AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER (2022)

James Cameron Returns Us to His Alien World

Grade: A-

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To say director James Cameron had his work cut out for him while making the sequel to his epic sci-fi smash Avatar (2009) is an understatement. Not only did he and his crew have to replicate and improve the CGI and motion-capture technology used to make the first one, but they also had to satisfy fans who had fallen out of love with it. Cameron has obviously taken that challenge seriously since the sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, has been delayed multiple times over the course of thirteen years. Now it is finally here, and Cameron and his fellow screenwriters, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, seem to have found a way to make it work: just make it a good movie. Is it Shakespeare? No. Is it cliched and predictable? Very. Is it exciting, entertaining, and moving? Yes, yes, and yes. In fact, I actually liked it more than the first movie.

Set in the distant future on the lush moon Pandora, the first Avatar followed a paraplegic Marine named Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) who was paired with an “Avatar,” an artificial body made by combining human DNA with that of the Na’vi, the tall, blue-skinned natives of Pandora. After falling in love with a native woman named Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), Jake chose to lead the Na’vi in revolt against the “Sky People,” the Na’vi name for the human military force seeking to exploit Pandora’s resources for an energy-impoverished Earth.

At the opening of The Way of Water, many years have passed, and Jake (now permanently confined to his Avatar body) and Neytiri have four children: Neteyam (James Flatters), Lo'ak (Britain Dalton), Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), and Tuktirey (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss). Things are looking good for them until the Sky People return and start to colonize Pandora. Determined to keep his family safe, Jake decides to take them far from home to live with a tribe of Na’vi on a group of remote islands in Pandora’s oceans. As they start to bond with their new community, they are hunted by their old enemy, the late Col. Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who has been resurrected in his own Avatar body and is out for blood.

The first movie, despite its technical innovations, was weighed down by the common story tropes it followed. The same can also be said for the sequel, although they are not quite as annoying. Many family dramas have at least one child who feels “different” from the others. The Way of Water gives us at least two: Kiri, the Avatar daughter of the late Dr. Grace Augustine whom Jake and Neytiri adopted, seems more in tune with the life all around her than others. Lo’ak, their second son, feels neglected by his father and is more at home in the open sea with a whalelike creature than with his family. And then there’s Spider (Jack Champion), a young human who loves the Na’vi and is practically a fifth child to Jake and Neytiri.

But no matter how many times a character type or story trope has been seen, it can still endure if something different is done with it. The Way of Water succeeds in this regard thanks to its CGI effects, which pave the way for its three great strengths: the world-building, the characters, and the action. Once again, the effects make the world of Pandora a beautiful place, and the Na'vi identifiable people. The scenes of Jake’s children exploring the waters off the island allow for some amazing visuals, such as a glowing coral tree and various bioluminescent fish.

Where the movie succeeded the most for me was with the characters and the action. More than the first movie, The Way of Water is heavily concerned with character development, putting the spotlight on Jake’s kids much of the time. Most of them have problems we have seen before, but they still draw us into their world. The flesh-and-blood and CGI-covered characters have great chemistry between them, and the story makes it easy for us to care about them; even Stephen Lang is an engaging presence as the villainous Quaritch.

At more than three hours, the movie is even longer than its predecessor. I didn’t check my watch for this, but I’m pretty sure the last hour and a half is devoted to the big final battle. It is here that Cameron inserts his trademark nonstop action to deliver a satisfyingly exhilarating thrill ride, as the Na’vi fly in on aquatic gliding creatures against the human invaders. Bullets, spears and arrows fly left and right, ships explode, and the aforementioned whale friend arrives to rescue Lo'ak in spectacular fashion. And when that’s done, the family must escape from a sinking ship while fighting off Quaritch and his goons. There are also a few amusing nods to previous Cameron movies here, such as Titanic (1997) and even The Abyss (1989). This whole sequence lasts for a very long time, and it is incredible.

There are a few moments that could have been trimmed down in Avatar: The Way of Water. Jake and Neytiri’s children wander away a number of times, a story thread so common it’s annoying. And it isn’t too hard to guess that Lo’ak will reconcile with his father and that his whale friend will save the day. But the movie succeeds where it counts the most: it creates an immersive story populated with engaging characters and inserts them into amazing action scenes. While the first Avatar was devoted almost exclusively to the CGI world, its sequel brings us closer to the characters within that world. It also manages to set up sequels while also being a standalone story. If Cameron and his cast and crew continue to build on the strengths of this movie, these sequels should work out very well.

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Director: James Cameron

Screenplay: James Cameron, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver

Story: James Cameron, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Josh Friedman, Shane Salerno (Based on characters created by James Cameron

Producers: James Cameron, Jon Landau

Cast: Sam Worthington (Jake Sully), Zoe Saldaña (Neytiri), Sigourney Weaver (Kiri), Stephen Lang (Col. Miles Quaritch), Kate Winslet (Ronal), Cliff Curtis (Tonowari), Edie Falco (Gen. Frances Ardmore), Brendan Cowell (Capt. Mick Scoresby), Jemaine Clement (Dr. Ian Gavin), CCH Pounder (Mo'at), Jamie Flatters (Neteyam), Britain Dalton (Lo'ak), Trinity Jo-Li Bliss (Tuktirey), Bailey Bass (Tsireya), Jack Champion (Miles "Spider" Socorro), Joel David Moore (Dr. Norm Spellman), Dileep Rao (Dr. Max Patel)

Rated: PG-13 (for sequences of strong violence and intense action, partial nudity, and some strong languate)