Avatar: The Way of Water

[Bill Ryan]

I may have been one of the few who'd not seen this yet, and yesterday the high quality version was released on DVD. Here it is, a download available for 7 days:

• https://we.tl/t-xAIXnXuDKK (1.73 Gb mp4, also with an English subtitle file)

It was an interesting viewing experience. Many critics have reviewed this far more eloquently (and critically!) than I could easily do in a short post here, but my briefest summary is that it's a mixed feast.

I had no idea of the storyline when I came to watch it last night, and groaned when it soon became evident. I groaned again when the shallowness and triteness of the dialog also showed itself immediately.

In 13 years, couldn't they have come up with at least a little more subtlety, character and depth?? There seemed to me to be little or no clever new invention that had wowed audiences (and critics, and me) back in 2010. A lot of it was really a kind of copy-and-paste with one or two sparkly trinkets added to make it only slightly different in concept.

But (of course) the CGI visuals were staggering. Much of it is set underwater in a coral reef ocean environment, and that was something very special, well worth the long film for that alone. I'd have happily skipped all the set-piece (and predictable!) warfare scenes just to wonder at the magical and marvelous Pandora sealife, all on its own.

This extract from one of the many critics strongly struck me. (The reviews on Rotten Tomatoes are sometimes even more entertaining than the film. ) The last paragraph was very acutely observed.

~~~

Where the first Avatar had a negative eye towards mankind with its Dances with Wolves inspired love story set on an exotic world, Avatar: The Way of Water goes full Extinction Rebellion in its portrayal of mankind as not only as the destructor of its own world, but the ravager of another.

The film's human characters are portrayed as cruel, violent, and stubborn (which, coincidentally is how many describe Cameron’s behaviour when on set). Cameron’s representation of the marine characters in the film, led once again by the always formidable Stephan Lang, is almost comical in their cavalier brutality. An extended sequence, in which Quaritch leads a group of scientists on a hunt of Pandora’s whale species, feels more like a PDA from Sea Shepherd.

The result is something of a bizarro alien invasion movie. With Avatar: The Way of Water it is clear the threat is us. Where the Na’vi are shown as an almost perfect species that are in perfect sync with their environment, the human species - who are essentially refugees fleeing their dying planet – are pure agents of destruction.

It wasn’t always this way with Cameron. His two Terminator movies, in which time travelling future warriors protect present day mankind from a robot uprising, was not only filled with high stakes and engrossing storytelling, but presented humanity as worth saving. Somewhere between the Earth and the sea, Cameron had lost hope in mankind.

~~~

As a personal note, I confess to empathizing with Cameron, despite his predictable film-making-by-numbers — saved by the extraordinary and wonderful CGI natural world he creates. I've addressed this peripherally on a couple of threads, which I can comment on more below if anyone's interested.

• THE ULTIMATE PLAN (a fairy story... maybe)
• The Limits to Growth, and the Human Condition
  

Edit to add

And also this fascinating claim, which has always struck me as real:

• Military source: some humans are being voluntarily relocated to a Pandora-like planet round Alpha Centauri

[Ravenlocke]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
I may have been one of the few who'd not yet seen this yet, and yesterday the high quality version was released on DVD. Here it is, a download available for 7 days:

• https://we.tl/t-xAIXnXuDKK (1.73 Gb mp4, also with an English subtitle file)

It was an interesting viewing experience. Many critics have reviewed this far ore eloquently (and critically!) than I could easily do in a short post here, but my briefest summary was that it's a mixed feast.

I had no idea of the storyline when I came to watch it last night, and groaned when it immediately became evident. I groaned again when the shallowness and triteness of the dialog also showed itself immediately.

In 13 years, couldn't they have come up with at least a little more subtlety, character and depth?? There seemed to me to be little or no clever new invention that had wowed audiences (and critics, and me) back in 2010. A lot of it was really a kind of copy-and-paste with one or two sparkly trinkets added to make it only slightly different in concept.

But (of course) the CGI visuals were staggering. Much of it is set underwater in a near-shore coral reef ocean environment, and that was something very special, well worth the long film for that alone. I'd have happily skipped all the set-piece (and predictable!) warfare scenes just to gaze at that marvelous Pandora environment, all on its own.

This extract from one of the many critics strongly struck me. (The reviews on Rotten Tomatoes are sometimes even more entertaining than the film. ) The last paragraph was very acutely observed.

~~~

Where the first Avatar had a negative eye towards mankind with its Dances with Wolves inspired love story set on an exotic world, Avatar: The Way of Water goes full Extinction Rebellion in its portrayal of mankind as not only as the destructor of its own world, but the ravager of another.

The films human characters are portrayed as cruel, violent, and stubborn (which, coincidentally is how many describe Cameron’s behaviour when on set). Cameron’s representation of the marine characters in the film, led once again by the always formidable Stephan Lang, is almost comical in their cavalier brutality. An extended sequence, in which Quaritch leads a group of scientists on a hunt of Pandora’s whale species, feels more like a PDA from Sea Shepherd.

The result is something of a bizarro alien invasion movie. With Avatar: The Way of Water it is clear the threat is us. Where the Na’vi are shown as an almost perfect species that are in perfect sync with their environment, the human species - who are essentially refugees fleeing their dying planet – are pure agents of destruction.

It wasn’t always this way with Cameron. His two Terminator movies, in which time travelling future warriors protect present day mankind from a robot uprising, was not only filled with high stakes and engrossing storytelling, but presented humanity as worth saving. Somewhere between the Earth and the sea, Cameron had lost hope in mankind.

~~~

As a personal note, I confess to empathizing with Cameron, despite his predictable film-making-by-numbers — saved by the extraordinary and wonderful CGI natural world he creates. I've addressed this peripherally on a couple of threads, which I can comment on more below if anyone's interested.

• THE ULTIMATE PLAN (a fairy story... maybe)
• The Limits to Growth, and the Human Condition
  

Edit to add

And also this fascinating claim, which has always struck me as real:

• Military source: some humans are being voluntarily relocated to a Pandora-like planet round Alpha Centauri

Hi Bill,

Thanks so much for the review as I’ve not seen the movie yet and also a big thanks for the three links at the bottom especially the bottomest one, I’ve never knew about it till now, will be reading asap.

Ravenlocke

[BluBeast]

As you so aptly pointed out, the atmosphere and film work was a fulfilling experience on it's own merit. I endured the war scenes and made a mental note to compartmentalize the destruction and malice.

It always annoys me that seemingly bright creators blame humans for what has happened on this planet. Like good abusers, the dark hats have convinced our own kind to blame us for our own victimization by external, non-human forces. It's time to untangle all that, stand in our empowerment as members of this living library and wake the other brave ones.

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by BluBeast (here)
As you so aptly pointed out, the atmosphere and film work was a fulfilling experience on it's own merit. I endured the war scenes and made a mental note to compartmentalize the destruction and malice.

It always annoys me that seemingly bright creators blame humans for what has happened on this planet. Like good abusers, the dark hats have convinced our own kind to blame us for our own victimization by external, non-human forces. It's time to untangle all that, stand in our empowerment as members of this living library and wake the other brave ones.

Thank you! And a belated, very warm welcome to the forum.



But please forgive me if I disagree, at least in part. The multicolored wealth of the Pandora seas, as extraordinarily diverse and rich as its forests, are in stark contrast to the dying oceans on Planet Earth right now. And let's not even talk about commercial whaling.

None of that destruction is caused by external evil influences. It's a direct consequence of small-minded, unaware, selfish, violent, money-driven human greed, a core component of what Jung called the Human Shadow.

Cameron is well-known for his profound love of and respect for the sea, and it's clear that the catastrophe of earth's dying oceans is something he wanted to stress to his audience.

[Michael Moewes]

As you said. I expected less warfare and more spiritual content. The show was great the message not so much

[Ewan]

With the greatest respect to everyone here who has posted so far, and those to follow. It is a Hollywood movie, designed as a blockbuster, or whatever term they use these days.

If the film would hint at a path to a new way of thinking it would be doing a back street theatre release. They have to give the public what they want!

The algorithms show us what they want, keep feeding them the same sh1t regurgitated in a hundred different forms, they won't notice. The education system has made sure of that.

----

want!

It may actually not be what they want but it is what they have been programmemd to receive, and it has become what entertains them. That said there is a core of humanity left within everyone regardless of all the obsessive programming and the surest way to measure a films success is by box office so let us check.

From the BBC:

Avatar: The Way Of Water has made $1bn (£831m) at the global box office in just 14 days, becoming the fastest film to pass the milestone this year.

Oh sh1t, cancel post. We are f***ed!




:::apologies: just got back from the pub and needed to vent a little.

Cameron is an artistic director, he knows how to present things beautifully. He is not a thinker, he follows the script with his often stunning visuals. He is not one to poke at the matrix because he is spiritually unaware.

[Tyy1907]

This movie has all the latest trending themes. Losing faith in humanity, lab created avatars in the first film, now it's 2.0 with a kind of hybrid being with a (sequel) mystery father. They're moving us all right along combining visually stunning imagery with transhumanist themes.

No thanks

[BluBeast]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)

Posted by BluBeast (here)
As you so aptly pointed out, the atmosphere and film work was a fulfilling experience on it's own merit. I endured the war scenes and made a mental note to compartmentalize the destruction and malice.

It always annoys me that seemingly bright creators blame humans for what has happened on this planet. Like good abusers, the dark hats have convinced our own kind to blame us for our own victimization by external, non-human forces. It's time to untangle all that, stand in our empowerment as members of this living library and wake the other brave ones.

Thank you! And a belated, very warm welcome to the forum.



But please forgive me if I disagree, at least in part. The multicolored wealth of the Pandora seas, as extraordinarily diverse and rich as its forests, are in stark contrast to the dying oceans on Planet Earth right now. And let's not even talk about commercial whaling.

None of that destruction is caused by external evil influences. It's a direct consequence of small-minded, unaware, selfish, violent, money-driven human greed, a core component of what Jung called the Human Shadow.

Cameron is well-known for his profound love of and respect for the sea, and it's clear that the catastrophe of earth's dying oceans is something he wanted to stress to his audience.

Thanks for the warm welcome! I have no idea why it took me so long to get here. Perhaps my mind wasn't ready to be discerning and wanted to believe only the fantasies.

Regarding the movie: indeed, many humans have had their Human Shadow directed toward money, power, and fame. I tend to believe that most people would choose a benevolent path, if it were not for a sort of parasite that exploits, hijacks, lures them away from divinity; and assisted by a network of media, commerce, finance and propaganda that ensures they continue to stare in the direction of negativity and feed that parasite. Well, with the exception of a few gifted sociopaths who came out of the mold that way.

I hope to live long enough to this entire show flipped on it's head

[Feritciva]

This is what I wrote to imdb:

In '99 we left the movie theatre awed and fascinated after watching the first Matrix movie. It was like nothing we have seen before. Then, after 4 years sequels came - the mediocre Reloaded and awful Revolutions. We left the movie theatre disappointed & feeling betrayed.

Then in '09 another movie that was nothing like we have seen before came (at least visually). Avatar was telling a non-original story, but it was telling it in a new & fascinating way. And finally.... after 14 years this idiotic teeange-y mess came out and left us in more disappointment & resentment even worse than matrix sequels did.

Where to begin to tell about this insult to original Avatar? Should we get frustrated to see the characters are stereotype American teenagers? (Even "forest people" get bullied by so-called "sea people", oh dear, oh dear, oh dear...) Should we get surprised to see people of Pandora acting as mindless zealots? Didn't they have connection to the soul of the planet? What happened to their wisdom we witnessed in the first movie?

Or better, we should forget about it & feel sorry for our 3 hrs 10 minutes that we can never get back. Even the good scenery cannot save this idiotic insult to Avatar universe..

To be honest this was one of the worst movies I've ever seen - and I began to use this phrase for a lot movies lately. It seems creativity & good plots was a thing of 90's - early 2000's.

[Mark (Star Mariner)]

Summed up very well in this review - by probably the best critic on youtube:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=mODFaTKPmPA

[Journeyman]

I'm not a big fan of 3D but this was one movie I was glad to see at the theatre with the glasses on. Visually it's an amazing experience and the sound is also superb. As Bill says it really only hits its stride with the move to the water, but from that point on it's wondrous to behold. The story isn't great by any stretch, there's also an element of the mid movie of a trilogy having to both progress the story and setup the final act. So although I maintain it's overlong and needed stronger editing, there'll be some creative reasoning behind some of the scenes I thought superfluous.

As to the deeper messaging. Cameron's output is very interesting to examine. There's a lot in there that hints at deeper motives than breaking box office records, even if that's a big part of the picture. Just think of the title of this one, 'The Way of Water' and think of some of his other titles like 'The Abyss' or 'Titanic'. Without breaking out the grimoires, there's some interesting layered symbolism in these movies that perhaps can be traced back to the ideas that are sometimes represented on the Masonic tracing board or within the records of the gnostics or hermeticists. An interesting filmmaker to study and this latest movie, for all it's flaws, is worth a visit to the cinema.

[Journeyman]

Posted by Ewan (here)
With the greatest respect to everyone here who has posted so far, and those to follow. It is a Hollywood movie, designed as a blockbuster, or whatever term they use these days.

If the film would hint at a path to a new way of thinking it would be doing a back street theatre release. They have to give the public what they want!

The algorithms show us what they want, keep feeding them the same sh1t regurgitated in a hundred different forms, they won't notice. The education system has made sure of that.

----

want!

It may actually not be what they want but it is what they have been programmemd to receive, and it has become what entertains them. That said there is a core of humanity left within everyone regardless of all the obsessive programming and the surest way to measure a films success is by box office so let us check.

From the BBC:

Avatar: The Way Of Water has made $1bn (£831m) at the global box office in just 14 days, becoming the fastest film to pass the milestone this year.

Oh sh1t, cancel post. We are f***ed!




:::apologies: just got back from the pub and needed to vent a little.

Cameron is an artistic director, he knows how to present things beautifully. He is not a thinker, he follows the script with his often stunning visuals. He is not one to poke at the matrix because he is spiritually unaware.

What I think is being posited in these two movies and what will be more fully articulated in the upcoming final chapter is a choice.

The invading sky people is the current system. They are not 'evil', as the actions of Jake and Sigourney Weaver's character in the first movie and (won't post spoilers) other examples in this one. They are us, a mixture of good, bad and apathetic but trapped in a system of constant economic expansion and exploitation. They rationalise their crimes on Pandora, just as all the crimes that take place here are justified or explained away.

The Navi represent another way, a life in tune with nature rather than in competition.

I think this choice is going to be presented to us, in some ways it already is, but once just whatever is happening at the moment plays out, then there's going to be the choice of trying to fix this system or embrace something different, something that's going to look more like the Navi way of life than the Sky People's.

[Inversion]

I looked at James Cameron's Wikipedia page thinking he might be the son of a navy admiral. That wasn't the case, and he was born in Canada and his father was an electrical engineer. I did find an interesting reference to a dream he had. I believe part of the motivation for the creation of the Avatar movies is to send people who are researching avataring technology down a fanciful rabbit hole. The Way of Water could translate to the Law of Sentients.

Wikipedia

Disillusioned from being in Rome and suffering a fever, Cameron had a nightmare about an invincible robot hit-man sent from the future to assassinate him, which later led to the inspiration of The Terminator.

Lone Wolf by James Rink

P345. Water is sentient.

The Law of One

S3/P79. The law of free will is also called the way of confusion.

S22/P202. The Confederation also call law ‘way’.

S78/P26. The first distortion is free will, the second is love & third is light.

The Black Sun: Montauk’s Nazi-Tibetan Connection by Peter Moon

P145. The Cameron clan are the lineage of Christ.

Marjorie Cameron

Peter Moon developed a friendship with Cameron before her death. The following was in his book Synchronicity and the Seventh Seal. She starred in a 1956 short film called The Wormwood Star.

The Music of Time by Preston B. Nichols with Peter Moon

P104. He was fired again because a nearby radio station interfered with the premiere of Empire. The Star Wars movies were based on George’s writings called Journal of the Wills. They came from dreams he’s had his whole life. Preston believed he is part of a group that came from the old universe. His dreams could also be part of mind control. Lucas did a film called Dreamscape which could be a takeoff of Duncan Cameron accessing people’s dreams. One of his targets was Jimmy Carter. Preston heard George bought a house in Montauk.

The Ascension Mysteries by David Wilcock

P270-71. A writer for Star Trek: The Next Generation has a brain implant that Gray type aliens put there to seed stories through his dreams.

The Dulce Wars: Underground Alien Bases & The Battle For Planet Earth by Branton

P63. The Greys had a base under the Groom Mountains. This is what is believed to be Dreamland. Dream is an acronym for Data Repository Establishment And Maintenance.

The U.S. Navy’s Secret Space Program & Nordic Extraterrestrial Alliance by Michael Salla

P107. Gene Roddenberry was the son of a Navy admiral. Star Trek was meant as a soft disclosure.

P114. The creator of the Outer Limits was Leslie Stevens IV and his father was vice admiral Leslie Stevens III.

P200. Tompkins received a full disclosure order from admiral Hugh Webster in 2001.

[Gwin Ru]

...

... good "Western" all-in-all with final shoot out on main street/deck; family, town/tribe, invaded by desperados/banditos, buffalo/whale hunting, school of fish instead of bees (Jupiter Ascending) and budding heroe(s) getting the girl(s)

[Casey Claar]

Thank you for the download opportunity, Bill, I watched this last night. The whole first hour was lacking terribly so I skipped through it and all the fighting scenes, I just couldn't bring myself to watch, the experience being underwater was a delight I did not wish to interrupt. Simply magical. I will carry this with me for some time, I'm sure.

[mizo]

I attempted to watch this movie last night, got half way through it, albeit, then fell asleep, after imbibing a couple of shots of rum... (not uncommon ) and then proceeded to snore loudly... so says my wife!

I watched the the second half today, the visual effects/artwork are pretty amazing tbf, though movie theme didn't really resonate with me.

Found out today there's a further 4 installments to be made, to be released every 2 years. I won't go out of my way to watch these.

Appreciate the upload/ sharing -thank you.

Note to self ... best leave movie reviews to the experts.

[sunwings]

The best film to come out this year Bill was "Everything Everywhere All at Once" the winner of seven Oscars at the 2023 Academy Awards. The last time I walked out the Cinema and felt like this was in 1999 after watching the Matrix. After the film I stood with my back against the wall people watching people exit the cinema. Nobody who came out was the same as the one who had entered. We had all been shifted!

ps. Don't watch any trailer! It will ruin the experience.

[Justplain]

I haven't watched this film, nor will, however I find it amusing that it apparently brands humanity as warmongering heathens out to destroy. This to me is a needle for the transhuman psyop, to demoralize the masses, feed the anti-human sentiment so that we loath ourselves, and makes it easier to transhuman us into cyborg slaves, those of us left. Be very careful how much you agree with this tripe. We have no real understanding about how manipulated we are, not only by our mass media and education system, but also by outside entities like aliens and multidimensionals. Just look at the sizes of the reported alien bases on this world, and the huge number of abductions, and people that go missing. I believe we truly would be innocent of this kind of behaviour without outside interference.

[Tyy1907]

Posted by Justplain (here)
I haven't watched this film, nor will, however I find it amusing that it apparently brands humanity as warmongering heathens out to destroy. This to me is a needle for the transhuman psyop, to demoralize the masses, feed the anti-human sentiment so that we loath ourselves, and makes it easier to transhuman us into cyborg slaves, those of us left. Be very careful how much you agree with this tripe. We have no real understanding about how manipulated we are, not only by our mass media and education system, but also by outside entities like aliens and multidimensionals. Just look at the sizes of the reported alien bases on this world, and the huge number of abductions, and people that go missing. I believe we truly would be innocent of this kind of behaviour without outside interference.

It becomes easy to see what they want you to think with movies like this. I don't care how much money this movie made at the box office. When the race I'm a part of is portrayed as lesser than another, for me it's a waste of my time.

[Ewan]

Posted by Gwin Ru (here)
...

... good "Western" all-in-all with final shoot out on main street/deck; family, town/tribe, invaded by desperados/banditos, buffalo/whale hunting, school of fish instead of bees (Jupiter Ascending) and budding heroe(s) getting the girl(s)

Also noticed it was just like the cowboy and indian movies of old.