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| Central characters and a dazzling image of high adventure from the film make up this poster for James Cameron's Avatar: The Way of Water |
Many years after US Marine Jake Sully joined the Na'vi people of Pandora in his Avatar body, he has built a family with Neytiri with 4 children. But now the human 'sky people' force them to leave their home and seek sanctum with the Metkayina 'reef people'.
Avatar: The Way of Water is written by Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver (Eye for an Eye (1996), both) and Ontarian master filmmaker, co-writer/co-producer/director James Cameron (Piranha II: The Spawning (1981)), with Josh Friedman (The Black Dahlia (2006)) and Shane Salerno (Armageddon (1998)) contributing story elements. It is Cameron's 11th feature and the sequel to his Avatar (2009), still the highest-grossing film of all time (2.923 bil. $.)
One of the longest-anticipated films in history, Avatar: The Way of Water arrives at a critical time for the theatrical business, and hopefully it will reinvigorate it and bring some patrons back in the cinema seats. It is pretty much all you could have hoped for and actually a greater film than the first one. My history with Avatar is that it completely blew me away in 2009, but that I have later revisited it in more humbling home surroundings and found that its simplistic, cliched narrative politics worked against its visual magic.
That seems less the case in Way of Water, although the militaristic-industrial humans are still the villains. The simple romance story of the first film is now enlarged to be a family story with wider themes of parenthood, rebellion/coming-of-age, unity, loss and love giving meaning to most every minute of the film's epic span. The story, which echoes both Cameron's Aliens (1986) and Titanic (1997), is good, and it doesn't matter so much if you aren't clear the first time around at every turn who each blue character is, because more than a plot- or character-driven vehicle, Avatar movies are visual adventures. The 3D technology, accelerated frame rate and especially the completely amazing wonders of mechanical and natural designs that the film throws at us are exhilarating on a level that few films can match. You've simply gotta see Avatar: The Way of Water at the cinema to go to this new water world of Pandora.
It is hard to critique the performances of a film that's so much motion-capture and so little live-action. How do we know if the strong performances are really thanks to the actor and not a team of expert animators, basically? Sam Worthington's (Everest (2015)) Sully has less adventure in Way of Water as he wrestles with fatherhood and protecting his family. Zoe Saldana (Missing Link (2019)) is fierce as the more intuitive Neytiri. Jack Champion (Truck Slut (2018, short)) is a new, charismatic member as the caught-in-the-middle boy Spider. Edie Falco (Landline (2017)) is a welcome addition as General Ardmore and likely to return. And Stephen Lang (Death in Texas (2020)) is fantastic as the evil ex-Marine Quaritch.
The late James Horner's (Titanic (1997)) original theme is wonderful. The action is fabulous and thrilling, the sense of wonder is rare and powerful, and Avatar: The Way of Water also has moments of moving poignancy.
You have no business doing anything but going to a cinema to see this movie! Off with you!
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Avatar (2009) - Cameron's simplistic action-adventure wins with visuals
Solaris (2002) - A suffering space question mark (co-producer)
Aliens (1986) or, Alien War
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: Reportedly 350-400 mil. $
Box office: 441.7 mil. $ and counting
= Too early to say
[Avatar: The Way of Water premiered 6 December (London) and runs 192 minutes. Production was announced in 2010. The release was delayed 8 times, as writing, visual effects technology, especially concerning shooting motion capture underwater, and other issues dragged out, until the corona pandemic hit and further complicated matters. Shooting took place from September 2017 - September 2020 in California, including in Los Angeles, and New Zealand, including in Wellington. The film opened #1 to a 134.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America. Cameron has stated that it will need to break 2 bil. $ globally to be considered a success. The film was shot back to back with Avatar 3, set to release in December 2024. The future of Cameron's further two planned sequels are as of yet uncertain due to their enormous costs. The film has won an AFI award, is nominated for 2 Golden Globes and won a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Cameron is returning with Avatar 3 (2024). Wortington returns in The Georgetown Project (2022); Saldana in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023); and Lang in Avatar 3. Avatar: The Way of Water is certified fresh at 78 % with a 7.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Avatar: The Way of Water?
