I decided to have a cheeky midweek visit to the movie house. Of course I went to the Cineworld cinema at Rochester. It’s probably not the closest cinema to me but it’s the one I’ve been going to since the late 90s and the parking is free, the river is pretty and it’s not in Maidstone. While driving next to the river I noticed there were many birds sitting on the mudflats. So, I think this happens when the tide is about halfway. I’m not sure why this would be their behaviour, I’ll have to look into it. I would also like to point out that I haven’t seen this is daylight, I’ve only noticed it recently and in the dark so it could be something else entirely. I will post photos next time there’s so sunlight showing the scene rather than reflected street lighting from the East Kent side of the county
I like writing these communications after seeing a film as it gives me an extra way to interact with the film. I can react to something and wonder how I will explain that in my way in my words. I sometimes think that there’s a particular scene or phrase I need to remember as it was really something I wanted to write about. I expect I forget most of these as I don’t make notes in the theatre. I rated this film on IMDb and before you complain about the score you need to know there is a system and it is explained in this communication from 2014. I rated this film 4/10.
This was not a good film. I rewatched the first film before christmas and thought it was kinda ok. The story seems quite routine but it was visually stunning. I’m not sure what I would have rated it after seeing it at the cinema. Then I also watched the second film while wrapping presents and generally chilling out on christmas eve. I really didn’t like it. I stayed watching it because I had paid for it and I sort of wanted to see what happens at the end. That is the reason I went to see this current film. I could spend some time in a warm building where someone else is paying for the heat – the UK is currently in a cold snap – and it would finish the story off. I was NOT wanting to sit through over three hours of film.
The visuals had been done before and so I don’t think anything need be said about those. I’m going to concentrate on the storyline. It was shit. Derivative. Boring. Entirely ordinary. Borderline terrible. I hated it. The whole world knew how the story was going to finish by then end of the second movie. There might be a few minor details you wouldn’t have predicted but overall it ends how you expect it to end. The natives win the big battle. Everyone cheers. There isn’t a sense of loss over those who died in the battle. No discussion about the future. No plans to stop the sky-people. Utter shit.
This film also explains so much about the current state of capitalism on planet Earth. When leaving the cinema people should be thinking about how companies are tearing up the planet for the sake of money for the few. Because more money means more power and more power means more money. These ideas are a cancer to the long term efforts of humans and Earth as a whole. Just because this Avatar story is set on a planet a few trillion miles away [which was mentioned in the script but it’s probably not a correct number but there’s a definite CBA about fact-checking it] it clearly is meant to show the exploitation of other countries for the enrichment of our own. If you leave this film feeling slightly sorry for the natives and the creatures of that world then perhaps you should think about who the fuck you vote for at the next general election.
A few aspects of this film that made me super annoyed should be noted. The first thing, and that isn’t just this film but part 2 also was Jake Sully making his kids call him “Sir”. I am going to maintain that if you make your kids call you “Sir” then you are an arsehole. I understand that he is training them for war and he wants them to understand how to fight but be a human-fucking-being about it. They are your children. You are their dad. Let them call you dad. Oh, by the way, that’s not the only absolutely toxic masculine trait that Sully manifests. So much of this movie glorifies fighting and battle it’s an absolute testosterone fest. Absolute bullshit. Proper American grade wank fest of jingoism.
I was annoyed at the potential sacrifice scene that occurs about two thirds of the way through the movie. It was a logical move but man, they didn’t need to play it so Abrahamic. Let’s head out into the woods to slaughter a child for the sake of the future of the blues. If this film had any guts it would have killed that kid and dealt with the consequences of that. But it chickened out. The film didn’t want to face tough decisions. It wanted to glorify fighting for what you believe in against a much larger force, against the USA. Maybe this film was an analogy of the white invaders to the Americas causing death and destruction. I mean, it’s not that subtle really if it is that. I wonder if general white USA will notice?
While the blues fought off the sky-people do they really think that they are safe given the value of the natural resources on their moon-world? Of course you aren’t. Humans have such need for greed in the current system. We are burning our own planet because we can. We will burn it all down just so a couple of people can be extremely wealthy. Until the mega rich are prosecuted and sent to prison there will be no peace and no fixing of the problems of this world.
This film was not really disappointing. I wasn’t expecting much. It lived up to my expectations. I didn’t leave the film feeling despondent. There have been plenty of other films I’ve really wanted to be good but were utter shit. They left me feeling rubbish for ages. The Phantom Menace broke me. Alien – Prometheus did the same. Such excellent promise ruined by bad film making. I’ll leave you with one good thing about this film – The first time I looked at my watch was two hours into the over three hour movie. I didn’t get uncomfortable in my seat which happens when I am really bored. So maybe this film held my attention for most of its runtime.