We heard about the Avatar 2 trailer long before we saw it. Last month, the Hollywood Reporter was overwhelmed with the unenviable task of describing footage from “Avatar: The Way of the Water” that was shown to theater exhibitors during CinemaCon. And judging by what was written, it was a spectacle of such awe-inspiring enormity that it could only realistically compete with the Second Coming of Christ.
Variety wrote breathlessly: “Exhibitors have been immersed in different regions of the dazzling world of Pandora through stunning visuals of the planet’s crystal blue oceans and lakes. Meanwhile, Forbes was so overwhelmed by the constant 3D extravaganza that it said Avatar had “won” CinemaCon. The message from everyone who saw the trailer was clear: Avatar is back and ready to take your socks off again.
Well, luckily the Avatar 2 trailer went online yesterday, giving us non-exhibitors a chance to also scatter our brains from the back of our skulls. And after watching it, there’s a good chance we’ve all thought the same thing at the same time. Wait, are we watching what they were watching?
Because the trailer he released on YouTube is really not very spectacular. Some na’vi jump through a tree. Something like a lizard bird flies through some water. Some characters go for a swim. Sam Worthington’s character looks as if he’s doing his best to keep from farting. And apart from the soundtrack – which is actually the sound of Enya fainting from boredom and landing on a synthesizer – that’s all.
Look, Avatar happened a long time ago. And although his cultural image has long been eroded by the immortal onslaught of superhero movies, people loved him at the time. They have to go to the movies and wear a special pair of glasses and be amazed by all the best visuals that 2009 can collect. I watched Avatar in a movie twice, for example. But can I remember anything about that? Not exactly. There were blue people and something called unobtanium, and an angry man who snatched Aliens’ final act as hard as he could, but that’s all.
If James Cameron is serious about making a long-dormant franchise like Avatar a running business again – and he is, as his endless convoy of planned sequels will confirm – then this trailer seems a bit of a mistake. There is no trace of a premise, or character, or any real action to talk about. Instead, we are given a minute and a half of beautiful-looking nature. It’s like being held hostage to looking at someone’s holiday photos.
Now there is a chance that the viewing conditions are not ideal. Avatar has always been about watching something beautiful on a huge screen, through special glasses that make you feel completely immersed. This is how CinemaCon attendees were able to see the trailer, and perhaps that explains their admiring reactions. Meanwhile, I watched it on a four-inch YouTube window on my desk on a sunny day while eating an apple. Conditions couldn’t be simpler, and you suspect that James Cameron will melt like an Indiana Jones villain if he ever catches someone tarnishing his work that way.
But here’s how nine million people, and more, have experienced the trailer. Far more people have seen it on laptops, phones or smart watches for crying out loud than in cinemas. And that will apply to the film itself. For all those who will pay to see Avatar 2 in the cinema, as Cameron intends, dozens more will be waiting to appear for free at Disney +. And if the best thing about the film is the beautiful nature, which can be properly assessed only through 3D glasses, this can be a problem.
But it is still early days. As a matter of fact, the Avatar 2 trailer looked less like a trailer and more like a technology demonstration. We still have months until the release of the film. Maybe in the next trailer things can really happen. Won’t it be a novelty?
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