With the arrival, proliferation and establishment of the platforms of streamingand in the same way that it happened during the decade of the 50 with the appearance of the television, the studios and traditional distributors have been forced to apply extra effort and inventiveness to preserve what is known as the “cinema experience” and lifting potential moviegoers off the couch with the intention of hopefully redirecting them towards movie theaters.
The two great strategies used to try to bring this complicated task to a successful conclusion involve building interconnected narratives through different projects —and, potentially, underpinned by existing licenses—, as is the case with the ambitious Marvel Cinematic Universe or, either alternatively or alternatively, provide respectable shows impossible to conceive in domestic format.
The latter is precisely what James Cameron has done again with his fascinating ‘Avatar: The Sense of Water’ thirteen years after revolutionizing —once again— the industry with the first installment of the now franchise. And it is that, with his titanic new project, the king of the blockbuster has shaped a portentous audiovisual cathedral in which technology, creativity and heart row in the same direction that alone justifies the existence of the big screen.
The splendor of golden Hollywood
While I watched, almost hypnotized, and later rested the second adventure of Jake, Neytiri and company, thoughts that linked ties – much more solid than what may appear at first glance – kept coming to my mind between this ‘Avatar 2’ and some of the most ostentatious and memorable blockbusters of golden Hollywood like ‘The Ten Commandments’, ‘Ben-Hur’ or ‘Cleopatra’ by Joseph L. Mankiewicz.
They all share a nature marked by a taste for excess which, ultimately, they end up transforming into art. Bulky footage that exceeds three hours and even reaches four; multimillion-dollar displays built with tangible materials or with ones and zeros, studies that are permissive in the face of what may seem like sheer madness, torrents of creativity and ambition that are impossible to channel… a series of points in common that translate on all occasions into unique and unrepeatable works.
As in the examples mentioned, the aura of grandeur that surrounds every minute of footage of ‘The Sense of Water’ is generated, in large part, by their perception of the visual spectacle. Cameron and his team, as they did in 2009 with the original ‘Avatar’, have once again marked a before and after in the field of VFX and the integration of real images with computer-generated material, resulting in snapshots impossible to imagine and difficult to erase of the retina.
Characters, environments and, what is even more amazing, fluid, look at an unthinkable level in terms of detail, texture, lighting and realism, enhanced by cutting-edge 3D and for the intelligent incorporation of the HFR in a good part of the planes. Technical prodigies that, on the other hand, they would be nothing without a production design to match that turns each scene into a true delight for the retinas.
Matter of time
There is no doubt that ‘Avatar: The Sense of Water’ finds its great weak point in a tremendously unbalanced narrative; sensation that is accentuated due to the long duration of the film, of 192 minutes. It is perfectly understandable that, for many, the first two hours involve a little less than tortuous process but, from my point of view, It is this stretch so long and in love with itself that makes the feature film something so special..
During this stretch is when James Cameron transmits the deep love he professes for the characters he has created and, above all, for the universe they inhabit.. Seen in this way, the ups and downs in the dramatic progression and the pauses in the plot to put before our eyes canvases designed solely and exclusively to amaze and make our stay in Pandora more vivid, far from being a drag, they end up being more than justified. .
However, it is once this barrier is overcome and we enter its overwhelming last third when ‘Avatar 2’ brings out the heavy artillery and molds a whirlwind of skin-deep emotions, top-notch action and set pieces only up to its author. A final section that, with the permission of ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, is the most spectacular thing that has passed through our theaters in the entire film year 2022 which is about to end.
After having remained stupefied for more than three hours, nailed to an armchair with my eyes wide open and having shed the occasional unexpected furtive tear, the only thing I can say is that cinema is not only alive; also continues to be larger than life, remains able to excite and, what is more important, it is still capable of surprising. Something only up to the greatest and incompatible with unfounded prejudices and misgivings, regardless of whoever weighs it.