While James Cameron’s mega-blockbuster Avatar: The Way Of Water is still jam-packed, the director recently turned his attention to another 3-hour epic from 2022: Speaking to SS Rajamouli, he praised his unbridled, Netflix-exclusive action extravaganza “RRR”. Because yes, Cameron may be one of the best in his field, but he also likes to share his admiration for other filmmakers. If, on the other hand, he challenges the competition, it is not without reason.
Cameron has credit for the hit makers Marvel and their remarkable success at the box office – and congratulated, for example, when “Avengers: Endgame” managed to “sink” “Titanic” in 2019 (as well as later, when it briefly became the highest-grossing film of all time). Achievements like these are proof that cinema is “not only alive and kicking, but bigger than ever”.
But when it comes to special effects, Cameron sees himself way ahead of the Marvel competition. The better effects clearly have “Avatar 2”, thinks (not only) James Cameron – and the filmmaker even took a closer look at villain Thanos.
“Thanos?! Come on!”
In conversation with Brandon Davis (via ) Cameron admitted that it is thanks to the “great comic book movies” that the bar for special effects is so high these days and that there are so many talented artists* and new tools for implementation.
But especially when it comes to the rendering of facial expressions, Cameron clearly sees his work ahead: “Now? Come on! […] You’ve seen ‘Avatar: The Way Of Water’. That’s not even close,” Cameron emphasizes the huge difference in quality.
Yes, self-aggrandizement stinks. However, in this case, the filmmaker’s statements must also be classified correctly. Objectively speaking, even die-hard Marvel followers would have to admit that Cameron isn’t entirely wrong. “The Way Of Water” not only breaks records at the box office, but also with its special effects…
14 nominations at the Visual Effects Society Awards
The 21st Visual Effects Society Awards will be presented on February 15, 2023. More than 4,000 members, consisting of animation artists, model builders and many other filmmakers whose work turns cinema into a visual experience, then award the prizes for the best effects of the cinema year 2022 in the most diverse categories – from the until .
Of the 2022 Marvel movies, only “Black Panther: Wakanda Forevernominated in a category – for the pretty impressive flood scene. Both “Thor: Love And Thunder” and “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness” received nothing, while “Top Gun: Maverick” and “The Batman” each received three nominations, “Fantastic Beasts: Secrets of Dumbledore” and “Jurassic World “. : A New Era” come in at least two each.
And while Guillermo Del Toro managed to get no less than seven nominations with the enchantingly dark “Pinocchio”, it is once again “Terminator”, “Titanic” and “Avatar” mastermind James Cameron who sets new standards: Avatar: The Way Of Water received 14 nominations, more than any previous film (previous record holder with at least eleven nominations and six awards: “Avatar – Aufbruch nach Pandora”). And that despite even omitting some spectacular highlights, as you can read here:
This is not surprising, since the production of “Avatar 2” was eventually accompanied by many technological developments, which made possible the creation of the film as we know it in the first place. Because while others are content with the best resources available to realize their vision, James Cameron (as usual) goes one step further – working on the technology that is needed in the first place first.
“Avatar 2”: you’ve never seen anything like it
Not only Cameron and the Visual Effects Society see ‘Avatar 2’ far ahead of the competition, but so do many viewers – including the author of this article. He already took part in an exclusive footage presentation followed by a Q&A in the fall of 2022, during which producer Jon Landau was asked a lot of questions, almost all of which started with an introductory question: How the hell did you do THAT?
Besides the parallels to one of the greatest fantasy films of all time and some supposed logic holes, there is one topic of conversation for many after they hit the cinema (at least that is the experience of the author of these lines, who has seen the film so far seen three times): the unique stream of images that takes you to Pandora for three hours and with which James Cameron revives the fascination of cinema like no one has done in a long time.
So if you are still thinking about whether you want to see “Avatar 2” at the cinema or at home at some point: Don’t miss the chance to immerse yourself in Pandora in the dark of the theater – on the biggest screen you can find. Otherwise, you could end up biting your ass later for missing out on one of the most spectacular cinema experiences there – namely, in the cinema.