Thirteen years. That is the time -which is said soon- that it has taken James Cameron to materialize ‘Avatar: The sense of water’. The process of creating the feature film, which finally will hit our screens on December 16, 2022has not only been almost endless, but also tremendously complex, having been a challenge of the same dimensions that the director and his team faced with the original ‘Avatar’.
With its release date getting closer, the promotional campaign for the film has kicked off by showing us its first poster and, more importantly, a first trailer that has landed on the internet after being screened exclusively in theaters alongside to ‘Doctor Strange in the multiverse of madness’ and that, despite being brief, promises a new show at the forefront of the medium.
“No one drinks for the taste…”
I have to confess that watching its minute and a half on my carefully calibrated 32-inch 4K monitor hasn’t come close to matching the experience of seeing it on the big screen in brand new 3D. And it is that, memes aside, these 90 seconds have been enough to know for sure that ‘Avatar 2’ is one that not only deserves, but needs to be seen the way it was conceived. and just as those responsible want.
A detailed review of the trailer – and for the record that I speak with 3D in mind, which is decisive – justifies this maxim. However, at the plot level, it must be recognized that the advance does not clarify too much, suggesting the return of the colonizing humans and the beginning of a family saga in which the children of Jake and Neytiri will be the key to Pandora’s defense against the threat; a functional premise that, be that as it may, will end up being overshadowed by the technical aspects of the production.
I am fully aware that 2009’s ‘Avatar’ was nothing more than an environmentalist rehash of ‘Dances with Wolves’ in code sci fi that it did not stand out precisely for its originality —despite having a magnificent production design— or its narrative values. Still, these limitations do not prevent me claim it as one of the great titles of its decade for strictly audiovisual reasons; in the same way that, I think, many of us will go excited to see ‘The sense of water’ for similar reasons —and there is nothing wrong with that—.
The appetizer published yesterday by 20th Century Studios leaves a good handful of fragments that invite you to dream of a new visual jewel that, despite showing a certain continuity with its predecessor, has made use of technological advances —better sensors, higher capture resolutions, refined pipelines…— to enhance its maximum claim, and the close-up of Neytiri peeking out from the vegetation with the harsh light of the Sun projecting on her skin is a good example of this.
After the snapshot, the trailer entertains the retinas with a truly impressive aquatic physics and reflexes game and with a use of three-dimensionality that takes a step beyond what was seen more than a decade ago. The particles —be they sparks, bubbles or whatever— flood the stalls, the flare cease to be two-dimensional artifacts to be projected onto the public and the depth of field it ceases to be a simple “blur” to focus our gaze using tremendously lucid sets of terms.
Life beyond the big IPs
But the big doubt around ‘Avatar: The sense of water’, at least as far as I’m concerned, does not revolve around its technical muscle, but its commercial impact. For many 2,850 million dollars – not counting its imminent revival – that the 2009 film has reaped, there are reasons to doubt that a future saga with more than a decade and a single title behind it continues to be attractive for the general public in these times.
Accustomed to endless shared universes, franchises that constantly remind us of their existence with multiple premieres dosed throughout the same year, and with consumption habits that have changed drastically over the last decade in favor of the sofa and streaming, the premiere of ‘Avatar 2’ could be considered little less than as a litmus test for the “blockbuster” model alien to the big licenses current.
Of course, ‘The sense of water’ has left the letter of the “event movie” —for many, the last hope for the traditional distribution model and exhibitors— and, above all, count james cameron commanding; a teacher whose name, in addition to being synonymous with innovation —and there are ‘Terminator 2’, ‘Abyss’ or ‘Titanic’ to prove it—is capable of arousing passions and attracting his faithful —and deserved— parishioners. My confidence, at least, has it.