Never doubt James Cameron. Everyone was quick to judge the original Avatar back in 2009 as being derivative of a hundred other stories (it is) but it still became the highest-grossing film of all time unseating Titanic, which was Cameron’s film as well. Then he announced he intended to make four more Avatar movies and everyone doubted the appetite or need for the sequels. Flash-forward thirteen years and countless setbacks later and the first of those planned sequels has arrived. Avatar: The Way of Water is not only a major improvement over the original, but it’s also one of the best films of the year.
The Way of Water feels unlike any film you have ever seen, it truly transports you to a different world much more than the first film did. Pandora, the distant alien planet the film is set on, feels more realized than ever before. It feels like a living breathing place, so much that you forget that you watching something that is 95% computer-generated effects. Where the first film felt more like a very realistic animated film, the sequel feels more tangible. The technology that director James Cameron had wanted has finally been able to catch up to his dreams and he has been able to push the boundary of cinema, for better or for worse. Here he lets the visuals service the story and not the other way around. Something that is really effective in a deeply personal and breathtaking final act.
I really can’t say I’ve had an experience like The Way of Water in theaters before. The visuals were so stunning and realistic that at times it felt overwhelming as if the brain was not meant to process the images on the screen. The underwater sequences and water set locations were used in such a way that they felt both infinitely wonderful and terrifying. James Cameron puts so much detail and world-building into these movies that it is astounding. Even the smallest details like how the Na’vi’s (the race of alien creatures that inhabit Pandora) skin lights up just slightly at night, or the way the sea creatures move and interact within their own ecosystem, just help the world feel real.
While the world-building was never a complaint with the first film, (and it has been enhanced for this one), one major complaint about the predecessor has been addressed in this film. The story. In the original, it felt like a ripoff of Dances with Wolves, Pocahontas, or name your white savior movie here, and it would just knock you out of the experience. The world may be something you have never seen but the story was so familiar that it took you right out because you knew what was going to happen next. Thankfully, Cameron and writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver have delivered a much better story this time. While it still has predictable beats and some stilted dialogue it’s a major improvement.
This time around Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), former marine now full-time Na’vi, is just trying to live his best life with his wife Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), and his children. One of those children is played by Sigourney Weaver, in a performance that well, actually kind of works. Things seem to be going well for Jake until that is the humans return back to Pandora with the intent to colonize the planet. (Cameron is never subtle in his politics.) This includes the return of the very-dead Colonel Quaritch (Stephan Lang.) His character in the first film was mostly a generic military bad guy and wasn’t really begging for a return. (I actually had to look up his character’s name when I rewatched the first film a few weeks ago.) However, his resurrection turned out to be one of the strongest parts of the film.
Quaritch is still dead, at least that version of him. This is a Na’vi clone that has his memories and personality. It was created offscreen in the first film as a “contingency plan” as mentioned in a sequence early in this film. Turning Quaritch into the very thing he tried to destroy. The once one-dimensional villain has now been given layers of nuance and deeper character development, making him a fascinating antagonist to Jake. He is motivated not only by his military duty but a personal vendetta against Jake for killing him and effectively making him live in the hell of his new body.
The same goes for Jake, who was a pretty bland protagonist in the first film, his character has been retooled a bit too, letting him show some character growth. Jake is now a father and the only family he knows is the military, so he treats his family like a unit, seeing himself as the commander which makes him cold to his children. When he decides to move them away from their home in order to hide from Quaritch he never thinks of the emotional cost, just what seems like the best plan. All of this adds up to a much more personal story of family, lineage, and what it means to be a part of a family. Which makes for a mostly more compelling narrative than before.
There are still a few narrative issues though, while the film sets up rich themes, it doesn’t do much to fully realize them. With a couple more Avatar films on the way, there are story beats set up in this film that never comes back, clearly meant to be something in a later film. Besides Jake, Quaritch, and two of his kids, most of the characters are forgettable or unimportant, and poor Neytiri gets sidelined. It’s not going to win any awards for writing but it’s still an improvement over the first film. But you’re not going into this movie looking for deep, developed drama, this is a sci-fi spectacle, designed to transport you away and take you into an immersive world for its ridiculous 172-minute runtime. And that is where The Way of Water greatly succeeds. It is one the most immersive, spectacle-driven films to ever grace the silver screen that demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible. Avatar is a cinematic event.
While it might be quick to judge James Cameron’s ideas, you can’t help but admire his ambition. He has created a world that provides the ultimate escapism and a little bit to chew on. His Avatar films have never been gourmet meals but they still leave you feeling mostly satisfied and hungry for a little more. The Way of Water is not perfect, but it is a great reminder of how special and powerful the movie-going experience can be. Which is exactly what Cameron had intended.
4/5
Avatar: The Way of Water
Directed by James Cameron
Screenplay by James Cameron, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver
Starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang and Kate Winslet
In Theaters Everywhere December 16th