After more than a decade, Avatar 2: The Way of Water starts in German cinemas today. The sci-fi film has received a lot of advance praise, often from the genius director James Cameron himself. The best 3D ever and a more emotional story than the predecessor Avatar – he wants to offer departure for Pandora. Now all of this is being put to the test in the cinemas.
3D yes or no? The most important questions about the cinema event Avatar 2
We explain in this article spoiler freewhether and why an expensive Avatar 2 ticket with extra length and 3D surcharge pays off for you and answer the following questions:
What is Avatar 2 about?`
Avatar 2: The Way of Water – New Trailer (English)
Avatar 2 takes place over 10 years after the events of Pandora. Jake (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) have started a family and do everything to stay together. Eventually, however, they are forced to leave their homes when the invaders return from Earth – and with them, the resurrected villain Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang). On the run, the family encounters the Metkayina tribe. This settled on the surface of Pandora’s ocean.
How good is the 3D in Avatar 2 really?
If you are a declared 3D enemy: Of course, watching Avatar 2 without 3D glasses in a cinema is better than not watching the film at all. Because Avatar 2 relies heavily on an immersive pull, wanting to absorb its audience, the film becomes lose a lot of their effectiveness even in home cinemas with modern equipment.
Nevertheless: Avatar 2 works best in 3D. Because the visual effects in Avatar 2 are indeed stunning, James Cameron didn’t promise too much. The world of Pandora unfolds in front of you like a large aquarium, except that the glass pane disappears. In the 13 years since Avatar 1 has been the 3D technology is often cursed as a price-driving accessory. But Avatar 2 doesn’t compare to the flat 3D performances of MCU blockbusters.
Rather, Avatar 2 is a 3D vehicle. Much of the plot exists just to as many razor-sharp and unbelievably deep images of the alien planet as possible to show where nature is still pure and untouched. James Cameron doesn’t hold back either, although he emphasizes how much work went into the characters, the emotions and the plot.
What are Avatar 2’s weaknesses?
20th Century Fox
Kiri in Avatar 2
In Avatar 1, the plot was thin, but the film did well with the light material because it used it effectively. The first two thirds in particular are told as if from a single source: the landing of the paraplegic Jake Sully on the alien planet, the discovery of Pandora, the love story, the dumb ex-soldier between the fronts who was kissed awake by nature. So the story never became a weak point in Avatar 1, even if many see it differently.
The same cannot be said of Avatar 2, unfortunately. The plot is paper thin again, but this time it rumbles and crunches as it moves along. Part 2 repeats a lot of what worked in the successful predecessor. That’s perfectly fine after a 13-year break: Another new culture is being discovered, this time by the Sullys’ children.
Avatar 2 doesn’t create a sufficient narrative framework this time, however, which offers plausible pretexts for excursions into Pandora’s nature. Instead, he always resorts to the same processes (children do something imprudent and need to be rescued). And that can be quite tiring over the 3 hours running time.
What do critics and Rotten Tomatoes say about Avatar 2?
The first public and critic response to Avatar 2 is positive.
Christoph Petersen from FILMSTARTS awards 4 stars and writes:
Only in the coming weeks will it become clear whether “Avatar 2: The Way Of Water” can pose a threat to the current leader “Avatar – Aufbruch nach Pandora” in the fight for the title as the most successful film of all time. But what is – at least for the audience – much more important anyway: As a film and as a spectacle, “Avatar 2: The Way Of Water” is already superior to its 13-year-old predecessor in almost every respect!
Katja Nicodemus has a skeptical view in Die Zeit:
[…] the imagination no longer takes off. Maybe because cinema, art and game aesthetics have caught up? Avatar 2 feels like visiting a not-so-fresh Seaworld show in Florida. Cameron has lost sight of his big topic, artificial intelligence, playing with identities and avatars. In short: the film is a spectacle without a superstructure.
RogerEbert.com’s Brian Tallerico says:
Cameron invites you into his totally real world, with so many striking images and phenomenally animated action scenes that everything else just pales in comparison.
Tomris Laffly writes in one of the most positive reviews from the USA for AV Club:
Avatar: The Way Of Water not only carries on everything that its predecessor established, it carries it on in an ocean-deep and shimmering way, through the eyes and heart of a cinematic storyteller with a passion […] for the sea.
The Telegraph’s Robbie Collin penned one of the worst reviews:
Developed over decades, James Cameron’s Way of Water has no story, takes no risks and has horrific dialogue.
The reviews confirm two poles in the perception of Avatar 2: Some don’t care about the tiring action, there are plenty of other stimuli. Others can’t fully enjoy the film with its weak plot, no matter how stunning the 3D can be. But if you can do without a gripping story and want to go to the cinema mainly because of never-before-seen images, Avatar 2 will be a great cinematic experience.
Will you see Avatar 2 in cinemas?