Had anyone else watched this yet?

Warning. If you haven't seen it then there might be some spoilers in this post.

We finally managed to watch it yesterday in Chichester Cineworld on their IMAX 4D X screen in 3D.

I'd been really looking forward to this since it was announced years ago and due to family issues was worried I was going to miss it, but thankfully it was still on. The original revolutionised 3D and this film doesn't disappoint with the 3D technology. Some scenes had a bit of a video game feel to them, and some of the out of the screen effects felt a bit forced, but overall it was just as impressive as the first film.

Tom hadn't watched a 3D film at the cinema before and I'm not sure what he was expecting, but when the film started and that 10, 9, 8.. 3D countdown started he said "oh I understand now". :-)

As for the film, for me it was really enjoyable but wasn't as good as the original. The first Avatar really captured the atmosphere of the planet's jungle. Really made you feel you were in an alien jungle learning about it as the main character did. And with this sequel being so long they really needed to have spent much more time just showing the underwater world. That was the best part, but was over too fast.

I think maybe the problem was the change of perspective. In the first you started out from the side of the humans traveling to Pandora and we discovered this new world, its environments and aliens as the characters did. But in this sequel we are looking from the alien perspective, being invaded by alien aggressors. It should have worked but I don't think it quite worked as well.

It also felt like 2 films bolted together far more then the first. A US war film and a fantasy adventure. It didn't quite fit. I actually would have rather they hadn't bothered with the human return and just made this film an exploration of their new life on Pandora.

The film ended up having a very similar narrative to the first. Anti War, and very much anti USA. Corporate sponsored greed creating mass environmental destruction to obtain a small commodity for the super rich. And highlighting they had learn nothing from why Earth was dying, yet they were already starting to destroy Pandora. Yes it had a narrative very close to many of today's issues and I can see why they made the story like that. And that narrative worked because it left me with an even greater distaste for Corporate greed, and especially US capitalism, global big oil greed, the distruction of rain forests, and the mass killing of sea creatures not even for food. In that regard it made me think about saving the planet watching it.

They also had the nod to Whale hunting, which is still happening today.

Would I recommend the film? 100%. Go and watch it. It's one of those films that is a must watch at the cinema. Only warning is that its really long. The film itself is 192 minutes, so 3 hours 12 minutes long. Plus with the adverts and film trailers you are in the cinema over 4 hours. To it's credit thy film doesn't feel like its over 4 hours long and there are no bits that drag on or are not needed. Only part I felt was unnecessarily long and drawn out was the sinking ship bit near the end with their attempt at a Poseidon or Titanic moment. Other then that nothing was dragged out.

With the next film it's obvious what it's going to contain and I'm not sure it's going to be a great for it. Basically another fight for the planet like the end of the original film.

The worst complaint we had was how loud the IMAX cinema was. The volume was uncomfortably loud during the adverts and film trailers. To a point where a few people did go and complain. It was so loud you couldn't clearly listen to any dialogue. Although the film volume was better. But still, that was unacceptable. I might complain.
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