James Cameron's Avatar to get four sequels - The message will still be the same

[A Sentient Cloud]

Saw it last night. I liked it, it's a spectacle, which is what I go to the movies for. Visuals are astounding. Crab mechs were great. The Na'vi wearing Oakleys got a huge laugh out of my theater.

Main issue is, of course, the script. Aside from some pacing issues (the tulkun are introduced late and rather abruptly, for example), a big problem I see with this story as a whole is that the Na'vi are just stupid. Once they're engaged to a threat they're basically unstoppable -- I counted maybe three Na'vi casualties in the entire movie? --but for some reason they need to be told again and again that there *is* a threat, even though the "Sky People" are pretty much waging open war against Pandora. I'd like to see a more intelligent and ruthless group of Na'vi, maybe we'll get something like that with the Ash People in the next movie.

I was surprised that I didn't hate the teenager shit. The kids were believable and despite myself I was kind of charmed by all the bro's and cuz's. It was cute. I would have traded some of the teen angst for more scenes with Quaritch and Spider, who were by far the most interesting characters/relationship in the movie. I really liked the way they looked together visually, and the kid who played Spider did a great job with the character's physicality.

 

[Shekelslovakia]

Saw the movie last week. Really enjoyed it. I'm a little disappointed that there weren't new fantasy environments to explore like the bioluminscent forest or floating mountains of the first movie, but I was way more invested in this one. When I saw the first movie in theaters, there were parts where I was bored and went to the bathroom. Here, I was really invested and didn't want to go to the bathroom for fear of missing a scene. Also didn't feel like it was 3 hours long. The characters were a lot more likeable.

Biggest disappointment was the soundtrack. It's serviceable but I can only recall a couple snippets from the movie. RIP James Horner. Supposedly the new composer was an assistant to James Horner, but the soundtrack just isn't as memorable as the first movie's. For a movie of this caliber (also spent... what? a decade in development?), the music should have top notch.

Looking forward to Avatar 3.

That's saying much since pretty much, since modern film scores have been boring noise with little to no melodic elements and only use the same Hans Zimmer "Bwahhh! Da daa da daa da daa da daa Bwahhh!" Motif going all the way back to the film "Inception".

I still don't know why modern scores still rely on classic orchestra rather than a synthesize soundtrack with keyboards and EDM inspired ambient kind of like what Daft Punk did with "Tron Legacy".

 

[WhiskeyJack]

So the next film will have an evil, fire-based tribe of aliens.

I wonder if they'll be called them the Na'zi?

 

[duckbutter&toejamsandwich]

I still don't know why modern scores still rely on classic orchestra rather than a synthesize soundtrack with keyboards and EDM inspired ambient kind of like what Daft Punk did with "Tron Legacy".

Because there are very few EDM artists who can make EDM sound as complex and interesting as orchestral music. And I say this as a fan of EDM, but most of it is extremely generic and what isn't generic doesn't have the multilayered depth of sound that an orchestra can have. Daft Punk were the absolute masters of the craft and I don't think anyone in still doing EDM has their talent, though a few are close. And now that they've retired there aren't many still in the business who could create an amazing soundtrack. Vangelis is in his mid 70s, he doesn't make great music anymore and won't be around much longer. So all that's left is Trent Reznor, Cliff Martinez, and Brian Eno who are all aging out themselves, in their late 40s to 50s.

 

[Shekelslovakia]

Because there are very few EDM artists who can make EDM sound as complex and interesting as orchestral music. And I say this as a fan of EDM, but most of it is extremely generic and what isn't generic doesn't have the multilayered depth of sound that an orchestra can have. Daft Punk were the absolute masters of the craft and I don't think anyone in still doing EDM has their talent, though a few are close. And now that they've retired there aren't many still in the business who could create an amazing soundtrack. Vangelis is in his mid 70s, he doesn't make great music anymore and won't be around much longer. So all that's left is Trent Reznor, Cliff Martinez, and Brian Eno who are all aging out themselves, in their late 40s to 50s.

Vangelis died last year btw but his work on Blade Runner was one of the best soundtracks in that style.

 

[WhiskeyJack]

That's saying much since pretty much, since modern film scores have been boring noise with little to no melodic elements and only use the same Hans Zimmer "Bwahhh! Da daa da daa da daa da daa Bwahhh!" Motif going all the way back to the film "Inception".

I still don't know why modern scores still rely on classic orchestra rather than a synthesize soundtrack with keyboards and EDM inspired ambient kind of like what Daft Punk did with "Tron Legacy".

Personally I quite enjoy classic orchestra OSTs, but yeah synthetic soundtracks can give a very unique feel to a film. Hopefully Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor inspire more filmmakers to go down that route. I've grown very, very tired of Hans Zimmer in general.

 

[TVB]

Funny, because Hans Zimmer didn't use to rely on too much synthesizers for most of his musical scores until the mid-2000s.

 

[LordofCringe7206 Vol. 2]

I was promised a flop, where is my fucking flop? I guess it's another confirmation that yes, propaganda does work, and it works very well.

I don't think it is so much propaganda as much as it is that people are still looking for a cinematic experience. It is part of the reason why that Top Gun sequel was such a surprising mega-hit for this year: people still enjoy going to the movies but they don't just want something stupid like a Marvel movie that has the minimal amount of effort to put into it. They want something with more sustenance behind it.

Not that the first film was necessarily super great, but a lot of the bashing of it came from people on online communities such as Reddit. There are probably a lot of normal people that aren't terminally online that remember liking the first film and decided to go see the sequel because of it.

 

[Car Won't Crank]

Because there are very few EDM artists who can make EDM sound as complex and interesting as orchestral music. And I say this as a fan of EDM, but most of it is extremely generic and what isn't generic doesn't have the multilayered depth of sound that an orchestra can have. Daft Punk were the absolute masters of the craft and I don't think anyone in still doing EDM has their talent, though a few are close. And now that they've retired there aren't many still in the business who could create an amazing soundtrack. Vangelis is in his mid 70s, he doesn't make great music anymore and won't be around much longer. So all that's left is Trent Reznor, Cliff Martinez, and Brian Eno who are all aging out themselves, in their late 40s to 50s.

There's also Nick Chicane who composed a few soundtracks for various TV shows. He's an oldfag EDM guy too though and mostly focuses on doing his Sunsets weekly podcast. Big name Paul Oakenfold has also produced a lot of music for TV shows and movies, and even games.

 

[TVB]

There's also Nick Chicane who composed a few soundtracks for various TV shows. He's an oldfag EDM guy too though and mostly focuses on doing his Sunsets weekly podcast. Big name Paul Oakenfold has also produced a lot of music for TV shows and movies, and even games.

Tom Holkenborg?

 

[Car Won't Crank]

Tom Holkenborg?

I totally forgot JunkieXL.

 

[TVB]

I totally forgot JunkieXL.

To be fair, there's a huge list of many modern composers using EDM shit. Henry Jackman, Christophe Beck, Dominic Lewis, Daniel Pemberton, Ludwig Göransson, Christopher Lemmentz, etc., even returning composers like John Powell and Danny Elfman are guilty of this.

 

[Doctor of Autism]

I was promised a flop, where is my fucking flop? I guess it's another confirmation that yes, propaganda does work, and it works very well.

I mean it was clear this movie wouldn’t bomb since it was a sequel 13 years in the making and people see Avatar only for the spectacle. This is basically a theme park ride and at this point I wouldn’t be shocked if the third film made bank.

 

[Shekelslovakia]

I mean it was clear this movie wouldn’t bomb since it was a sequel 13 years in the making and people see Avatar only for the spectacle. This is basically a theme park ride and at this point I wouldn’t be shocked if the third film made bank.

You're probably right the only reason why these films are the Blockbusters they are is because of the anticipation and hype between each one. Of course Avatar 2 is going to look a lot better than the first one has been 13 years but since the third one is just around the corner releasing in 2024 there isn't going to be as much of a draw to it since the effects will be on par if not less impressive the previous ones.

Trust me we hit a plateau sometime back with how good it digital effects can be. You can put all the time and money in the world to make something that is lifelike as with Avatar but at some point it's going to start to look about as uncanny as "Cats", which for some reason internet giuseppo still call it as having the worst CGI since the Scorpion King. I saw it and the effects weren't as bad as everyone said a little uncanny but if you want something to look as real as possible it's going to fall in that dip sooner or later.

Don't know why the general audience is giving James Cameron a pass for the uncanniness of Avatar but still dunking on "Cats" or any modern Marvel to this very day. Would you rather have everything look like a geometric polygon out of an early window screensaver?

 

[Drag-on Knight 91873]

Personally I quite enjoy classic orchestra OSTs, but yeah synthetic soundtracks can give a very unique feel to a film. Hopefully Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor inspire more filmmakers to go down that route. I've grown very, very tired of Hans Zimmer in general.

What annoys me about Hans Zimmer is that he is no longer inspired by anything and his Dune Soundtrack sealed that deal. The entire time I was watching Dune, I was wishing I was listening to Nier Automata's soundtrack instead. That Dune soundtrack left me emotionally dead to the images on the screen.

 

[TVB]

You're probably right the only reason why these films are the Blockbusters they are is because of the anticipation and hype between each one. Of course Avatar 2 is going to look a lot better than the first one has been 13 years but since the third one is just around the corner releasing in 2024 there isn't going to be as much of a draw to it since the effects will be on par if not less impressive the previous ones.

Trust me we hit a plateau sometime back with how good it digital effects can be. You can put all the time and money in the world to make something that is lifelike as with Avatar but at some point it's going to start to look about as uncanny as "Cats", which for some reason internet giuseppo still call it as having the worst CGI since the Scorpion King. I saw it and the effects weren't as bad as everyone said a little uncanny but if you want something to look as real as possible it's going to fall in that dip sooner or later.

Don't know why the general audience is giving James Cameron a pass for the uncanniness of Avatar but still dunking on "Cats" or any modern Marvel to this very day. Would you rather have everything look like a geometric polygon out of an early window screensaver?

The CG effects in the early-to-mid 2000s age way better than most of everything else afterwards.

 

[Seventh Star]

Vangelis is in his mid 70s, he doesn't make great music anymore and won't be around much longer.

Holy shit he was in Aphrodite's Child.

 

[Kiwisee]

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Give them red skin, you know you wanna.

Please tell me that the Fire Navi are gonna be the Navi version of Nazis

 

[TVB]

Holy shit he was in Aphrodite's Child.

He also composed a little known Ridley Scott film, 1492.

 

[Absurdist Laughter]

Does this imply that Cameron spent less on Avatar 2 compared to the first film?

If he did, I wouldn't be surprised. I'd imagine the first movie's budget went into developing the foundations of the visual effects which the research would probably raise the budget. Now that he's got the foundation, they can focus on adding/improving as needed for future movies.