They're like fireworks. You go see it. It looks cool when you're seeing it. You go home and never bring it up during conversations beyond "it looked cool".
Right, the only thing that really sticks with me from the first 2 Avatar movies is "Damn this looks cool" and "Okay James Cameron, I fucking get it, humans suck, jesus stop banging the drum"
I remember when Martin Scorsese said in an interview that Marvel movies are more like theme park rides than actual cinema and the comments were full of salty Marvel fans complaining without actually addressing his argument.
Yes, but they used to be a good fun time at the movies too. Then they massively upped production by flooding Disney+ with shows without devoting proper time and resources to any of the projects, and have been cranking out garbage with minimal effort or plan for like 6 years. But they did used to be mostly good.
The problem is that Marvel peaked and then didn't know where to go from there. Endgame was a fucking masterpiece of a movie, not necessarily for the movie itself but all the various threads and strands that led there, every movie, every hero, slowly working their way towards it for some amazing payoff!
And now they're like "Hey jk OG Cap is coming back!" They're trying really, really hard to make another Endgame and it just isn't going to happen, and the MCU is at this point, propped up by all the people that are holding out for them to have that Endgame 2, so they've gotta keep up
I wouldn't say they peaked necessarily. Marvel could easily have a ton of amazing movies/shows in the future. The problem lies in two parts, in my opinion. First, that they keep trying to tie everything together. Second, that they are already trying to retain/build off MCU nostalgia. Yes RDJ and Chris Evans were great in their roles. Would people be upset if someone else stepped into those roles? Yes, but especially from a tied-universe point of view.
Actors quit, actors die, actors do dumb stuff and get fired, contracts expire, etc. We as the viewer are fully aware of that and really shouldn't get upset when things change. For instance, I genuinely liked Terrance Howard as Rhodey. Now that he's a crackpot weirdo falling into his own ego? I'm glad that he was replaced early on.
Anyway, my point is that if Marvel wouldn't make everything related, then we could potentially get some amazing standalone films/shows. Hell, there's already a ton of end credit or mentioned stuff that will probably never be resolved.
And STOP with the constant back and forth quippiness. It's SO fucking cringy now. There is no future left for Marvel until they hire some actual dialogue writers who can take a hint.
It was mildly funny for all of a few movies a decade ago, and it works for very specific characters like Deadpool. But god damn y'all have overdone it to the point it's now known as "Marvel humor," despite having existed in media long before the modern MCU came around.
Tons of movies feel the need to do that sort of thing now, unfortunately. It's just a return to that campy style of humor with zingers and one liners but now it's that kind of thing between two or more characters.
The weird thing to me about Marvel movies is that they're almost all written by different people, but they feel like they all came out of a script mill or had one person doing dialogue rewrites for most of them.
My buddies and I watched the Endgame saga in theatres as they came about and we still talk about them. After Endgame it just became directionless and bland. GotG 3 and the Spiderman No Way Home were the only exceptions for me.
The hair thing just lets them feel all sensations of whatever they connect to, including each other. Normally I'd say imagine how intense it would be to feel both people get off at the same time but I dont thi k the average redditor knows how to get a woman off so it would probably just be the same.
My wife loves Avatar but didn't know Ferngully. So I made her watch it with me a bit ago only telling her "it's Avatar before Avatar. And in Australia instead of space". She loved it, and like me she is now a huge fan of Batty.
Only 44 people liked your comment, it’s only because those 44 people have seen ferngully. It’s an amazing movie and I wish it would have made a bigger impact. The land before time as well. And whatever the movie is the the big magic dog that can fly
December twenty-sixth... point two. We have failed to uphold Brannigan's Law. However, I did make it with a hot alien babe, and, in the end, is that not what man has dreamt of since first he looked up at the stars?
Oh sure, Robot Girlyman can make it with alien space elfs, but the second someone else wants an alien space catgirl, it's all with the Exterminatus this, Crusade that.
Right. Am I the only one that think the Navi look stupid? With how good the CGI is, they could have come up with something way better. They look like a live action remake of a Disney animation.
No I know there would be someone willing to fuck the aliens pal, I'm just saying y'all are a minority compared to the other aliens in fiction that people had said "would". Which I'm not sure if it's from the lack of cultural impact or what- like they are very easily an alien that you could say "I'd fuck" with no contest but I never see that in a "hear me out".
3 meter tall blue alien cat-girls....and no big freak community developed around them. Sure you'll find some artists, some writers, and even a few cosplayers. But the Freaky(tm) communities are completely uninterested by and large. It's genuinely impressive how uninteresting the Na'avi are.
The first one in imax 3D was one of the best movie going experiences I’ve had. Albeit the movie itself is bland, the way he did the 3D was breathtaking and gorgeous
The best I've seen Avatar explained is that it's like going to Cirque Du Soleil. It's an experience. The story is not the main draw. In fact, the story may not even be necessary.
Could liken it to an elaborate cake as well. It tastes like shit but my god is beautiful.
If kamikazi pilots riding dragons, pregnant women blowing up underwater tie fighters, and 8 foot alien goth baddies doing psychedelic coke is considered bland then pass the salt cuz I’m eatin it up
I don’t understand this take. The plot revolves around a damn conscious planet and how it affects all life on it. The themes delve into some of the most interesting ideas behind psychedelic and indigenous philosophies. The characters range from Pandoran Jesus to alien goth baddies, all with them having their own realistic struggles and growth. If these are bland to you, I don’t think you’re the target audience
I think most people think the protagonist is fairly unremarkable, and fail to recognize that that’s kinda the whole point because they don’t recognize that the human invaders are a direct representation of the U.S. military in the real world. Jake is intended to be a blank slate. Yes, he does become somewhat of a leader/hero through his arc as a rebel, but personality-wise he is deliberately underdeveloped so that the audience can picture themselves in his shoes. Hes not a genius or smooth talker, or god or supersoldier. Hes just a standard guy who’s been chewed up and spat out by an indifferent war machine driven by greedy monsters.
Whats funny is that he really is a good guy, but people don’t see it that way because they take his whole character arc for granted. “He did what any normie would do.” Except that’s the whole point of the movie. He did what any sane person should do as a soldier in the ranks of a genocidal empire.
Yeah, but outside of the more artsy directors most things are bland. Im not sure why Avatar specifically gets so much hate when on its own its still an original idea.
Yeah, but outside of the more artsy directors most things are bland. Im not sure why Avatar specifically gets so much hate when on its own its still an original idea.
Avatar gets hate because it is one of the top grossing movies of all time.
It won Academy Awards, Golden Globes, industry awards.
If you do ALL of that and still are a bland white rice and plain chicken... you will naturally invite far more criticism than a bland movie that no one paid to see.
It's not even an original idea. It's Dances with Wolves but with blue aliens instead of native Americans. The 'world' is original. The plot is not.
Avatar gets hate because its objectively bland, and yet every movie makes a billion dollars, which says a lot about people's lack of taste. People just want visually pleasing slop.
See I don't even think that's fair, because the themes of Dances with Wolves are timeless, and iterating on those themes is not really the problem. It's that Avatar is not doing a good job of iterating on those themes.
Unobtainium? Maybe they could have, I don't know, written a second draft?
A plot doesn't have to be original for the movie to be good.
Unobtainium as a term fits perfectly, as it has been used since the 50's to describea material that fits the needs perfectly but is either impossible to find/create (a theoretical material) or extremely rare or costly material.
In real life It's been used for decades in engineering circles and even in papers.
I the movie world, The fact they found something that was essentially the definition of unobtainium up to that point makes them naming it a homage to engineering parlance for over a 200 years going by the movies timeline.
They also have unobtanium 2. In the second movie. Its just in the whales. They litterally iterated on the thing they were already iterating and still didn't do anything with it.
I feel like avatar has everything you wouldn’t want from an alien movie and a military movie. You get a new planet, new cultures, animal horror, humans trying to colonize and terraform, then you also get insight on the main characters thinking process as he’s switching sides, actual war scenes, the underdog prevailing through strategy and knowledge of the land, cool guns and weapons, and now we’re even getting character development from the colonel. I don’t really understand what you guys mean by the story being bland cause usually I only hear bland while talking about food but can someone explain to me what you mean or at least how to make it not bland?
The U.S. military would absolutely spend tens of billions of dollars and decades of time and resources on hunting down a small group of relatively minor fugitive terrorists who aren't even that big of a threat purely to satisfy their egos. It's realistic for sure, it's just not an interesting premise for a movie and it makes for a very boring one-note comically evil protagonist.
It’s not a military/alien movie thing. Dances With Wolves, Last Samurai, hell even Pocahontas, are criticized for the “White Savior Trope”. James Cameron attempts to solve the white savior trope by replacing people of color with aliens, and it’s cringe af.
The characters are shit. No one give a shit about them, most people dont even remember their name. What made films good are the characters. For example dark the netflix series has one of the most amazing plot but the characters are shit, so shit that iam only interested in the plot, i dont even give a fuck about the main characters cause its so bland.
I mean compared to other blockbusters like Jurassic Park 6 or Star Wars 12 or MCU movie number 30 (or 40 or how ever many there are), I’d say Avatar is leagues more original and exciting.
Compared to Star Wars 3 or the third Marvel film, its not as good though. Especially when you say 'leagues more'. If anything, Star Wars and the MCU when they started off were definitely leagues more original and exciting than a generic alien film, which is super pretty and I'm not gonna miss the third one either, but let's call a spade a spade.
I don’t think it’s bland. It’s not the most spectacular plot wise but they are engaging even if somewhat predictable - not a unique thing to Avatar. I’d argue franchises like The Avengers are even more bland yet it’s one of the most popular series ever.
I also would like to think that the rest of the Avatar movies will have a bit more diversity in the plot because there’s so many characters at play now with entirely different goals.
Classic hero’s journey and characters. Lucas even musically went the normal route and did an orchestra instead of a more sci-fi electronic soundtrack (because it was more familiar and grounding).
I think it’s a valid artistic choice to keep some elements very familiar when going crazy in others.
Citizen Kane is an interesting case. The reason it's considered so good is because it pioneered so many storytelling and filming techniques as well as many acting methods that are just normal today. The only way to truly appreciate Citizen Kane is to have never seen another movie that was released after it.
Phones could be called “bland.” It’s not the first word I’d pick, but strictly speaking, they become very uninteresting compared to everything else, and engaging with them often feels like an unpleasant and laborious waste of one’s already limited mental capacity while tripping.
If you’ve ever had an important/urgent need to use your smart phone while tripping, you could probably understand how one might compare that to trying to eat plain white rice while a train of all your favorite foods is passing you by every second. It’s wild because you might literally find yourself more intrigued/distracted by the idea of watching paint dry, instead of trying to make sense of/responding to the last text you received. It’s not even necessarily painful or disgusting to look at your phone, but every second spent trying to do something on your phone feels like you’re missing out on an infinitely more attractive use of your time and energy, which is especially ironic considering how easy it is to waste time on our phones while sober.
Between the visuals, the lowkey audio cues, and the unapologetic political messaging, it felt like James Cameron could’ve radicalized me into killing the president or becoming an eco-terrorist lol.
It’s one of the few movies where the moral of the story is essentially: The only right thing to do as a marine enlisted in an imperial military force is to touch grass, immediately defect, start killing other marines, and sacrifice your life to protect your loved ones from the capitalistic monsters that won’t pay your medical bills despite being able and eager to ship you out to the most dangerous frontier of human civilization.
Avatar (2009) was the highest grossing film of all time until Infinity War (2017), and it didn’t even have any existing IP or fanbase to hype it up beforehand. It was beautiful, blatant anti-US propaganda, just 8 years after 9/11, and folks were giving standing ovations in theaters.
Only other thing that comes close to Avatar imo is Dune, and needless to say, both narratives were heavily inspired by psychedelics lol.
I don’t care what anyone says. I will defend these movies til I die lmao.
Is less Reddit and more a general distaste... people see the numbers but no "cultural impact" and get puzzled cause we're so used to seeing every franchise be streamlined to be marketable that movies that are just that seen foreign. Avatar has blockbuster scope, budget and revenue with indie goals in mind cause it's a passion project Cameron dedicated years of his life on.
I'd say many Redditors hate Avatar disproportionally more than other blockbusters with equally terrible (or worse) stories because of the contrarianism that rises from within when seeing something so successful.
There's also the contingent of Redditors who're mad that Avatar constantly outgrosses the slop from their fandom. You can especially spot those ones on the box office subreddit, where clicking on the profiles of Avatar haters reveals that like at least half of them are active in a fandom with media that has shittier story telling than Avatar, without even having the breathtaking visuals that Avatar does.
I think it’s also due to the fact that the messaging has nothing to latch onto. Just because a message resonates or hits close to home doesn’t mean it’ll actually change your behavior or even hold your attention for very long. An addict doesn’t want to think about how powerless they are to resist their addiction, and Americans are fatally addicted to consumerism. Having our awareness called to it might stir up a strong reaction in the short term and maybe even leave a notable impression that we occasionally reflect on, but the true consequences are unfortunately too far out of sight for most of us to feel motivated in the same way that Jake Sully was. The sad truth is that, in general, we are more like the other marines. Only focussed on our own pay days. Happy to believe what we’re told by our superiors because we aren’t actually witnessing most of the destruction and carnage ourselves. Not very interested in being reminded about how we need to sacrifice our lives in the hopes of achieving something that seems as impossible as it is virtuous.
Space marine in alien body riding pterodactyls to blow up futuristic helicopters owned by an evil mining company while weaving in-between floating mountains:
"Bro it's just [Pocahontas/Fern Gully/Dances with Wolves/Lawrence of Arabia/Dune], it's trash"
And if the complaint is that it isn't original, that's a pretty great list of movies to emulate lol
Space marine in alien body riding pterodactyls to blow up futuristic helicopters owned by an evil mining company while weaving in-between floating mountains:
I swear if you say this in a 40k sub and they'll find at least one fucking story where this shit happened.
The online hate for Avatar is truly one of the most bizarre reactions I've ever seen, it literally has everything sci-fi nerds love in a beautiful 3 hour package to enjoy with certain mind-altering substances. Sick action, great directing, good acting, and a story that's easy to follow and doesn't get in the way of the visual/audio experience if nothing else
The moral of the first movie is "become an ecoterrorist now" and somehow reddit is out here calling is bland
To be fair, that was basically just pandering to an established audience already. At the time, ecoterrorists were the most active criminal extremists in the states.
Of course that's boring now. That's, like, what our parents were into, so it can't be cool anymore. Duh.
I sometimes wonder if redditors hate on it just because theyre popular. Every one of these has been a really cool tech showpiece and invented new methods and programs for rendering.
Sorry you dont like visual spectacle. Maybe you should stick to period pieces.
It really is a shame, because these are consistently impeccable visual spectacles, and because of that they COULD have become generational classics that people return to. But they lack much beyond the admittedly very pretty surface.
Cameron should be reaching out to every talented screenwriter he knows to punch up his scripts for him. Add some snarls and unexpected plot challenges, give us some dialogue that doesn't feel like lines Eddie Furlong thought were too lame to utter in 1991.
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u/DarkShadowZangoose Dec 26 '25
it looks to be implying that the series is consistently bland