Never has so much directorial artistry and technological innovation been squandered on sci-fi nonsense as with James Cameron’s Avatar films, whose stunning 3D CGI spectacles are undercut by unsightly character designs, bloated runtimes, mythological claptrap, and storylines that blend crude anti-colonial politics with clichéd narrative structures and beats.
That Avatar and its 2022 sequel Avatar: The Way of Water have made billions is depressing proof that this digitally pioneering dross is what audiences crave, even as Cameron’s behemoths, for all their financial success, leave little cultural or cinematic dent (has anyone ever claimed an Avatar effort as a favorite?). They are, from top to bottom, the epitome of 21st-century blockbuster filmmaking: gargantuan, cutting-edge, and so simplistic, unreal, and insubstantial as to be forgotten the second the theater lights come up.
<video id="FqWczeBS" poster="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/FqWczeBS/poster.jpg"><source src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/videos/FqWczeBS.mp4" type="video/mp4"></source></video>The post ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ Is a Ghastly, Gazillion-Dollar Bore appeared first on The Daily Beast