AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER
2022 | Dir. James Cameron | 192 Minutes
"Water connects all things: life to death, darkness to light."
Over a decade after leading the extraterrestrial natives of Pandora to drive away invaders from Earth, and permanently transferring his consciousness to a new body to live among them, former human marine turned resistance leader Jake Sully is locked in a desperate struggle with a new generation of hostile aggressors. When forces headed by a vengeful enemy from the past threaten to wipe out his clan, Jake and his family take refuge among a well-respected tribe of free divers and must learn to adapt to their new environment.
Thirteen years after the release of Avatar, writer/director James Cameron returns to the exotic science fiction world of the Na'vi and opportunistic spacefaring Earthlings. The narrative of the film is fairly standard, at its core an extended tale centered on a family struggling to find its place in a strange and beautiful alien world and survive against hostile forces. The plot is intended to be as simple and inoffensive to general audiences as possible, so accessible that watching the preceding film in order to follow along with this new story is hardly a pre-requisite, competently structured though rather unremarkable. What makes Avatar: The Way of Water unique is how Cameron utilizes somewhat pedestrian big budget blockbuster storytelling to promote the importance of environmental preservation and to experiment with cutting edge visual effects technology.
The greatest strength of The Way of Water is its spectacular technical presentation. The picture is a fully immersive visual experience that pushes the capabilities of CGI and the theatrical cinematic experience forward. In its intended 3D high frame rate format, the feature's numerous thrilling action sequences come to exhilarating life, and the gorgeous underwater scenes are simply breathtaking. Further perfecting the animation techniques developed for the first Avatar, the Na'vi characters and the human actors convincingly inhabit the same spaces, never calling to attention the digital trickery involved to make these elaborate visual effects shots work. Particularly impressive and absolutely surreal, legendary film star Sigourney Weaver is de-aged and completely transformed into young Na'vi teenager in a prominent supporting role. The extensive work and artistry on display in creature design, mechanical design, overall production design, and the development of the technology to compose and render the stunning visuals make The Way of Water a mind-boggling, truly staggering accomplishment.
Returning to the role of Jake Sully, Sam Worthington turns in a relatable, surprisingly empathetic performance as a warrior who must learn to be a father. Impressive as always playing science fiction characters, Zoe Saldaña naturally reprises the part of Neytiri, absolutely believable as a mother willing to do anything to protect her family. Sigourney Weaver, though incredibly uncanny to initially behold as a blue Na'vi child, is excellent as Jake and Neytiri's feisty idealistic adopted daughter Kiri. Stephen Lang brings a bit more nuance to the Na'vi recombinant iteration of the series' central antagonist Quaritch. As the Sully children, Britain Dalton is serviceable but less than memorable playing secondary protagonist Lo'ak, while Jamie Flatters and Trinity Jo-Li Bliss are also just fine as older brother Neteyam and baby sister Tuk. Playing the human boy Spider who befriends the Sully family, Jack Champion treads the line between endearing and irritating, though the role successfully provides Lang's Quaritch with a fair amount of needed dramatic weight. The supporting cast also features Kate Winslet and Cliff Curtis as the leaders of the free diving Metkayina tribe; Bailey Bass and Filip Geljo as Metkayina siblings Reya and Aonung, Lo'ak's love interest and antagonistic rival respectively; Edie Falco as an uncompromising human general; Brendan Cowell as a despicable whaling captain; and Jemaine Clement as a conscientious marine biologist.
Through and through, Avatar: The Way of Water is a monumental technical achievement in visual effects. While the story offers nothing particularly groundbreaking, its focus on the bonds of family is universally appealing as are the film's bountiful fantastic sequences reminding the audience James Cameron is still a master of staging compelling action. Even those who were not fans of Cameron's first excursion to Pandora may find much to enjoy about this grander, more ambitious follow-up over a decade in the making.
FRAGMENTS
- The production timeline for these Avatar sequels is, in a word, dramatic: release dates were delayed, the number of sequels inflated, significantly more time was spent on post-production than principal photography for this one (though this was partially due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic)
- Perhaps due to the extensive amount of high frame rate footage, many 3D projectors failed during the opening weekend of the film including the one at my screening!
- I am decidedly not a fan of 2009's Avatar, likely never will be, and I did not have the highest expectations for this sequel, but it is by far one of the best theatrical experiences I've ever had despite the projector issues; a testament to the quality of the movie: most of the audience in attendance at my sold out screening stayed through all of the glitches and system restarts, committed to finish the entire 3-hour+ film in full
MCU CONNECTIONS
- Zoe Saldaña (Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3)
