the plot after the beginning of “The Way of Water”, the stage is still familiar scenes in the first “Avatar”, and this half an hour is only the articulation of the transition content – that is to say, Pandora’s forest, Hallelujah Levitation Mountain and so on these things, but only the film’s “Appetizer” only.
With Jack’s family to the sea tribe, “The Way of Water” opened the whole high-energy journey, the most worth blowing is of course Pandora “water” visual feast: such as real like illusion of the water landscape, strange marine life, harmony and unity of the near-water life, is really very grateful that we can see such a silver screen! I’m really glad we can see such a marvelous scene on the screen.
You know, “water” is recognized as the most difficult thing to shoot, the cast and crew team for this not only specially built and upgraded a set of systems, but also completed all the underwater motion capture shooting, its creativity and significance is self-evident – I more or less understand why this film will jump more than 10 years! I more or less understand why this movie has been delayed for more than 10 years, Cameron is going beyond himself to do something never done before.
In the past, we have seen all the film and television works in the water-related footage, in the final analysis can be divided into two categories: either good-looking very fake, or real and uninteresting.
The former exists in a wide range of “special effects” in the film, not to mention the distortion to the outrageously poor, even if many look good blockbusters, but also only on land after the simulation of the shooting, with the post-effects simulation of the effect of the water, can not be fake, the audience can only laugh it off.
The latter is mostly out of a variety of real footage, the best than some of the top documentaries, clarity, brightness, carrier, etc. can do a great job, but the problem is that good footage is very difficult to shoot, and its performance content is often in our cognitive range, we can marvel at the beauty of nature, but had to stifle the “manpower is the limit of! We can marvel at the beauty of nature, but we can’t help but feel that “there are limits to manpower.
Originally, this is nothing, everyone is so …… can not help people than people have to die, goods than goods have to throw, “The Way of Water” hard with its actual performance, at the same time to do the “fake incredibly realistic, good-looking very novel and interesting”.
The “seascape” effects are really great, whether it’s the distant, medium and close-up views of oceanic islands, the most detailed textures above and below the water, or the countless aquatic creatures unique to Pandora, as well as the physical rendering of all the dynamics in the water, all of which are enough to make people feel immersed in the scene and marvel at the fact that “there is a Pandora’s Planet”. Pandora”.
Cameron and his team are equivalent to the reality of the “wheel” on the basis of his own ecological system and rebuilt a wheel, the key is to run fast and stable …… This kind of work at the same time has the imagination, technical power and the ability to improve the quality control of the work. I’m afraid that The Way of Water is the only one of its kind in the world.
Some people may not think so: if there are wheels in reality, why do we have to build them? It should be noted that what I admire is “building”, a quality that is, subjectively and objectively, the rarest in the world’s creative environment today.
It occurred to me that after Avatar exploded in the world, a wave of 3D movie frenzy was set off, but most of the 3D effects are crude, and there are many shameless 2 to 3 operations, which are purely intended to make more money, so many viewers complained about the “originator”. After watching “The Way of Water” on ……, I’d like to say: Is it really true that audiences don’t like 3D movies? But if you can have more than half of the power and effect of the “Avatar” movie, everyone will not be too much, the new industry benchmark has appeared, and I implore many film makers to stop making 3D movies randomly.
In addition to the breathtaking special effects, the design of The Way of Water also has a lot of eye-catching features, such as the image of the Na’vi, the “island people”.
Neytiri’s tribe, the Omaticaya, are “forest” Na’vi, with a dark blue (sky-blue) skin color and long, slender bodies that are good for running and flying through jungles and mountains, as opposed to the “island” Na’vi, who have freshwater blue skin and are broad-bodied (and have inconspicuous webbing around their limbs (which actually looks better than in the concept art). In contrast, the “islanders”, with their freshwater blue skin, broad bodies, and unobtrusive webbing on the edges of their limbs (which looks better in real life than in the concept art), are clearly more aquatic aborigines.
Moreover, no matter how the Na’vi’s image changes, they are all well-proportioned and robust, not fat or thin, with clear lines, smooth skin and large eyes, which takes care of the aesthetics of the Earth’s viewers. ……
In addition, the film also gave the human side of the design of a lot of new gadgets, such as lighter and more flexible fighter armor, etc., the most eye-catching but also counts the two models of water and land operation quite.
Among them, the “crab type” is certainly the most impressive, easy to move and adapt to the terrain, while the “submarine type”, suitable for deep water operations, also has a “low-profile and luxurious” side.
Speaking of which, I sincerely sigh Cameron is an anti-colonial and environmental protection fighter – in “The Way of Water”, the image of mankind is even worse, giving the audience the feeling that the scourge of the Earth after the scourge of Pandora, RDA in “Avatar” will also be hypocritical to try to help the Narmer! In Avatar, RDA would pretend to help the Na’vi to be “enlightened”, but in this movie, they don’t pretend at all, and they just go on a rampage, plundering resources all over the place.
The most typical scene is the one where the oceanic hunting ship surrounds and kills a group of Tukuns. The movie is a complete depiction of how human beings can kill these creatures that are smarter than they are, and even the soundtrack is the same as that of Avatar, where human beings blew up the Home Tree, so anyone who has a little bit of empathy will feel sorry for the human beings.
Humans hunted Tukun in order to extract a tube of “ageless essence” that can be sold for 80 million dollars, which reminds me of the history of the 18th to 20th centuries when human beings hunted sperm whales for ambergris and fish oil. …… movie is a good example of the attitude of the colonizers who seized and plundered all over the world after the discovery of the geography of the world. The attitude of the colonizers after the discovery of the world full of grabbing and plundering behavior can be seen.
Compared to the human beings, who are keen on industrial revolution and mechanical ascension, are the Nami on Pandora, who can interconnect everything through “Ava”, really barbarians? Are they simply on different sides of the biological evolutionary technology tree? This is the question Cameron asks, leaning on the past, standing in the present, and looking toward the future.
Moving on, let’s talk briefly about the plot and themes of The Way of Water. The movie’s performance in this regard is moderate, no surprises, but it’s not bad either.
The biggest change in the characters’ identities is Jack’s transformation from alien convert to patriarch and father, and the “Avatar” series is also about handing over the baton to his second son, Lochac, and his adopted daughter, Keeley, from the point of view of the scene arrangement.
Jack, out of his knowledge of the humans, is always on guard against their re-invasion of Pandora, so much so that after he stepped down from his position as Toruk Maktor, he still retained his paramilitary tribal organization, and his two sons, Netanya and Loach, are more accustomed to addressing him as “sir” than “dad! The fact that his two sons, Netanya and Loach, prefer to call him “sir” rather than “dad” speaks volumes, and Jack’s military-like demeanor contributes to a familiar family story.
More than the family thread, The Way of Water is a much more exciting presentation of inter-ethnic conflicts and integration, including: the disconnect between the Forest people, who have been exposed to alien technology, language, and ideas, and the relatively closed and conservative Island people; the disconnect between the hybrid descendants of man-made Avatars and Na’vi, such as Lo’ak and Keeley, and the native Na’vi ethnicity; and the disconnect between human exotics, such as Spider, who have grown up and Na’vi and Na’vi; and the divide between human aliens like Spider, who grew up with the Na’vi, and the Na’vi; and so on.
Racial issues in American society run deep, and the movie is well versed in addressing these story line themes, as I’m sure anyone who has seen the movie can appreciate.
I would like to mention more about Colonel Miles and Spider, a pair of father and son who are not really father and son. The existence of their two identities provides another kind of reverse perspective, with Spider being a 100% “spiritual Na’vi” but dragging around a human body. In the final showdown, the latter recognizes the former as his son and is saved, so “good karma is good karma”, and it’s a classic that I never get tired of watching.
The last thing I regret about The Way of Water is that I don’t have it at all! Watch it! Watch it! Addictive! This is not only because of love and reluctance, the story of the movie is really incomplete.
According to Cameron’s vision, “Avatar” series enough to shoot seven, he directed the first five, the last two to others, but now the rise of streaming media and theater haze has made him waver, but also said that “if the second part of the box office results are not satisfactory, Avatar to shoot three films will be over! …… “In any case, there will be a third Avatar, and the 2 and 3 movies were made together.
In the film, we can obviously feel that the story of “The Way of Water” is not yet finished, and always feel that after the defeat of the hunting ship, the human race, which has already taken root in Pandora, will quickly organize a counterattack – although the narrative of the film is very sophisticated, and the pace is also good, the audience won’t feel dull, but this can’t change the fact that it is only “half a scene”. “Considering the fact that Colonel Miles’ grudge is still intact, and that the battle scenes are not “big” enough, The Way of Water is not even close to the first Avatar in terms of completeness.
In addition, Keeley’s specialness is only a beginning: she was born to Dr. Grace’s Avatar, and no one knows who her father is, but it seems to be the gift of Ava, the “Goddess of Mercy”.
There’s already plenty of evidence that Keeley is more favored by Ava than Jack, and that she’ll be the new generation’s Chosen One, the Toruk of Toruk …… The Way of Water has only given us a glimpse of the franchise’s ambitions, but it hasn’t yet revealed more than a few of the strengths that go along with those ambitions.
So I’m still cautiously optimistic about the movie’s “money” prospects. I’m willing to watch it more than once, not wanting to miss a second of it, largely out of a fanboy filter, and its three-hour runtime and relatively lackluster story aren’t exactly friendly enough for every viewer.
Regardless, I hope you’ll go see this rare film in a theater (and try to get a good one) – I couldn’t help but come out of the theater last night excited to say, “If the Avatar series continues, it’ll be as important to the history of cinema as Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings,” and that’s why I’m so excited about it. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is setting the highest standards.”
Now I still think so, “third-rate enterprises make products, second-rate enterprises make brands, and first-rate enterprises make standards”, and Avatar: The Way of Water is precisely making a new standard, no matter how far the future of cinema can go, I’m afraid that this piece of specific technical creation can’t be bypassed, and we’ll remember that it has opened up an uncharted fog on the boundaries of exploration again. And we’ll remember it as another way of lifting the fog of the unknown from the boundaries of exploration.
PS: My brief review of Avatar: The Way of Water has come to an end, I saw Dolby at the screening yesterday, and I’m going to see Laser IMAX soon, I’m going to brush this movie at least three times, and if there’s anything else I want to say about it, I’ll be back to add it~!
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