I am not Avatar 2's audience

Talk about passion! After the magnificence of “Titanic”, I was ready to follow director James Cameron anywhere, even to the ends of the Earth, if need be. And I did just that.

In 2010, 13 years ago, I saved 10,000 Rufiya (648 Dollars) just to go to India's Bengaluru (also called Bangalore), the capital of India’s state of Karnataka, to watch "Avatar" (part 1) in 3D because at the time there were no cinemas in Maldives that screened 3D movies. I stayed for 5 days and spent one whole day watching the film back-to-back 3 times, to watch it to my heart’s content before my return to Maldives after the short stay in India. Talk about perhaps been misguidedly or insanely obsessed about something! And as if that wasn't enough, I went to see it at Maldives' Schwack cinema in Hulhumale when it was recently re-released as a refresher before the release of part 2 in December last year.

To date, I have watched part 1 countless times on my television and laptop computer. To me, it was awe-inspiring and captivating, and I could relate to the idea and philosophy behind the movie, including the story based on imperialism and colonialism. It was fresh, novel and even startling - although it was basically the "Pocahontas" narrative, and therefore derivative, and at times looked cartoony in spite of the - or because of the - visually stunning technology employed to animate its imagined world.

However, the 1st sequel, "Avatar: The Way of Water", which was recently screened in both Schwack's Male' and Hulhumale cinemas, failed to capture my imagination. The only mesmerizing factor for me was the exploration of the moon Pandora's breathtaking marine ecosystems - maybe because as a Maldivian, I am very much "a child of the sea". Another friend also opined that she thought the movie’s story was poor although the visuals were great. In my opinion, Avatar 2 undoubtedly deserved that visual effects Oscar which the movie won at the Academy Awards this month.

In a nutshell, “Avatar: The Way of Water” lacks the cinematic style of its predecessor. But then, after 13 years of hard work on developing the technology (such as motion capture) that will visually and otherwise make the film a more immersive experience, Cameron presents a more viscerally aesthetic experience hands down, even if we have to wait for all the 5 films to make sense of Cameron’s “Avatar” world. However, if you cannot tolerate or are impatient with the many unexplained aspects, such as bad guy Quaritch’s return from the dead (and his unexplained singular focus of revenge against Jake); a son of him adopted by Jake and Neytiri; and Eywa itself having a child through Grace’s avatar body in stasis, which echoes shades of virgin births such as found in the “Star Wars” universe or Christendom itself, don’t be alarmed that “Avatar” is now moving towards fulfilling its story as a New Age cosmos of pantheistic and paracosmic proportions, with also a graphic novel titled “Avatar: The High Ground” that fills in a gap in the narrative between Avatar 1 and 2.

In contrast to Avatar 2’s lack of stylized action, back then, Cameron was ingenious in dramatizing many scenes, such as the felling of the hometree in “Avatar” part 1, with clever implementation of movie-making techniques such as cinematography, editing, and score. His genius was also there when he used movie-making techniques to musically orchestrate and choreograph the dramatization (in the “Death of Titanic” track action sequence) of the sinking of the great ship in “Titanic”. (Cameron was indeed lucky to have the late James Horner with him as without the latter’s Oscar winning score, “Titanic” would obviously not have the cinematic impact that it has now.) The buildup and execution of both these scenes had a great impact on me, which rendered these action scenes never boring even on multiple viewings. Small wonder that so many moviegoers repeatedly went to the cinema, resulting in both films’ (“Avatar” and “Titanic”) billion-dollar success.

However, such dramatization was lacking in the action of “Avatar: The Way of the Water” despite the battles that were staged. It was like discovering the musically choreographed orchestral quality of “The Fellowship of the Ring” (in the “Flight to the Fjord” and “Mines of Moria/ Khazad-dûm” action sequences, for example) and then been disappointed at the lack of such dramatization in the sequels “The Two Towers” and “The Return of the King” - perhaps because there was no narrative requirement, which would mean that there was nothing director Peter Jackson could have done about it.

The action in “Avatar” part 2 was just that and nothing more: any competent director can stage gun fights and showdowns. Therefore, “The Way of Water” failed to involve my interest although some audiences felt the action scenes in it were more epic than those in the first part despite some critics' opinion that the battle sequences in part 2 were small scale. Perhaps BBC News and the UK’s The Guardian newspaper were correct in declaring that “Avatar: The Way of Water” is a “damp squib” (Google that phrase if you would like a summary negative review of the movie at this juncture).

However, in similar manner to the 4 key character deaths (and the countless other deaths) that occurred during the action scenes in “Avatar” part 1, there is, emerging from the convoluted action sequences in the climax of “Avatar” part 2, the very emotional death of a key character, which I will not identify at this moment in order not to spoil the movie for those who have not seen the movie yet in countries other than Maldives. What I will say about it at this time is that, this particular death singularly reflects the pain and loss that the Na’vi people suffered similarly due to the felling of their hometree in “Avatar” part 1.

When I ponder why I failed to enjoy “Avatar” part 2, I keep wondering what it was about the narrative that managed to keep me from been bored or drowsy in spite of the film's lengthy 3-hour 12-minute running time. It was definitely smooth story-telling on Cameron’s part which prevented “Titanic”’s 3-hour 17-minute running time from making us check our wristwatches frequently.

As for the unexplained parts in “Avatar” part 2, Cameron says these aspects will be addressed once all the 5 parts are released by the year 2028 - sort of like understanding "The Lord of the Rings" after watching the whole trilogy. Cameron does have a point: I didn't like "The Two Towers" at first - until after I watched "The Return of the King".

I am writing this "review" because one of my friends is of the view that I should, as I had blogged about my Bengaluru experience on my former - now removed - blog, hilath.com.

However, I have refrained from posting this blogpost until Schwack finished screening "Avatar: The Way of Water" - not because I can influence anyone not to watch it by giving a negative review such as this (like "Star Wars", any "Avatar" part will be critic-proof because no matter how much criticism is out there, people will still watch it) but out of respect for the proprietors of Schwack for taking the economic risk of setting up, for a relatively small market, a professional cinema in Hulhumale with a gigantic screen and 7.1 surround sound. I have decided to publish this blogpost now because Schwack’s cinema schedule for this week does not include any screenings of “Avatar” part 2, which I assume means that there will be no further screenings.

A reliable source once told me that Schwack operators had to wait until the first MDP (Maldivian Democratic Party) government adopted the Copyright Act which was the catalyst to convincing foreign film distributors to provide Schwack with international releases. And way before that, I still fondly remember going to Olympus Theatre in Maldives’ capital Male' in 1998 to watch "Titanic" (6 times!) - thanks to an initiative undertaken by Maldivian comedian actor-director Yoosuf Rafeeu a.k.a. Yoosay who arranged for the film to be screened in Maldives at a time when Maldives’ cinemas had stopped screening English language films for several years. (My first cinematic experience was “Elizabeth” director Shekhar Kapur’s Bollywood sci-fi direction “Mr. India” at the National Cinema in Male’ in 1987).

Some years ago, some Maldivian filmmakers got together and distributed a free video compact disc (VCD) in which they were naming and shaming me, claiming that my negative reviews of Maldivian (Dhivehi language) films published in the now defunct "Haveeru" daily newspaper had a negative impact on their business. After that, I stopped writing about Dhivehi films, just to be on the safe side, although I still find it hard to believe that a person’s personal negative viewpoint (the “review”) about a movie can convince potential moviegoers not to go to a movie they still are determined to watch.

As I explained in my blogpost titled “Reviewing My Reviews”, and as per my apology to the makers of the Telugu language Indian movie “RRR” (mentioned in the comments section of my blogpost titled “Letter to Hilath: Is ‘RRR’ truly a ‘disappointing’ movie?"), I would like to point out that though I personally did not enjoy “Avatar: The Way of Water”, I recognize the finesse of it, resulting from Cameron and his team taking more than a decade to fine-tune it, not to mention the extent they went to, to advance the technology to make the movie a truly immersive experience.

It is truly amazing and commendable that the valiant personal and professional efforts undertaken with much passion, gusto, and enthusiasm have paid off; even if I personally didn't find "Avatar: The Way of Water" appealing, I have to take into consideration that countless people do relate to it, even claiming it is way better than the first part. Its current astonishing success at the international box office is evidence of that, even though it has, fortunately or unfortunately, turned out to be not my cup of tea. Yet still I am determined to watch all the 5 parts in the hope that maybe consequently, one day, I can become sincerely appreciative of this humongous endeavor.