Midweek Update: Betting Against James Cameron

[Spoilers ahead for Avatar: The Way of Water]

After Avatar: The Way of Water screened for critics in New York and L.A. and they were allowed to tweet their reactions, a frequent refrain was “don’t bet against James Cameron.” In terms of box office returns, I think that’s a fair statement (and one I’m pretty sure I’ve made this past year). Titanic and the first Avatar were both massive undertakings with huge budgets that would have been Cameron’s epitaph had they flopped. Instead, Titanic won 11 Oscars including Best Picture and sits as the third-highest grossing movie ($2.2 billion) worldwide of all-time. Avatar was nominated for nine Oscars and won three of them while also earning the title of highest-grossing movie worldwide of all-time ($2.9 billion). The mythos of James Cameron at this point is that he’s someone who has pushed the technological envelope to its breaking point while telling crowd-pleasing stories.

But the notion of “betting against James Cameron” in terms of quality is where I break with the pack. I’m a big fan of Cameron’s 80s and mid-90s output. The Abyss, Aliens, The Terminator, T2: Judgment Day, and True Lies are all fantastic movies. Where I start to split away from the pack is Titanic. Even when I saw the film in 1997, I was mixed on it and left uneasy that a tragic event takes on the guise of an action movie once the ship hits the iceberg. Revisiting the film in 2018, I found that my main qualms still remained. Too much of the third act is simply running above and below deck while the ship floods. From a technical perspective, it’s impressive, but narratively, it lacks weight since nothing is really propelling the story forward at that point beyond whether Jack and Rose will survive.

However, I kind of understand Titanic’s popularity as a big, sweeping love story. Where I’ve never really caught on is 2009’s Avatar, a film that I’ve always found middling at best even on a technological level. While the film did make strides behind the camera in terms of motion capture and 3D, the final product—the world of Pandora—still feels empty to me. The animals are all smooth and shiny, the Na’vi have tight ponytails because hair is difficult to animate, and they have big expressive cat eyes to better show their emotions. And that’s before you get to all the colonizer crap where colonist Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) not only joins the Na’vi but becomes The Best Na’vi thus siding with the indigenous people as long as he can be in charge of them (it doesn’t really matter that Tsu'tey (Laz Alonso) becomes the new chief; he dies in battle and Jake remains the story’s hero and protagonist).

Nevertheless, Avatar became a massive success. Its 3D and IMAX up-charge powered it to massive box office returns as well as leading to a bevy of 3D movies that were either shot in 3D, post-converted for 3D, and most of them kind of bad and forgettable (looking back, the only films I really admired in 3D were fully animated, 2013’s Gravity, and the documentary Hubble 3D). Of course, it’s not Cameron’s fault that other filmmakers and studios weren’t as careful with their use of 3D as he was, but neither should we be surprised that studios were going to figure out how to make a quick buck at the multiplex for as long as the fad lasted.

Since then, Avatar has had an interesting post-theatrical career. It has been, as critic Nathan Rabin dubbed it, “a forgotbuster,” while recently critics like Bilge Ebiri and Sam Adams argue the film has always been great and cultural observers underestimate the film’s ongoing impact and popularity. In an age of non-stop franchises and spinoffs, Avatar is still mostly a movie. There’s a theme park at Disney, but that’s about it. There hasn’t been any TV shows, comics, or other media to continue taking people to Pandora, and once you remove the way Avatar was meant to be seen—in 3D—there’s not much to keep it afloat in the cultural conversation beyond its box office dominance (Avengers: Endgame briefly held the crown, but Avatar quickly regained it the following year after it was re-released in China). Even if you like Avatar, it’s hard to see its impact beyond the technology it implemented.

In the meantime, Cameron has been working on four sequels, and after numerous “delays” (in retrospect, I seriously doubt any of the previous release dates were all that firm, and clearly Cameron was under no pressure to meet them), Avatar: The Way of Water is here and I found that it shares the same strengths and weaknesses of the first movie: the big investment is in the visuals with some major caveats while the story is kind of a mess.

The basic premise doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. We get a brief prologue to show how Jake and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) have built their family by having four kids—Neteyam (Jamie Flatters), their eldest and firstborn son who wants to be a good soldier to his father; Lo’ak (Britain Dalton), the second eldest son and a bit of a rebel even though he loves his family; adopted daughter Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), who was born of Grace Augustine’s avatar (also Weaver) and seems to have a special ability to commune with nature; and adorable youngest daughter Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss). There’s also Miles “Spider” Socorro (Jack Champion), a human baby who was left on Pandora when the company shipped out at the end of the last movie, but was taken in “like a stray” by Sully’s family and sees himself more like a Na’vi than a human.

We speed through these introductions to get to the war. The humans are back, are once again decimating the forest and so Jake leads raids against the company. However, the company has an ace up their sleeve because they now have their own avatars of soldiers from the first movie who died but their memories and personalities were uploaded into new bodies. They’re led by the villain from the first film, Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who is tasked with capturing Jake.

The company manages to capture Spider and at this point Jake says he’s got to take his family away from the forest and hide out elsewhere because Spider knows where Jake and his family lives. They flee to a neighboring tribe, the Metkayina, who are similar to Na’vi but whose bodies have evolved for the sea rather than the forests. Quaritch continues to pursue Jake leading to a confrontation on the open water.

This is…confusing? For starters, Jake doesn’t seem particularly bummed or concerned about Spider. At best, they see this kid as a pet who has been left behind, and while his fate is unfortunate, he is not really “family” even though Jake’s kids refer to Spider as “cuz.” The kids also don’t seem too concerned about getting Spider back as they work to adapt to their new environment. Spider, who is Quaritch’s biological son, has uneasy feelings towards this new father figure who stands against everything Spider has ever known. The film makes the slightest gesture towards characters caught between two worlds (Spider feeling like he belongs with the Na’vi despite being human; Jake’s kids being “half-breeds” since Jake used to be human and Neytiri is Na’vi; the overall plot involving a forest tribe trying to adapt to a seafaring people) but never builds on it because everyone feels pretty certain about where they stand. Spider never wants to turn on the indigenous people, Jake’s kids have a rocky start at being accepted by the new tribe but eventually get good at being among this new people (sound familiar?), and Jake never feels particularly pressured to return to the forest until the very end of the movie when he realizes that running hasn’t protected his family.

There’s not a satisfying explanation of why Jake running away and going underground wouldn’t work to his family’s benefit. I suppose you could argue that to the company, Jake is an Osama Bin Laden-like figure whose very existence constitutes a threat. But it’s not like Jake is out there sending videotapes to taunt his enemies and amass new followers. Sending him to ground has effectively neutered his power, and yet the company insists on sending troops and resources after him despite no longer being an active threat (what the forest people are doing after Jake leaves is never addressed or even hinted at). What’s stranger is that for all Avatar stresses the good of the community, Jake’s argument that him and his family leaving will be best for everyone makes no sense. The company will continue to destroy the forest, and now Jake is taking his acumen on the battlefield elsewhere. Simply telling the new chief, “You got this,” seems cheap and cowardly. I get that the story Cameron is telling here is supposed to be a little tragic—Jake, in his efforts to protect his family, fails to do so, and realizes that the only way forward is to fight instead of flee. But the character decisions and plot machinations to reach this point are extremely shoddy!

All of this is compounded by poor choices throughout the script like why did they just keep Grace’s avatar around and why do they keep it in a tank so people can visit it like Lenin? Why are the characters not developed beyond their basic archetypes? Why do the Metkayina seem ignorant of the whaling in their midsts until it’s right on their doorstep despite having conversations with the whale-like creatures, the tulkuns? Why is the third act of the film a retread of Titanic’s third act where characters go back and forth on a sinking vessel to rescue other characters who are trapped on the sinking vessel? If Quaritch is so ruthless, then why does every time he captures Jake’s kids (something that happens multiple times and even Tuk remarks on it) he just kinds of stands around like a dummy as Jake and Neytiri action to rescue his children?

Some may argue that the weak storytelling and shallow characters don’t matter when the world is so immersive, but even here I have to counter. I agree that The Way of Water is more technologically impressive than the first Avatar. The water effects, skin textures, lighting, and so forth make Pandora feel more vibrant than before. However, Cameron also introduces HFR (high frame rate) to the movie. While the 3D goes down smooth (I never felt like my eyes were strained or tired when I saw the movie in Dolby 3D), HFR is a tricky thing that the film never quite gets a handle on.

For those who don’t know, film typically runs at 24 frames per second. In 2012, Peter Jackson took a gamble on releasing The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in HFR, specifically 48 frames per second. This gave the movie an uneven look. Exteriors looked lush and vibrant while interiors looked like the sets they were filmed on. That’s not to mention the fact that our eyes aren't used to seeing HFR and while one could make the argument that you have to start somewhere, the way it works in practice is that it looks like the frame rate is constantly changing throughout the movie. That inconsistency constantly reminds you that you’re watching a movie.

The Way of Water fluctuates between looking like a gorgeous animated movie and a video game. Newer video games (like titles released for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S) typically run at higher frame rates to the point where anything running at 30fps is now looked down upon. Unlike movies, players have no problem adjusting to different framerates over the years as the technology consistently advances with graphical fidelity being one of the goals of the AAA gaming industry. But when you watch that HFR in Avatar, your mind immediately goes to video games and it feels like the film is about to shift into a gameplay, sometimes right in mid-scene.

For all of the technology Cameron and his team cracked for this movie (underwater 3D filming, motion-capture advances, etc.) he’s still bedeviled by the human eye trying to process HFR against a media landscape that either ignores it or cites it as broken (the closest thing you get to HFR is when your TV tries to motion-smooth what you’re watching, giving it “the soap opera effect.” Filmmakers typically don’t like this effect). Of course, like with 3D, your mileage may vary on how much the HFR bugs you.

More than anything, The Way of Water feels iterative for the Avatar franchise. The only addition that feels particularly new and fresh is the dynamic between Jake’s kids (it doesn’t hurt that more focus on them means less time with the bland Jake Sully). However, so much has been rehashed or ret-conned here. Quaritch? He was dead but now he’s back. Also he had a kid that was never mentioned. Grace? Well, she’s dead but she basically gave birth to herself. The company? They were gone but now they’re back and the characters are confronted with pretty much the same problem except instead of wanting to mine unobtanium, they want to make Pandora their new home and also they’re whalers now (the tulkuns’s brain goo is the film’s equivalent of ambergris except instead of lighting oil lamps it “stops the aging process.”) The Way of Water is ostensibly about the difficulty of being a parent and keeping your family together when it’s under threat, but because the story is so diffuse and tries to keep up with an ensemble cast, the film is constantly serving a bevy characters and none particularly well.

I have little doubt Avatar: The Way of Water will be a box office smash. It’s earning raves from critics, and even those who are lukewarm on the film are likely to express the need to see it in theaters due to the 3D, which means higher ticket costs leading to a larger box office (whether we’re due for another 3D boom remains to be seen). So when it comes to spending a lot of money on a movie to make even more money, yes, you shouldn’t bet against James Cameron. But when it comes to storytelling that crafts a compelling narrative featuring characters who are more than just archetypes, the odds aren’t in his favor.

What I’m Watching

As I said in a previous issue, I’m back to making my way through Netflix’s adaptation of The Sandman, and I’m now in The Doll’s House arc, and like the comics, it doesn’t really work for me. I think The Corinthian is an uninteresting villain (and despite giving him far more screen time than he ever had in the comics, he remains as such in this adaptation), I think the serial killer convention still doesn’t work, and I’ve never been particularly enchanted with Rose Walker as a character. Still, I gotta see this one through to the conclusion.

Elsewhere, my wife and I watched “Volume 1” of the Harry and Meghan “docuseries” on Netflix and it is also kind of bad! (I don’t mean to bring this much negativity; for stuff I liked, please check out my Letterboxd) This is not a documentary in the sense of an outsider doing research to come to some concrete truths (and certainly, advocacy documentary has its place but it typically is about issues that affect all of us and not one family). This is PR. It is Harry and Meghan looking at a media environment, especially in Britain, that has repeatedly savaged them, and choosing to “fight back” by telling their side of the story. And they’re within their rights to do so. Why Netflix and particularly a documentary filmmaker like Liz Garbus, felt the need to participate in this battle is beyond me. I suppose there’s a financial incentive (Netflix stands to gain or retain subscribers with this content and I suppose Garbus was handsomely compensated), but it’s all so empty. There’s a better story to tell here about why the monarchy should be abolished but across three one-hour episodes this is simply Harry and Meghan trying to burnish their own image as a loving couple besieged by the Royal Family and a complicit media ecosystem. I don’t know if Volume 2 (which airs tomorrow) will change my feelings on the matter.

What I’m Reading

Every year my wife and I watch The Muppet Christmas Carol because it’s amazing. It’s funny, heartfelt, and is such a brilliant idea that I’m kind of surprised Disney hasn’t tried to go back to the well of “Literature with entire case of Muppets and one esteemed actor in the lead.” Yes, Muppet Treasure Island is a misfire, but the concept is sound!

Anyway, every year after watching it, I say to myself, “I should really just go ahead and read A Christmas Carol.” It’s free (Dickens is public domain), it’s short (82 pages), and it’s one of the most-adapted books around. This year I finally picked it up, and I enjoyed it! The book weaves nicely between tragedy and comedy with a very clear social message about the need to help others. While the style of the prose can make it a little difficult (and that’s a me problem, not a Dickens problem, obviously), it makes me want to start reading Dickens’ other work, which I haven’t done since high school.

I also read Sleeper: Out in the Cold, which was very bad (I thought Mark Millar was the only guy in 2003-2004 who published an awful comic series about a cabal of supervillains who run the world), and now I’ve picked up Volume 1 of The Wicked + The Divine, which has an interesting concept (gods as pop stars).

Substack Recommendation

Giving a shoutout to my pal Chris Evangelista and his new Susbtack, “I Love You But I’ve Chosen Movies” (great title). I don’t always agree with Chris’ opinions, but the purpose of great criticism isn’t to have my own thoughts parroted back at me. It’s to read thoughtful writing about film, and that’s what Chris provides. Check it out!

What I’m Hearing

99X recently relaunched on the FM dial in Atlanta (100.5), and so I’ve been listening to a lot of the 90s Alternative Rock of my youth. Is this music “good”? Some of it, like Nirvana and Radiohead, is groundbreaking and essential. Some of it, like Matchbox Twenty and Bush, is of debatable quality! But it takes me back and it’s what I’ve been listening to while I work or drive to work.