The defensivness here is telling. Cameron built a career on pushing tech boundaries, but even Terminator got old fast when it stopped evolving the core ideas. Avatar's visual flex doesn't compensate for teh lack of deeper narrative progression across sequels. I worked on VFX pipelines back in the day and saw how obsession with a single IP can trap even legendary directors. If he's admitting he won't "go down therabbit hole" anymore, maybe the 13 years between Avatar 1 and 2 taught him what fans already knew. Real innovation means knowing when to pivot.
He has made some decent movies over the year, but Cameron just needs to accept that Avatar was a narrative blind alley that he for inexplicable reasons spent decades on.
Literally nobody looks at Avatar and says “Oh wow! Now THAT is a masterpiece!” Like they did with Terminator 1&2.
I intensely dislike Cameron and haven’t seen any of his overhyped Avatar films. The movies made a lot of money but have practically no social impact unlike so many other franchises. And don’t get me started on his global warming obsession.
James Cameron is one of the greatest directors there’s ever been. Sadly, avatar isn’t a fraction as great as he thinks. If it had been among his early works, we might’ve all benefited from some editor, director, or studio executive being able to tell him that he needed to work on it some more until it wasn’t obviously blue Indians in space. Or that “unobtainium” was too stupid to use. Or that the evil capitalists steamrolling the living tree for their own benefit was a dead horse of a trope.
Second movie he didn’t even disguise that the tribe was based on Pacific Islanders. They even did the stupid Haaka with their tongues sticking out. I get that a writer might be challenged at inventing new cultures and have to sample from some for the story… But the point is just sample and then tweak it until it’s unrecognizable. His talent is wasted, he would be better off directing someone else’s stories. The only thing avatar has going for it is a somewhat cool gimmick of humans putting their brains into a physical avatar to run around… And stunning visual imagery. The story isn’t compelling, if I missed the third installment I won’t care. I don’t care about the outcomes of any of it. The tropes are stupid, the theme is stupid, and James Cameron is too successful to listen to anybody who would try to help him make it any better.
Avatar is basically “Dances With Wolves” in outer space, maybe with a little “Small Soldiers” mixed in.
Still, what it lacked in nuance and storytelling was balanced by the amazing and then-novel quality of the CGI. It’s far from his greatest work, but he was never going to direct the next “Citizen Kane.” The film legitimately earned its audience.
I don’t appreciate the storyline in either Avatar film (haven’t yet seen the third one), but I’ve been studying 3D modeling since I retired from my previous career - it’s too early to tell, but the Avatar films will probably be best remembered for their advancement of the technical side of filmmaking.
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I side with Cameron over his critics: It’s entirely his decision how he spends his creative energies.
If Supervillain James Cameron is reading this, I welcome your coming world order (at least until I can pervert it to my own ends).
Cameron is simply showing the world what type of arrogant woke jerk he really is today. Sadly this happens to many highly successful people who start believing their are somehow above everyone else. Instead of being grateful of how popular they and their work is they get arrogant about it and take personal anything that's not celebrating of them and or their work.
The first Avatar film was decent. I never bothered with the sequels. Cameron is capable of directing good movies but he appears obsessed with this one. Time to move on.
The defensivness here is telling. Cameron built a career on pushing tech boundaries, but even Terminator got old fast when it stopped evolving the core ideas. Avatar's visual flex doesn't compensate for teh lack of deeper narrative progression across sequels. I worked on VFX pipelines back in the day and saw how obsession with a single IP can trap even legendary directors. If he's admitting he won't "go down therabbit hole" anymore, maybe the 13 years between Avatar 1 and 2 taught him what fans already knew. Real innovation means knowing when to pivot.
He has made some decent movies over the year, but Cameron just needs to accept that Avatar was a narrative blind alley that he for inexplicable reasons spent decades on.
Literally nobody looks at Avatar and says “Oh wow! Now THAT is a masterpiece!” Like they did with Terminator 1&2.
“when [those critical fans] become filmmakers, they can make those types of decisions for themselves”
He might get his wish sooner than later thanks to AI’s ever improving abilities.
That part! 👆🏾
I intensely dislike Cameron and haven’t seen any of his overhyped Avatar films. The movies made a lot of money but have practically no social impact unlike so many other franchises. And don’t get me started on his global warming obsession.
Not every form of entertainment needs to make a social impact.
James Cameron is one of the greatest directors there’s ever been. Sadly, avatar isn’t a fraction as great as he thinks. If it had been among his early works, we might’ve all benefited from some editor, director, or studio executive being able to tell him that he needed to work on it some more until it wasn’t obviously blue Indians in space. Or that “unobtainium” was too stupid to use. Or that the evil capitalists steamrolling the living tree for their own benefit was a dead horse of a trope.
Second movie he didn’t even disguise that the tribe was based on Pacific Islanders. They even did the stupid Haaka with their tongues sticking out. I get that a writer might be challenged at inventing new cultures and have to sample from some for the story… But the point is just sample and then tweak it until it’s unrecognizable. His talent is wasted, he would be better off directing someone else’s stories. The only thing avatar has going for it is a somewhat cool gimmick of humans putting their brains into a physical avatar to run around… And stunning visual imagery. The story isn’t compelling, if I missed the third installment I won’t care. I don’t care about the outcomes of any of it. The tropes are stupid, the theme is stupid, and James Cameron is too successful to listen to anybody who would try to help him make it any better.
Cameron's popularity is sinking faster than the Titanic now.
Avatar is basically “Dances With Wolves” in outer space, maybe with a little “Small Soldiers” mixed in.
Still, what it lacked in nuance and storytelling was balanced by the amazing and then-novel quality of the CGI. It’s far from his greatest work, but he was never going to direct the next “Citizen Kane.” The film legitimately earned its audience.
I don’t appreciate the storyline in either Avatar film (haven’t yet seen the third one), but I’ve been studying 3D modeling since I retired from my previous career - it’s too early to tell, but the Avatar films will probably be best remembered for their advancement of the technical side of filmmaking.
__________
I side with Cameron over his critics: It’s entirely his decision how he spends his creative energies.
If Supervillain James Cameron is reading this, I welcome your coming world order (at least until I can pervert it to my own ends).
I worked in and around the visual effects industry for a decade. This is not Cameron's "different side."
I couldn’t make it 15 minutes into Avatar or Titanic. Not all tastes to all people.
Cameron is simply showing the world what type of arrogant woke jerk he really is today. Sadly this happens to many highly successful people who start believing their are somehow above everyone else. Instead of being grateful of how popular they and their work is they get arrogant about it and take personal anything that's not celebrating of them and or their work.
The first Avatar film was decent. I never bothered with the sequels. Cameron is capable of directing good movies but he appears obsessed with this one. Time to move on.