Too long? Too short? Too English? Here's why some
fans are complaining that Avatar 2 is only around to set up sequels.
The choice to cast Sigourney Weaver as a teenage Na'vi character in "Avatar:
The Way of Water" left "Avatar" fans divided, to say the least. Some fans
had no problem accepting Weaver in the role of a teenager. As one person tweeted:
Yet for many others, the motion capture was
only convincing until Kiri opened her mouth. Despite Weaver's best efforts,
it's apparently difficult to pass the voice of a 73-year-old woman as a 14-year-old girl.
However, a lot of fans just weren't fooled. As one fan said:
"Who's got my G—damn cigarette?"
The fact that there's a narrative reason behind this casting choice only slightly alleviates
the bizarreness of seeing a teenage Sigourney Weaver. Canonically, Kiri has been confirmed
to be the daughter of Grace's avatar, so it makes sense that she would sound just
like her mother. And perhaps she's more than just Grace's daughter. As one Reddit user speculated,
If so, then the casting choice makes a lot of sense.
"Jim Cameron says I'm very immature and this should be right up my alley."
Jake and Neytiri were undoubtedly the protagonists of "Avatar," but with the second movie,
their role is a little more complicated. Jake is certainly central to the plot:
he's the one with the target on his back, and his decisions kick the story into motion. But
for a main character, he doesn't get a lot of screen time, nor does Neytiri.
Den of Geek observed,
Their role in the second act is mostly just to react to what their children have been doing. Jake
and Neytiri both take the backseat for most of the film, letting their kids do the driving. The Sully
children — especially Lo'ak, Kiri, and Spider — are main characters in their own right, and they
get plenty of wonderful character development. However, many fans still miss Jake and Neytiri.
Some were especially disappointed by Neytiri's limited screen time and
felt that Neytiri barely left a dent in the sequel. One person tweeted:
Still, fans were at least glad that Neytiri absolutely stole the scene
when she finally got a chance to shine in the final battle.
Jake and Neytiri weren't the only characters who got the short end
of the stick. The film has a gigantic cast: with two parents and five children,
plus several more humans and Metkayina, something was bound to slip through the cracks.
On a Reddit forum about the movie, one user complained that,
despite all the buzz about Kate Winslet joining the cast as Ronal,
her character wasn't given much to do. And while the story didn't strictly need
more scenes with Parker Selfridge, some fans actually missed his presence. One fan wrote,
"You see that?"
"Yes, sir."
"No you didn't. You were looking at the monitor."
Even characters with a lot of screen time like Lo'ak feel underdeveloped. As one fan noted,
the film could have been even better if it spent a little longer on Lo'ak
growing to become friends with his former bully.
Perhaps the movie's biggest sin is neglecting to develop Neteyam,
since it's the last movie where the character will appear. As far as one Reddit user was concerned,
If something seemed a little bit off to you while you were watching "Avatar: the Way of
Water," that's probably because you noticed the movie's frame rate. Most movies are shot at 24
frames per second, but "The Way of Water" was filmed at 48 fps. As James Cameron explained:
Viewers have said that the frame rate made the film look like a video
game or a soap opera. Meanwhile, The Verge compared it to watching, quote,
"a very expensive video meant to be played on an array of televisions in a Best Buy."
Some fans were comfortable with the 48fps but felt it was distracting when the film
switched back to 24fps. One Reddit user pointed out that the film would
often toggle back and forth between different frame rates within a single scene. They wrote:
One thing fans wanted to see more of was the recombinant soldiers – recoms for
short. Supposedly, Quaritch, Wainfleet, and the other recoms are a close-knit
bunch of soldiers who knew each other before they were reborn in Na'vi bodies.
"I know you're all asking yourselves the same question: Why so blue?"
But viewers may have a hard time buying that,
because Quaritch's buddies get zero character development.
Furthermore, fans argue that the recoms don't seem like much of
a threat. Jake and Neytiri manage to take them out almost single-handedly.
Other fans shared this sentiment, with one saying:
While there's still a chance that the recoms will get more development in future movies,
some fans may not want to wait that long.
Many fans watching "Avatar: The Way of Water" were wondering why there
was so much English spoken as opposed to Na'vi.
"I see you."
When the sequel begins, Jake is considered one of the Na'vi and speaks their language.
So shouldn't the movie have been entirely in the Na'vi language with English subtitles?
The film does offer an explanation for the switch, even if fans feel it's a
contrived one. Jake explains that he has become accustomed to the native tongue,
saying that it "might as well be English" – and that's when the audio switches to English.
One Reddit user wrote,
The subtlety of the linguistic switcheroo aside, there's one particular aspect of the dialogue in
"Avatar: The Way of Water" that has elicited a strong response from fans – and not a good one.
For some reason, the teenage Na'vi characters use slang words like "cuz" or "sick," and the
word "bro" is spoken several times, like all these aliens learned English from 2000s-era comedies.
"Sweet. What about mine?"
"Dude. What does mine say?"
"Sweet. What about mine?"
"Dude. What does mine say?"
According to some Reddit users,
the slang is cringe-worthy because it doesn't seem in-character for the Na'vi.
One fan on Reddit offered up an explanation,
pointing out that the Na'vi probably aren't literally saying "bro." Rather,
they are using the Na'vi equivalent — which probably sounds less ridiculous — and it is
translated for viewers, just like everything else the Na'vi says. As one user said:
It makes sense. Jake may have many fine qualities, but he's never been a wordsmith.
"So, uh, here I am, doing science."
Mostly, Redditors wished the filmmakers had taken the time to develop an equivalent
Na'vi word with a similar connotation, instead of relying on "bro" all the time.
There's one thing fans and critics mostly seem to agree on: "Avatar: The Way of Water" is a
little too long. Certainly, the first "Avatar" and Cameron's previous filmography set a precedent.
Remember the double VHS set that held Titanic's, uh, titanic three hour and 14 minute runtime?
"I don't see what all the fuss is about. It doesn't look any bigger than the Mauritania."
"You can be blase about some things, Rose, but not about Titanic."
Still, many fans think "Avatar: The Way of Water" had no business
being three hours and 12 minutes long. One person wrote on Twitter:
The runtime has even alienated some moviegoers
who enjoy watching super-long epics. As one Redditor said:
In response to criticism about the movie's length, James Cameron told Empire Magazine,
Fans! You can't please them all, all the time. For every viewer who thought the movie was too long,
it seems there's someone else who thought it wasn't long enough.
Despite the film's lengthy runtime, one Reddit user argues that the movie's pacing often feels
too fast, rather than too slow. Cameron tries to rush quickly through the first
act to get Jake and his family to the Metkayina clan as quickly as possible,
without giving the characters time to breathe. We barely get to see Jake mourning what he’s leaving
behind. For one Redditor, the movie is actually strongest when it takes its time. They wrote:
Of course, some fans think the movie didn't need to be longer
but still wish that Cameron had cut a few subplots, so that the filmmakers could
focus on the most important storylines. Another person took to Reddit to say:
In other words, the three-hour running time might
have been better spent on further development for the main characters.
While there is nothing in "Avatar: The Way of Water" as obvious as the Infinity
Stones scene shoehorned into "Avengers: Age of Ultron," there are still several
plot threads introduced in this movie that won't reach a satisfactory conclusion until
later in the "Avatar" saga. For many fans, this is infuriating. One person tweeted,
Likewise, a Reddit user was frustrated that the valuable substance extracted
by humans from the brains of tulkun that they brutally hunt down was relevant for
one scene and then forgotten for the rest of the movie.
As for the main characters, it seems like Kiri in particular won't get
much payoff until the sequels. Other fans wish the film had explored why
Kiri had a special connection to Eywa and has seizures underwater.
"What does Eywa's heartbeat sound like?"
"Mighty."
One Redditor concluded,
Yet not everyone felt this was a problem. As a Redditor explained:
Thankfully, fans won't need to wait another 13 years to see the payoff:
"Avatar 3" is projected to come out in 2024.