Ich bin ja Letterboxd-User der ersten Stunde und hatte hier vor vielen Jahren auch noch während der Beta-Phase Codes verlost. Auf meinem Account tracke ich jeden Film, den ich sehe. So zum Beispiel heute Avatar: Fire and Ash und gerade will ich noch mit dem Chaos im Kopf etwas länger leben und das sich mal sortieren lassen, vielleicht auch mit einem Rewatch einrenken. Bis dahin existieren diese lose Gedanken in meinem Kopf zu dem Film. Ein richtiger PewCast folgt dazu natürlich noch.

• very much enjoyed it being a Return of the Jedi closer of A Trilogy, also didn’t mind its direct sequelness. ROTJ is my favorite Star War because it’s weird, it’s unwieldy and BIG and the same goes for Fire and Ash but ROTJ also makes vast, bold strides and finishes things off in a exhilarating manner while also introducing new stuff all the time. even its retreads are exhilarating because it aims for more than just “bigger” which leads me to
• NOT ENOUGH NEW STUFF! There is no visual revelation in the way The Way of Water broke new ground. That’s partly due to its nature as one script split in two, yet it’s never advertised that way. It’s at its most serial here, for better and worse. The Wind Traders are cool and then immediately tossed aside. Not enough time is spent on their wonders. The same goes for Varang’s group, whose backstory needed grand visuals to mask their lack of inherent motivation, to explain their viciousness against other Na’vi.
• The overwhelming beauty of paradisiacal Pandora never fails; the same goes for the abundance of ever-so-cool action shots of people getting crushed, eaten, maimed, burned, etc. It’s so much, and it never gets boring. It’s an action feast of ultimate creativity.
• not enough RDA stuff. Give me an intercom scene with Earth HQ, another spaceship scene, any shot of Earth, Edie Falco having a line – even just ONE LINE – about some kind of climate disaster killing her family. Give them some kind of motivation beyond pithy statements about wealth and aging. Make it a little more interesting from their perspective as well. Explain why Bridgehead produces so much smoke. Why did they abandon the unobtanium plotline altogether? Is it just about whale brain juice at this point? This is an area in deep need of more worldbuilding.
• Liked Lo’ak in TWOW, here his pubescent perkiness becomes annoying. Your mileage may vary but it’s just one too many times the same dynamic. There is a shocking scene involving him that feels deeply underdeveloped and it’s unaddressed in a way that doesn’t sit right with me.
• LOVED Payakan and no shade to our feminist tulkun icon but too often he feels like the center of attention without being present, or being present without also being the center of attention if that makes sense. He’s my guy, you can’t relegate him to the side like that. I guess I’ll make TOO MANY TULKUN my family’s problem at Christmas dinner.
• much of its Big Third Act Fight is a straight copy of what came before. It’s supposed to feel bigger as the ships get bigger and previous Big Kills now easily string together but it very quickly becomes meaningless and too weightless (pun not intended but it fits I guess. Where was this vortex in TWOW? Where did it come from?)
• There is enough good stuff here to keep you enjoyed throughout but this the first time where I didn’t want to spend more time on Pandora, where I glanced at my watch more than once and felt its runtime. Worst of all: I was kinda glad when it ended. Not where it ended though. Lots of good stuff with Spider here for sure, Jakesully and Quaritch’s identity and transhumanist themes in that specific dynamic are wonderfully interwoven, it’s good simply good writing. It’s weird, it’s complex, it’s on another level when it comes to modern blockbusters. But all these plotlines needed a punchier end and since the film ends on the acceptance of Spider in that big way, that didn’t feel right, or at least not enough.
• really don’t like how these films begin and end but it’s where the Big Jim energy is most apparent. He’s a master for the uninitiated but too much is left undefinied, unambiguous for fans like me. I think you could argue that this is what comics are for. An Expanded Universe of Waste for nerds. Okay, but what James Cameron understands so well is that these kinds of movies need to go away for a while, let the story so far set in, and naturally create a demand for more. Whenever it may come back, there will be more to discover, sure. But my point is that this specific timeframe despite its insane runtime is underdeveloped in certain aspects.
• I assume this will grow on me with repeated viewings. But even with limited expectations and a frame of reference via twitter (it being a direct sequel, more TWOW basically) I kinda left the theater disappointed and that hurts.
• Avatar is tummy kino and I‘m not afraid to say it.