Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

This past week, I’ve seen the first two ‘Avatar’ movies directed by James Cameron. I saw the first ‘Avatar’ movie on DVD, and I saw the second film ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ at the cinema. These have been very enjoyable films to check out, but are these movies for me to get very excited about?

The first ‘Avatar’ movie was released in 2009. It takes place in the future where humanity is attempting to colonise the planet Pandora in order to acquire a valuable mineral called unobtanium. Humanity’s presence on Pandora threatens the existence of the Na’vi species that live on the planet.

Sam Worthington as Jake Sully is chosen to operate the body of a Na’vi avatar in order to interact with the Pandora natives. During his training as a Na’vi, he falls in love with Zoe Saldana as Neytiri, and soon helps her and her people to protect all they hold dear from the humans threatening them.

Now I appreciate this film was a huge spectacle at the time it was released in 2009. It’s clearly evident in the vistas depicted on the planet Pandora and how the Na’vi journey through various parts of their forest. The story and the characters are decent enough after revisiting the film in 2022.

Mind you, I can’t say this is a film that excites me or makes me want to see it again and again. I honestly didn’t think ‘Avatar’ would get a sequel, let alone four (and yes, three more ‘Avatar’ films are on their way). I also have issues concerning how humanity gets depicted in a rather bleak future.

The film’s cast also includes Stephen Lang as the evil Colonel Miles Quaritch, Michelle Rodrigeuz as combat pilot Trudy Chacón, and Sigourney Weaver as Dr. Grace Augustine. There are echoes of Disney‘s ‘Pocahontas’ and ‘Dances with Wolves’ when seeing this film from its beginning to the end.

There’s also Joel David Moore as Dr. Norm Spellma, CCH Pounder as Mo’at, who is the spiritual leader of Neytiri’s tribe as well as Neytiri’s mother, Giovanni Ribisi as the evil Parker Selfridge and Dileep Rao as Dr. Max Patel. I’m sure the ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘Kinda’ influenced this ‘Avatar’ film.

The second film ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’, which was released this year in 2022, is on the same level as the first ‘Avatar’ film. Jake Sully, who’s become a Na’vi, has a family with Neytiri. Threatened by humans again, Jake Sully soon takes his family to the Metkayina clan of Pandora to gain refuge. 🙂

Visiting the Metkayina clan of Pandora is interesting, as they live close to the oceans rather than the forests. It’s intriguing to see the world of Pandora through the oceans and how Jake Sully and his family learn to cope with living in the water world whilst they avoid being tracked by the evil humans. 🙂

The problem I have with ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ is that it’s too long for me. It’s about 3 hours long compared to the first film which was about 2 ½ hours long. I’m getting a sense the director James Cameron is trying to make the ‘Avatar’ films as epic as ‘The Lord of the Rings’ films by Peter Jackson.

Whilst the ‘Avatar’ films are epic, I can’t think of them in the same manner as I think of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ films. The action sequences and the visual effects are good, but I don’t think the second film is as good as the first film. The emotional impact in the second film isn’t as good as in the first film.

As well as Sam Worthington as Jake Sully and Zoe Saldana as Neytiri, there’s Stephen Lang as Colonel Miles Quaritch, who gets reborn in an Avatar body. There’s Joel David Moore as Dr. Norma Spellma, CCH Pounder as Mo’at, Giovanni Ribisi as Parker Selfridge and Dileep Rao as Dr. Max Patel.

The film also features Sigourney Weaver as Kiri, Jake and Neytiri’s adoptive daughter and Dr. Grace Augustine. There’s Kate Winslet as Ronal of the Metkayina; Cliff Curtis as Tonowari, the chief of the Metkayina clan and Ronal’s husband; Edie Falco as General Frances Ardmore and Jemaine Clement as Dr. Ian Garvin. I’m guessing a lot of these characters will return in the next instalments.

I’m glad I’ve been able to see ‘Avatar’ and ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ recently. I can’t say I’m a huge fan of these movies, but after seeing ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ at the cinema recently, it was nice to sit through. I’m sure I’ll be watching the third, fourth and fifth ‘Avatar’ films when they come out at cinemas soon.

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂