'Avatar: The Way of Water' is the Spectacle that You've Been Waiting 13 Years for that Pays Off

by Darian Scalamoni

    Despite what your thoughts are or were on the original 2009 film, Avatar: The Way of Water has had a ton of intrigue surrounding its release just due to its scope, world building and the amount of time that has passed for its follow-up sequel. The original film was a visual effects darling created and directed by James Cameron (Titanic, The Terminator), a filmmaker who even at that time was 12 years in between projects. That last project he had released before the first journey to the world we know as Pandora was at the time, the highest-grossing film of all-time, Titanic. He surpassed that film in every sense with Avatar's release and it seemed that there was a brand-new universe to explore. And then, Cameron vanished. So did the Na'vi characters that we grew to love. 

    There was a fellow content creator who recently brought up the fact that if a young moviegoer saw the original Avatar film at 6 years old, that audience member would now be 18. The audience has grown with these characters, and it makes sense that Cameron would take it in the direction that he has for the long-awaited sequel. Avatar: The Way of Water has been in development for a number of years and actually, the cast and crew filmed this movie as well as Avatar 3 back-to-back to make up for the time in between. James Cameron has revealed in multiple interviews during the press tour that a main reason why he had to film these back-to-back was because of the aging of his child and teen actors. Though many of their performances are done through motion capture, one character in particular, is a human and a child when this film starts so time is critical to the filmmaking process.

    Many film pundits thought that Avatar was a visual spectacle that had remarkable technology for the time, but the plot was thinner than most. Some generated speculation that it was almost a carbon copy, plot-wise to films such as Dances with Wolves or Fern Gully. It was hard to imagine spending four additional films with the characters that were presented in the 2009 fantasy epic, however, you quickly realize that Cameron makes you care about the returning characters, new characters and environments almost instantly. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) was a soldier that went into the Avatar world of Pandora, fighting to save their citizens and environment even if it meant taking down his commanding officer, Colonel Miles Quaritch. It was within this new land that Sully had begun his new family with love interest, Na'vi warrior, Neytiri (Zoe Saldana). As we jump ahead in time within the film's opening moments, you see that Sully now has a family of his own human-avatar hybrids. 

    The Na'vi hybrid family look like normal Na'vi, however, they have 5 fingers like human's and flesh-like tips of their fingers. They speak Na'vi like everyone else and Cameron does a unique thing in the beginning of the film through narration. Sully's character learns the language of Na'vi to become a member of the Pandoran society, and states such to the audience. "At this point, it sounds just like English to me," once this is shared by the character, the story thrusts into action as we learn more about the familial dynamic set forth by our lead characters. Sully and Neytiri have four children, two boys and two girls. In age descending order, oldest son Neteyam, son Lo'ak, daughter Kiri and youngest daughter, Tuk make up the family that Sully and Neytiri will do anything to protect whilst teaching them the ways of being strong warriors.

    Pandora acts as a giant playground for James Cameron to set this universe in motion, as the family known by other tribes as "forest people" must abandon their lives in the trees as they are being hunted by Miles Quaritch's avatar. Quaritch (Stephen Lang) returns within an avatar body with all of his memories being stored in a chip that was placed into the giant blue body after his death at the conclusion of the first film. He, along with new allies led by The Sopranos' own Edie Falco, are aiming to take down Sully to give the enemy an advantage against the native dwellers of Pandora. This leads to the family heading to a different section of Pandora where they look to settle and take the danger away from their ancestors and townspeople by heading towards the water colony. 

       The particular performances that stick out though are those of the kids. Though we see some other new Na'vi join the party in earned sequences throughout such as Ronal (Kate Winslet) and Tonowari (Cliff Curtis), we learn much about the unique qualities of all of the children throughout the film. Lo'ak (Britain Dalton), the second oldest of the quartet of Sully children anchors much of the film. He often feels like an outcast getting in trouble and never quite living up to the standards of his older brother, Neteyam (Jamie Flatters). Lo'ak is seen as a disappointment in many moments throughout the film, in the eyes of his father, however, he cherishes his independence in who he is, resembling many of the traits that Jake possessed within the first Avatar. Spider (Jack Champion) is another unique character introduced in The Way of Water and is the aforementioned human character that Cameron has spoken about in interviews. Spider was left on Pandora and couldn't be sent back to Earth following the events of the first film as his age at the time (2 years old) was too young to be sent back in cryo so he lived amongst the Na'vi forming a close relationship with the Sully's. There is a lot more nuance to his character, but it would lean too close to spoiler territory. 

    The final standout amongst the children is none other than the middle daughter, Kiri. Kiri is played in the film by 60-year-old Oscar-nominated actress, Sigourney Weaver. You read that right, Kiri was adopted by Jake and Neytiri as the biological daughter of Weaver's Grace Augustine's avatar body. It sounds confusing but you manage to learn the relationships and narratives of the film in no time. Kiri's pursuits are that of remembering her mother Grace while feeling like an outcast of her own not knowing her father and having lost her mother. Weaver does an amazing job encompassing the attitudes of a teenage girl while still having the wonder of learning about one self's perceptions being very in tune with her surroundings. It's probably my favorite performance throughout the movie. 

    The concept of narrative interweaving with technological breakthroughs is evident throughout the 192-minute runtime of Avatar: The Way of Water. The performances, mostly done through performance capture are so vivid and authentic despite the fact that there are barely any main human characters on-screen. Cameron does a spectacular job of setting up these new characters and making you feel as if you care about their decisions, outcomes and feelings making the runtime truly earned. Having seen this film in IMAX 3D, I would encourage all to go through this same cinematic experience. Films such as these and also, Top Gun: Maverick from earlier this year, make the theater-viewing experience feel whole and genuine again. The mesmerizing visuals, the fluid frame rate and beautiful cinematography make it a movie that is an absolute technical marvel. 

    Overall, the film is a staggering achievement for James Cameron that has catapulted to the top of my list for my favorite film of 2022. The poignancy and dedication to pushing the boundaries of filmmaking is not an understatement when it comes to Cameron's feats of building a world from scratch. Avatar: The Way of Water dazzles visually but holds its characters with tons of respect making intimate moments feel improved upon from the original story and giving a platform to build upon for future installments in the world of Pandora.

Overall Score: 9.5