Movie Review: Avatar: The Way of Water
Going to the movie theaters has always been a huge part of my life. Whether going with family, friends, or just on my own, it was something I did regularly and enjoyed. However, it has been over two years since the last time I stepped inside a theater thanks to the pandemic.
Official Summary
Set more than a decade after the events of the first film, “Avatar: The Way of Water” begins to tell the story of the Sully family (Jake, Neytiri, and their kids), the trouble that follows them, the lengths they go to keep each other safe, the battles they fight to stay alive, and the tragedies they endure. Directed by James Cameron and produced by Cameron and Jon Landau, the film stars Zoe Saldana, Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Cliff Curtis, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Edie Falco, Jemaine Clement and Kate Winslet.
Quick Information
Director: James Cameron
Release Date: December 16, 2022
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Rating: PG-13
Review
When 2009’s Avatar was released in theaters, like many people I went to see multiple showings in different film formats. I enjoyed the story, the acting, but more than anything the groundbreaking visual effects and CGI that had me coming back to watch it over and over on the big screen. So when sequels were announced I was more than excited. However, the wait has been a long time since 2009 and with everything going on in the world for the last few years I almost forgot this movie was being released this year.
It’s always difficult for sequels. They hold the weight of so many expectations, and I admit Avatar: The Way of Water was going to have its work cut out for it. However, with Aliens (the sequel to Alien) being one of my favorite movies, I was sure James Cameron wouldn’t leave me disappointed.
Visually the movie is stunning. The bright vibrant colors of Pandora again were amazing to see. Given the year difference between the first film, cameras and visual effects have improved immensely and we get a front row seat to those technological advances. The bright colors and different flora and fauna are once again amazing. The Way of Water introduces the tulkun which play a big part in the movie overall and make for some stellar scenes.
Tulkun are basically space whales that play a vital part in reef Na’vi society. These whales are smarter than humans and can even understand sign language. These creatures take the audience on some gorgeous scenery tours of the ocean and before the movie is over will probably make you care for them more than you thought you would originally. Honestly the animals of Pandora are all fantastic with their own unique looks, behaviors, and ways in which they communicate with the rest of Pandora’s inhabitants.
The story picked up right after Avatar, with another voice over of Jake Sully telling about his life with Neytiri on Pandora after the humans all left. There is a time skip. Our two main characters have started a family with four children and overall their lives are quite perfect. Unfortunately for them the peace is shattered as rocket ships in the night sky signal the arrival of humans returning to Pandora armed for a fight. While this is very similar to the first movie, I was surprised it happened so early into the movie. Right after we are introduced to the main villain of the movie that turns out to have quite a familiar face. The premise of the movie is the humans are hunting down the Sully family, and to escape the hunters they run away to the reef Na’vi clans.
The themes surrounding family found in the first movie drew me into this universe. Jake lost his brother in Avatar and eventually found a new family with the Na’vi on Pandora. This resonated with me and made Jake a sympathetic character. So, going into the sequel, I was curious to see how these themes would carry over into the installment of this franchise.
In The Way of Water, each small clan and individual family tries to do what is best for themselves. We are reintroduced to the Na’vi culture and family dynamics, but now Jake and Neytiri have started a family.
We meet the Sully children: Neteyam (the oldest son), Lo’ak (the problem middle child), Kiri (the adopted eldest daughter), and Tuktirey (the youngest). Oh and there is also “Spider,” the human kid that couldn’t make the trip back to earth so he romps around with the Sully band (he’s not another one of their kids). I’m not joking, that’s his name.
Names aside though, one of the most egregious things that irritated me to no end during my showing was how all of the boys refer to one another as “Bro”. Now if their father Jake Sully had spoken like this, I would chalk it up to them just picking up this speech mannerism through osmosis. Even if ANY OTHER human character in the movie had talked like this I would just assume its kids picking up ticks. However NO ONE ELSE ON THE ENTIRE PLANET TALKS LIKE THIS. Hence my confusion. I can only come to the conclusion this happened because the child actors couldn’t remember the other characters' names and just started saying it and people got tired of correcting them. I really can’t think of another reason. Now you may consider this nit-picking, but when you’re building a world and we are supposed to believe everything about that world, it seems so out of place with no story tether to it.
Again speaking of the children… Lo’ak. I can be onboard for the kid in a large family that feels out of place, but Lo’ak’s angst is entirely his own making. He goes against everything his parents and older brother say. They try to keep him out of trouble but he finds his way into it, endangering not only himself, but his ENTIRE family in the process. It doesn’t happen just once, over the course of the movie there had to be no less than half a dozen times this occurred. But don’t worry he carries the “cell phone” in the family so he can always call his dad to let him know just where he is and how big of trouble he's in. My biggest gripe about this character is he never learns. It's one thing to make a mistake, but when you keep making the same mistake and never learn from it, that's just a flat, uninteresting character that is only there for the sake of drama.
I feel like the kids were pushed front and center to the audience, almost trying to take away the main character role away from Jake and Neytiri. I understand about wanting the new generation to break ground but I think it should have been a gradual transition and not a sudden shift to the younger cast of characters.
Your mileage will vary with the family dynamics.
I felt that there were aspects I liked and some that made sitting through 3 hours not as enjoyable as the first movie. In the first movie, I felt engaged the entire time. In the sequel, I felt that certain parts fell flat. Some of the old characters felt one dimensional. Characters that had experienced growth in the first movie came into the second movie completely losing all of their previous growth (widespread amnesia?). Neytiri and Jake have bumps in their relationship all of a sudden. Jake sometimes felt patronizing towards his own wife. Some of the new characters ironically felt more complex and interesting in comparison (that’s not a bad thing, so long as they come back for the next film!). I was mostly disappointed in the lack of screentime of Neytiri who was really interesting in the first movie.
The action scenes are just as enjoyable as the first film and will have you unable to look away. The scaling in each scene is once again amazing with a high level of attention to detail to each individual from human to giant space whale sharing the same space. The visual effects and CGI never hold back. The soundtrack adds to the emotional scenes throughout the film and we also get to hear call backs to the first movie's musical scores.
One of the reasons The Way of Water took so long to be released is because they shot it alongside Avatar 3. Obviously there were also delays with the pandemic. Avatar 3 is scheduled to be released December of 2024 with Avatar 4 and 5 tentatively planned for 2026 and 2028. Plenty more to see of Pandora in our future.
Avatar: The Way of Water is a beautiful movie to see on the big screen. While I had my issues with part of its story, I still enjoyed watching it and would recommend for others to see the film in theaters. The film has already made over $850 million worldwide since releasing this last weekend. Whether you are a fan of the original movie or simply want to catch a movie on the big screen this holiday season, Avatar: The Way of Water will be worth your time.