Need to ramble a bit about Avatar.

Already booked my ticket for the third one tomorrow, with very low expectations despite being a James Cameron fan: every single one of his movies hit me in the face, in a way or another.

Hard to say which one is my favorite movie of his, for years I’ve hesitated between T2, Aliens and Titanic, until I’ve recently rewatched some of them and found a new unexpected love for T1, which ended up ranking above T2 in my personal list. All in all, I think Aliens might be at the top of the podium for now, though I haven’t rewatched Abyss in more than 10 years and hardly remember it.

As for Avatar, it’s like the perfect cheeseburger: nothing super original, simple and safe, but absurdly well executed. I hadn’t felt that sensation of awe and being transported elsewhere through the art of storytelling since I was a kid watching a new Disney movie during the 90s Disney renaissance. Avatar coming out during Christmas season probably played a part in that.

As for Avatar 2 TWOW, that’s his weakest movie IMO.
I’ve rewatched that second one these past few days and still have the same problems I've had with during my first watches.
First third of the movie is okay and entertaining enough.
Then comes a very boring and long second part that is a remake of the first movie without the thrills and awe: I don’t care about any of the characters, nor the new tribe, nor the talking whales, nor Payakan, nor the yellow fluid that replaced the unobtanium, etc, and feel 0 connection towards any of that.

And suddenly an excellent third act, despite the Sully kids being captured again and again and again.
TWOW’s climax is among Cameron’s finest work so far, and leagues ahead anything the MCU has ever done in more than a decade and countless of other movies. I love every single action set piece in that climax, the camera work, the shots, the characters’ interactions, the evolution and conclusion of their arcs. With such a perfect landing, I wish the road hadn’t been that bumpy and dreadful.

So I’ll still go for Avatar 3, but with low expectations, as everything I was hoping to see in Avatar 3 might not happen.
Varang being a scary nemesis and unstoppable force, unrelentingly chasing the heroes almost like the Terminator? Apparently she’s underused in the movie.
Or Neytiri going full dark side after the events of TWOW, ready to genocide the whole human race, while Jake ends up imprisoned by the RDA and sent for trial back to Earth, charged with betrayal against his own kind, while their kids are left alone and having to deal with the rescue of both of their parents (one on his way to Earth, the other one becoming a bigger threat than Quaritch and Varang combined), and the protection of Pandora against the RDA in the remaining sequels?...
...Nope, never, unlikely not happening, since this episode serves as an ending for the first Avatar trilogy apparently…

I guess I’ll just guess one of the main characters will die (probably Jake), and will enjoy my dose of James Cameron epicness and action sequences. Should be good enough I guess. I mean, can’t be worse than going to the theater with 0 expectations to watch Prometheus while being an uber Alien fan...
Oh Gooaaawd, Prometheus!...