Avatar: the way of water
It’s finally here. After more than a decade, we now have a sequel to the original Avatar. I say ‘finally’ because James Cameron has been incessantly hyping the sequels, which have ballooned in number from 2 to now 4 films. The world was a very different place in 2009. We were still picking up the pieces from the 2008 financial crisis, but the dumpster fire that was 2020 was still a ways away. Avatar: The Way of Water also has to contend with a drastically changed action move landscape. Movies are generally dominated now by either Marvel CGI extravaganzas or John Wick-adjacent gun fu and beat-em ups. Is there room now for a competently made, sturdily built action film that both pays homage to older macho 80s action flicks while at the same time carving its own path? The answer, as with Top Gun: Maverick, is a resounding “yeah, probably.”
A quick note: whenever I see a film in theaters, I always strive to see one that supports closed captioning, such as the CaptiView device, which fits handily into the seat cupholder. The last time I saw a movie without captions was Mike Birbiglia’s Don’t Think Twice. I was told by theater staff that the film itself did not support captions, I presume due to the very small budget—accessibility is expensive. (It was ultimately a challenging film to watch, as much of the film consists of rapid-fire dialogue between multiple characters. I later re-watched it on DVD with captions, and loved it.) All that is to say, I opted to see Avatar: The Way of Water without captions. For whatever reason, my local IMAX theater does not support captioning devices. But if there were ever a movie to see in IMAX 3D, this is it. The plot was mostly easy to follow (it’s not that complicated), and there’s even some baked-in subtitles for when the Na’vi slip into their native tongue. I wasn’t able however to make out the opening monologue or some of the final dialogue due to the background music and sound effects. (Also, Na’vi aren’t easy to lip-read.) Some of the more out-there plot developments, which also confused general audiences, were inexplicable to me, particularly the return of Stephen Lang and Sigourney Weaver. Both actors are a welcome presence in the film, but Cameron relies on what amounts to sci-fi gobbledygook to justify their inclusion.
15 years after the events of the first film, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) serves as the chief of the Omaticaya clan, and lives happily on Pandora with his wife Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), their sons Neteyam and Lo’ak, their daughter Tuk, and their adopted daughter Kiri (Sigourney Weaver, playing the daughter of her character from the first film—just go with it). Also part of their clan is a human child, Spider (Jack Champion), the son of Stephen Lang’s character Quaritch from the first film (again, go with it). To the surprise of no one in the audience, the nefarious RDA (Resources Development Administration) returns to again plunder Pandora, this time with a resurrected Quaritch (Stephen Lang) in the body of a Na’vi (see what I mean?). In the chaos, Spider gets captured, and the family Sully flee to the safety of the Metkayina clan, who live on the reefs.
Cameron here falls back on his favorite themes of environmentalism and colonialism, and largely repeats the plot beats of the first movie. However, the change of scenery to Pandora’s oceans greatly expands the film’s scope, and offers up a whole new realm of eye candy. Cameron has spent the past decade improving filmmaking technology in order to capture underwater scenes, and it shows. Every ocean scene here is breathtakingly beautiful, and the use of performance capture makes the effects seem that much more lifelike. The 3D adds an invaluable sense of depth to the landscape (no gimmicky shots here of weapons coming out of the screen, ala Friday the 13th Part III). Further, the director’s impeccable sense of worldbuilding has only improved, as every frame is literally teeming with wildlife in the foreground and background, thanks to the 3D. The overall effect makes the audience feel that they’re peering into a living, breathing world. It never feels as if you’re just watching actors stand lifelessly in front of a green screen.
As with some of his previous entries, including Avatar, the film could’ve used a bit more of a judicious touch in the editing room. It runs a bit longer than 3 hours and doesn’t quite justify that gargantuan running time. One scene in particular involving a protracted whale murder (“hunt” makes it sound classier than it is) could definitively have been excised without damaging the overall narrative. (This is also where I’d like to plug the RunPee app, which is invaluable in helping you decide when to go to the bathroom (just ignore their unnecessary and unwelcome editorializing in the app).) Just when the audience’s patience is waning, however, Cameron liberally peppers in some crackerjack action sequences to allay the audience’s concerns. These scenes are where the movie shines, and they’re so well-done that I find myself reluctant to revisit many of the recent Marvel movies, with their hacky, sloppy CGI-infused showdowns. Not once in The Way of Water did a moment of bad visual effects take me out of the film, or a moment where a humanoid character moves in a way that seems to defy the laws of physics. Cameron truly seems to have conquered the uncanny valley, which is all the more impressive as the movie descends further and further into chaos. The action here also packs a visceral wallop that’s bolstered by the underlying performance capture, and there is a palpable sense of danger in these sequences. (Again, Marvel, take note.) The last third of the film is mostly breathless, breakneck action, and confirms that there’s no one better when it comes to staging and choreographing mayhem.
It will be interesting to see how this entry stands the test of time, and whether people still have an appetite for the umpteen sequels that Cameron keeps promoting. (The box office results so far clearly point to ‘yes.’) Plot-wise, he doesn’t reinvent the wheel, and both the protracted running time and creaky dialogue will wear on viewers. At one point, a character jokingly asks, “Why so blue?” Eesh. But with the nonstop eye candy, the most thrilling action to hit the multiplex in some time, and even some genuine, stirring emotion (largely thanks to Weaver’s sensitive, wide-eyed performance), The Way of Water serves as a respectable entry in Cameron’s canon, a worthy follow-up that even surpasses the original film. I’ll be first in line to see the next sequel when it opens in 30 years, my cane and 3D goggles in hand.
