I am Not in a Hurry to See the New "Avatar" Movie

In preparation to watch the second "Avatar" movie whenever it comes to Disney +, it may be on there now, I have no idea, but my wife turned on the original "Avatar" the other day. We watched about 90 minutes of it before we went to bed. Let’s discuss.

I have been saying on this site and the podcast ever since it went up that I did not care for "Avatar" when it first came out in 2009. I saw it in the theaters with a very good friend who really wanted to see it. I figured I'd go because it was getting a ton of buzz, the critics loved it and we had a chance to see it in 3-D. I found myself bored and not enjoying it. Granted I was 26 at the time, a movie snob and was predisposed to not like it. I am not a James Cameron fan. I find him off putting. He seems like he is very arrogant. And with some stories that have come out about him, I do not feel bad saying this. I also only like two of his movies. I love "T2" and "Aliens". Those are legit excellent movies. But I have not liked much else he has directed. "Terminator" is fine. I do not like a single second of "Titanic". I have no desire to watch stuff like "Aliens of the Deep" or "Ghosts of the Abyss". I openly dislike "True Lies", much to my wife's chagrin. But I went into this rewatch of "Avatar" with more of an open mind. I decided I was going to let my predispositions wash away and just view the movie as a "critic". I was not looking to poke holes in anything. I wanted to see if, with 16 more years of life added on, that maybe I would enjoy it more. I am also a little curious about the new movie. Maybe it is the hype train again and maybe I will be fooled again, but people I listen to seem to like the new movie. Even people who disliked the first one seem to like this new one. And I am not being one of these fans that is just hating on "Avatar" to hate on it. I could literally careless if it is good or not. I do not care about the box office. None of that stuff matters to me. I just wanted to rewatch the first one to see if I was wrong, or what I was wrong about, and to see if it made me want to see the sequel.

So, as previously stated, we got through 90 minutes of the first one. This was not due to boredom or lack of not wanting to finish. We have two kids, my wife works a full time job and we only have time to watch a little bit of something before we both get tired. Yes, I get it, we are old. But in this 90 minute rewatch I noticed a few things. First off, the movie looks incredible. It is beautiful. Even on our home television it looked stunning. The effects look modern. And that is something that Cameron has always had a good hold on. He knows how to do special effects maybe better than anyone in the business. He is a genius when it comes to that. This was a part that I did not appreciate when I first watched this movie. It is visually stunning. That is about where my praise ends though. Well, Sigourney Weaver is wonderful in the movie too. I like how badass she is. It is like her character from the "Alien" franchise moved into the world of "Avatar". Okay, that is where my praise stops. Other than Weaver and the effects, the movie still bored me. I do not care about the military storyline. The bad guy, or guys in this movie, are cliche. You can tell just by looking at them. Then when they speak the point is further driven home. Sam Worthington is not great here. He is dull and boring and not the leading man I want to root for. Zoey Saldana is so underused. She is too put upon and not given nearly enough to do in the movie. The actors they put in the movie to be the comedy relief are using tired and dumb jokes. Nothing in this movie made me laugh. I do have to say, the last hour is supposed to be when the movie really picks up, and we get the big battle scene, but I have not had the urge to go back and watch it yet because I don;t really care what happens. I also kind of remember it being ridiculous. I remember "The Simpsons" doing a parody of it, and that was a million times better for me to watch. My wife also made a good point while watching. She kept saying that the original "Avatar" is a lot like "Pocahontas". She is 100 percent correct. I mean, watch them side by side and I bet you can see far too many parallels.

At this point, I do not know if I will ever watch "Avatar 2". I enjoyed the visuals of the first movie. But the story and most of the acting fell flat. For me. Time will tell, but right now, at this very moment, my desire to finish the first and watch the second are nearly null. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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