A triumph of pure spectacle
All the way back in December 2009, the blockbuster hit Avatar—directed by acclaimed director James Cameron—was unleashed upon audiences. The film, depicting the human race occupying a jungle moon called Pandora in the far future, would go on to become the highest grossing film ever made. (Before Avatar, the highest grossing film was actually one of Cameron’s own films, 1997’s Titanic!)
After the success of Avatar, Cameron began work on its sequels, which he originally announced back in 2010—but wouldn’t actually start filming until 2017. These films were eventually given tentative titles in late 2019 (The Way of Water, The Seed Bearer, The Tulkun Rider, and The Quest for Eywa), with the first sequel being given a release date of December 17th, 2021.
Well, thanks to the COVID pandemic, these films were all delayed, with The Way of Water being given its release date of December 16th, 2022. In the two years since its delay, the film has finally released (and has unsurprisingly grossed nearly half a billion dollars at the box office). The real question is, though: is this movie good? Did James Cameron really need to sink his teeth into this universe again?
My answer is “yes”—with some caveats.
Pandora the Explorer
Set more than a decade after the events of Avatar, The Way of Water begins with a recap of what occurred since then by none other than Jake Sully (Sam Worthington). After helping the Omaticaya clan defeat the human forces led by Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) and permanently becoming one of the Na’vi, Jake had a family with Neytiri (Zoe Salda?a). The couple has four children: Neteyam, Lo’ak (Britain Dalton), Tuktirey, and Kiri (Sigourney Weaver). While the first three kids are Jake and Neytiri’s biological children, Kiri is adopted, having been born of Grace Augustine’s avatar body. (Augustine was also portrayed by Weaver in the first film, who was killed by Quaritch.)
With the recap finished, the general plot of the film starts: the humans that were driven off Pandora return in order to take more of its natural resources. In response, Jake and the Omaticaya launch raids on their supply chains, which leads to Quaritch—having been resurrected as a Recombinant, an avatar that has a human’s memories embedded in it—leading a hunt for Jake. This, in turn, results in Jake and his family leaving the Omaticaya and eventually meeting the Metkayina, the sea people of Pandora. The family assimilates into the group, learning their ways in order to survive.
Now, while the story sounds interesting on paper, it basically is the same plot of the first film. There, Jake—through his original avatar body—assimilated into the Omaticaya in order to coerce them to leave their home so the humans can steal their resources. Sure, The Way of Water remixes certain elements (the humans flat-out stealing said resources instead of using avatars, Quaritch being a foot-soldier and not a leader, the environment being the sea and not a jungle, etc.), but it’s hard to not see the obvious similarities.
That being said, the story does have interesting ideas that help differentiate it from the first. The Sully family dynamic in particular creates a powerful emotional core that was fairly absent in Avatar. Granted, the characters themselves aren’t exactly three-dimensional, but they are given just enough personality where you do root for them to survive. (This results in an incredibly harrowing third act that will have you on the edge of your seat in the best possible way.)
Lo'ak Who's Talking
Despite the relatively simple and slightly rehashed story, the film’s performances help pick up the slack. Much like with the first film, the ones that I find the strongest are from Lang, Weaver, and Salda?a.
In Avatar, Lang’s portrayal of Quaritch elevated a rather stereotypical military commander into a pretty entertaining character. He chewed the scenery in every possible way, being able to deliver Quaritch’s goofy dialogue effortlessly. In The Way of Water, however, Lang plays the character in a darker light, having the time of his life portraying Quaritch as the violent and hostile man that he is.
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Next up is Weaver. When compared to Grace Augustine’s smart-aleck attitude, Weaver is forced to play a wide-eyed teenage girl. I feel that she does a good job overall—giving the film a character that needed to be its beating heart—by having Kiri be curious by nature and possessing a kind heart. Her traits extend into her greater character arc, which unfortunately leaves quite a few questions unanswered. (Guess The Seed Bearer will answer them…right??)
Lastly, there’s Salda?a, who’s Neytiri was probably my favorite character in the first film. Here, unlike the fiery character we saw in Avatar, Neytiri in The Way of Water is a gentler, more supportive person, and Salda?a does a solid job in illustrating this softer version of the character. That being said, she is once again able to effectively tap into that fiery spirit once more when the third act hits—and hits it most certainly does. (If you know, you know!)
Untold Quaritches
Considering how fantastic the first film looked back in 2009—heck, it still looks fantastic all these years later—it’s no surprise that The Way of Water looks great. In fact, I would say that this is probably the best-looking movie I’ve seen in years (and I have seen some incredible-looking movies in this year alone).
Throughout my viewing of the film, I couldn’t believe just how wonderfully lifelike everything appeared to be. (It is so good that you’d forget that this was all created within computers!) I have got to thank the utter geniuses at Weta FX—the visual effects company founded by The Lord of the Rings trilogy director Peter Jackson—for accomplishing such an impressive feat.
Where do I even begin with describing the visuals? Large, sprawling jungles. Giant, mechanical ships. Immense swaths of clear, blue oceans. Massive alien creatures and foliage. So much to take in all at once, and me simply saying all of these things will not do them justice—they must be seen to be believed.
Overall, I would say that The Way of Water is very GOOD. This is definitely a film that you need to experience in a theater on the biggest screen possible with the best sound possible. (And in 3D, too. The visuals really pop—no pun intended—with that feature added in.) Is it better than the first? In some respects, yes. Overall? Honestly…I would say that it’s slightly better, but only slightly.
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