Avatar: The Way of Water
Composite Score: 81.49
Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, CCH Pounder, Edie Falco, Jamie Flatters, Britain Dalton, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Jack Champion, and Baiely Bass
Director: James Cameron
Writers: James Cameron, Rick Jaffa, and Amanda Silver
Genres: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of strong violence and intense action, partial nudity, and some strong language
Box Office: $2.29 billion worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
Avatar: The Way of Water is the sequel to James Cameron’s 2009 highest grossing film of all time, Avatar. After providing a brief epilogue to the original as a way of catching the audience up, the film jumps forward to the new “present” where Jake Sully and Neytiri lead a Na’vi insurgency against the humans who have returned to Pandora to continue farming its resources for the dying Earth. The couple now have three children of their own (Neteyam, Lo’ak, and Tuk) and two adopted children – Kiri, the miraculous daughter of Grace Augustine’s comatose avatar, and Spider, a human child left behind when the humans evacuated Pandora after the first film. Humanity develops a counterinsurgency program by uploading the consciousnesses of the deceased villains of the first film (Colonel Quaritch and his team of commandos) into new Na’vi avatar bodies, bringing Quaritch back as the primary antagonist for this film as well. After an initial encounter, Jake and Neytiri flee with their family to the island peoples where the remainder of the film takes place. The Way of Water has already become the third-highest grossing film of all time and won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects this year. Although it lacks some of its predecessor’s originality, it makes up for it with beautiful visuals and a more intimate and emotionally engaging story.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
Aside from the change in setting, Cameron hasn’t changed much about the original’s story in this film. It still focuses on humanity seeking to exploit the environment (in this case, the tulkun – Pandoran whales) and the Na’vi fighting them to maintain harmony with the living planet, known to them as Eywa. The final action sequence never feels quite as massive in scale as the first film’s even if it does pack a tougher punch. Ultimately, The Way of Water falls short in the story department because it is a sequel that sets up a franchise. It feels too similar to the story of the original to really set itself apart, and the most interesting storylines are not yet fleshed out, waiting to be fully explored in the upcoming sequels, slated for 2024, 2026, and 2028 releases respectively.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
What The Way of Water lacks in originality, it makes up for in visuals and heart. Like the groundbreaking visual effects of the first Avatar, the digital effects look gorgeous in this new installment as well. The details in every shot, the amount of emotion conveyed through the motion capture technology used to portray the Na’vi, and the hyperrealism of the environments that Cameron envisions are a testament to the dedication of the effects team and the people supporting them. For a film with hardly any actual humans on screen for most of its run time, the visuals of The Way of Water give it a feeling of realism as If the locales of Pandora and its Na’vi inhabitants were actual locations and actors being filmed by Cameron. The film’s visuals do a great job of helping achieve that suspension of disbelief that is so integral to the experience in a film like this, and it works to near perfection.
In addition to its visuals, Cameron’s sequel succeeds where its predecessor fails (in my opinion), giving the audience a story worth investing in by adding Jake and Neytiri’s family and giving Quaritch a personal vendetta against Jake rather than one motivated by greed. By lowering the stakes of the conflict, the story of Jake and his children conflicting with Quaritch and his team draws the audience in as they go along on this journey of a much more personal story. The interpersonal conflict that reaches its climax in a great action sequence on a sinking boat adds legitimate emotional weight to a franchise that was missing it somewhat in its first installment. Is the destruction of the environment soul-crushing and tragic? Absolutely, but I’m going to be much more inclined to care about the environment of a fictional planet if I actually care about its inhabitants, and that’s what this film’s story accomplishes far better than the first – getting me to care about Jake, Neytiri, Lo’ak, Tuk, and Kiri (and also Spider and Neteyam, but to a far lesser extent). I’m actually reservedly excited about the sequels, which I definitely wasn’t when they were first announced.
Avatar: The Way of Water succeeds as a sequel thanks to its award-winning visual effects and its more intimate take on the story of the original that invites more natural audience buy-in and helps make it one of the Greatest Films of All Time. The familiar story beats from the first film are definitely still there, so there’s not a whole lot of innovation on that front, but the little tweaks work wonders in making it a more impactful film. It is currently showing in theaters and set to hit streaming at the beginning of April if you’re looking to check it out.
