I remember watching the original Avatar with my family back when I was younger. I remember being astonished by the movie’s visual effects and how photorealistic the Avatars were. It was nothing like any movie I’ve seen before. While I wasn’t there when it came out in theaters in 2009, I had the DVD for the film and enjoyed it a lot, so I’m surprised that Avatar didn’t leave a lasting impact on pop culture, aside from its visual spectacle. The first Avatar film was considered revolutionary for its groundbreaking visuals and the way it brought Pandora’s world to life and it became the highest-grossing film of all time, becoming the first film to break $2 billion at the box office before it was briefly surpassed by Avengers: Endgame for only two years before subsequent re-releases in 2021. Now, thirteen years after the first Avatar came out, we now have the first of four sequels: Avatar: The Way of Water. Does it surpass the first film in terms of quality and is it worth the wait after thirteen years? Let’s get into it.
Avatar: The Way of Way takes place sixteen years after the first film and Jake Sully is now living as the chief of the Omatikaya Clan and raising a family of four children alongside his wife, Neytiri. However, his newfound peace is interrupted when the Resources Development Administration colonizes Pandora as the Earth is dying, aided by a group of Na’vi avatars implanted with the memories of deceased soldiers named Recombinants, led by the late Miles Quaritch’s Recombinants. As Pandora is under attack by the “sky people”, Jake and his family seek refuge with the Metkayina clan on the planet’s eastern seaboard and begin to learn the ways of the clan.
Say what you will about James Cameron as a director, but you cannot deny the fact that he can create visual spectacles, as seen in the first two Terminator films and Titanic, and make his movies feel like events.
Cameron does a great job of bringing the world of Pandora to life again and taking the audience on a spectacle-filled ride.
The visual effects are once again spectacular and the worlds, such as Pandora and the Metkayina clan’s home, are breathtaking to watch. You feel like you’re there with the characters, experiencing the world around you. The cinematography by Russell Carpenter is astonishing and it adds to the movie’s visual experience. The score by Simon Franglin is decent and does a good job of replicating the late James Horner’s score from the original.
The movie is a lot more emotional than the first one, as the core of the story centers around Jake Sully’s relationship with his family. I love the dynamic between Jake, Neytiri, and their children as it showcases the highs and lows of the family and is one of the strongest points of the film. I almost teared up when (Spoiler Alert!) Neteyam dies in front of his parents and siblings because I wasn’t expecting anything like this. My favorite characters in this film are Spider, Quaritch’s human son who develops a relationship with the Na’vi, and Kiri, the adopted daughter of Jake born from Grace Augustine’s avatar. I loved Kiri’s story of her struggling of being different in the world of the Na’vi and trying to overcome her obstacles, and while her story does feel familiar, it’s very well done and I would love to see her development throughout the franchise.
The performances are decent for the most part, with Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, and Stephen Lang reprising their roles from the original film. Newcomers include Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, and Jake Champion, but the biggest standout is Sigourney Weaver, who portrays Kiri and Grace Augustine. However, one of my biggest issues in this film has to be the runtime as it feels like this film feels a lot longer than three hours. The second act is where the film begins to drag down as not a lot of stuff happens and feels like a slow burn. Aside from the family aspect, there’s not much emotional attachment in the film, as I didn’t feel anything when the RDA burned the Metkayina village because I didn’t feel connected to these characters. Some of the characters, such as the Metkayina avatar, feel underdeveloped and the film basically repeats the first one in terms of plot.
Overall, does Avatar: The Way of Water live up to the hype of the first one? Yes and no.
While the visuals are a lot more impressive this time around and the dynamic between Jake and his family is compelling to watch, the story leaves a lot to be desired and its runtime drags the movie down a bit. Avatar: The Way of Water is only carried by its visual spectacle and if you’re a fan of the first film, you might have a good time with it. If you’re not a fan of the original, I don’t think you’d miss anything if you don’t see it.
Abdul
