Avatar: The Way of Water
Avatar: The Way of Water
Starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang
Directed by James Cameron
Starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang
Directed by James Cameron
A seemingly unstoppable killer relentlessly hunts down one particular person and stops at nothing to accomplish his goal. An outcast falls in love with royalty, who in turn falls in love with him. An expansive exploration of the underwater world results in the finding of tons of unique, beautiful, and deadly creatures. Aliens invade and it's up to a small group of people to stop them. While you might think these are "Terminator," "Titanic," "The Abyss," and "Aliens" respectively - and you wouldn't be wrong - they're also plots in James Cameron's long-long-long-long gestating sequel "Avatar: The Way of Water," which seems only fair since Cameon also directed those other films as well. Still, much like his 2009 revolutionary "Avatar" (which is essentially the story of "Dances With Wolves" in space), Cameron doesn't really need to focus on a unique story to deliver the goods. And while the goods here aren't as one-of-a-kind as "Avatar," it's still a breathtaking, beautiful film despite its narrative flaws.
As the years have progressed for Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) on the planet of Pandora, he's fallen in love with Na'vi Nevtiri (Zoe Saldana) and fathered three children: eldest son Neteyam (Jamie Flatters), younger son Lo'ak (Britain Dalton), and youngest daughter Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), while also adopting Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), born from Grace Augustine's inert Avatar. Jake has become the chief of the Omaticaya forest people and he and his family have lived a quiet, peaceful existence until the Space People return and set up shop on the planet, planning to turn it into a new Earth. Among the occupation is Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who is now a full-on Na'vi after his memories were implanted into it. He has one goal in mind: kill Jake Sully and his family, and this leads Jake and his family to flee to the waterland. There they try to fit in, as Lo'ak falls in love with the water chief's daughter, and Kiri exhibits strange abilities that makes her feel even more like an outcast. All the while Quarich doesn't stop in his quest to find Jake, leading the water people to come under attack by the Space People and Jake forming one last stand in order to save his family and his newfound homeland from being colonized.
Clocking in at three hours and twelve minutes, no one can say "The Way of Water" isn't ambitious, but it's ambitious to a fault. While the entirety of the film is beautiful to watch and surprisingly keeps your attention for the most part, the story of it all is rather lackluster and doesn't really go in any direction, but chooses to stay stagnant with repetitive dialogue and themes that keeps the Sully family rooted in its sameness from start to finish, never accomplishing to add anything noteworthy to their story apart from several loose ends that'll undoubtedly be explained in Cameron's third, fourth and fifth "Avatar" outings - as long as they're not thirteen years apart like the first and second film.
Essentially the story here is Jake trying to keep his family safe from Quarich's undying quest for revenge, which I guess is justified because Jake's wife Nevtiri did kill him in the first film, and if someone killed me and I came back in an Avatar form, I'd probably want to seek revenge myself. In any event, the film follows his family as they incorporate themselves into a new culture and experience new things like sea creatures and water in general, as well as in-fighting with the native water people because they look different than them. The remainder of the film is filled with Cameron's bread-and-butter: stunning visuals and colors that really pop on the screen, introducing viewers to unique sea creatures and serves as a decent escape from reality - until he realizes he has to make an ending, and does what he lauds superhero films for doing: ending in a big action spectacle, which in all fairness is the most exciting part of the film.
The performances are also a strong plus for the film, even though it seems both Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana are sidelined for the majority of the film in favor of focusing on their children, which makes sense since Cameron wants to prolong the "Avatar" franchise and he needs fresh blood to move whatever story he's making forward. Sigourney Weaver returns but this time as a Na'vi youth named Kiri, who has a fascinating story if it was actually developed and not sidelined for future sequels as she tries to integrate herself into a family that's not her own, as well as noticing strange things about her physiology that, again, would've been more fascinating than the main story. Jamie Flatters and Britain Dalton star as Jake's oldest and youngest sons, and both play to their traditional tropes: Flatters' older is the logical, cautious one while Dalton's younger is the hothead, impulsive one that constantly lands them in trouble, but also showcases a heart that's true because he feels like the black sheep of the family. Then there's Trinity Jo-Li Bliss's Tuk, as the youngest Sully, who merely exists to constantly get kidnapped and get into dangerous situations because, well, she's a child and that's what children do.
While the first film was criticized for being a remake of "Dances With Wolves," "The Way of Water" takes from Cameron's previous work in blatantly obvious ways, but it's alright because they were all Cameron's creations in the first place. Much like "Terminator," "TWOW" focuses on Quarich's quest to end Jake Sully's existence. Jake's youngest son falls in love with the water world's chief's daughter, compared to Leonardo DiCaprio's poor Jack falls in love with Kate Winslet's wealthy Rose. The underwater world is dazzling and full of fanciful and frightening creatures like "The Abyss." Then there's the all-out war between an alien race and those who will stop at nothing to prevent their own annihilation like "Aliens." Unlike the unique visuals, there's nothing unique to the story. Still, it's a visual wonder to behold, and one that demands to be seen on the big screen - but probably only once, so make sure it's on the biggest screen available.
The Score: A+
As the years have progressed for Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) on the planet of Pandora, he's fallen in love with Na'vi Nevtiri (Zoe Saldana) and fathered three children: eldest son Neteyam (Jamie Flatters), younger son Lo'ak (Britain Dalton), and youngest daughter Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), while also adopting Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), born from Grace Augustine's inert Avatar. Jake has become the chief of the Omaticaya forest people and he and his family have lived a quiet, peaceful existence until the Space People return and set up shop on the planet, planning to turn it into a new Earth. Among the occupation is Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who is now a full-on Na'vi after his memories were implanted into it. He has one goal in mind: kill Jake Sully and his family, and this leads Jake and his family to flee to the waterland. There they try to fit in, as Lo'ak falls in love with the water chief's daughter, and Kiri exhibits strange abilities that makes her feel even more like an outcast. All the while Quarich doesn't stop in his quest to find Jake, leading the water people to come under attack by the Space People and Jake forming one last stand in order to save his family and his newfound homeland from being colonized.
Clocking in at three hours and twelve minutes, no one can say "The Way of Water" isn't ambitious, but it's ambitious to a fault. While the entirety of the film is beautiful to watch and surprisingly keeps your attention for the most part, the story of it all is rather lackluster and doesn't really go in any direction, but chooses to stay stagnant with repetitive dialogue and themes that keeps the Sully family rooted in its sameness from start to finish, never accomplishing to add anything noteworthy to their story apart from several loose ends that'll undoubtedly be explained in Cameron's third, fourth and fifth "Avatar" outings - as long as they're not thirteen years apart like the first and second film.
Essentially the story here is Jake trying to keep his family safe from Quarich's undying quest for revenge, which I guess is justified because Jake's wife Nevtiri did kill him in the first film, and if someone killed me and I came back in an Avatar form, I'd probably want to seek revenge myself. In any event, the film follows his family as they incorporate themselves into a new culture and experience new things like sea creatures and water in general, as well as in-fighting with the native water people because they look different than them. The remainder of the film is filled with Cameron's bread-and-butter: stunning visuals and colors that really pop on the screen, introducing viewers to unique sea creatures and serves as a decent escape from reality - until he realizes he has to make an ending, and does what he lauds superhero films for doing: ending in a big action spectacle, which in all fairness is the most exciting part of the film.
The performances are also a strong plus for the film, even though it seems both Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana are sidelined for the majority of the film in favor of focusing on their children, which makes sense since Cameron wants to prolong the "Avatar" franchise and he needs fresh blood to move whatever story he's making forward. Sigourney Weaver returns but this time as a Na'vi youth named Kiri, who has a fascinating story if it was actually developed and not sidelined for future sequels as she tries to integrate herself into a family that's not her own, as well as noticing strange things about her physiology that, again, would've been more fascinating than the main story. Jamie Flatters and Britain Dalton star as Jake's oldest and youngest sons, and both play to their traditional tropes: Flatters' older is the logical, cautious one while Dalton's younger is the hothead, impulsive one that constantly lands them in trouble, but also showcases a heart that's true because he feels like the black sheep of the family. Then there's Trinity Jo-Li Bliss's Tuk, as the youngest Sully, who merely exists to constantly get kidnapped and get into dangerous situations because, well, she's a child and that's what children do.
While the first film was criticized for being a remake of "Dances With Wolves," "The Way of Water" takes from Cameron's previous work in blatantly obvious ways, but it's alright because they were all Cameron's creations in the first place. Much like "Terminator," "TWOW" focuses on Quarich's quest to end Jake Sully's existence. Jake's youngest son falls in love with the water world's chief's daughter, compared to Leonardo DiCaprio's poor Jack falls in love with Kate Winslet's wealthy Rose. The underwater world is dazzling and full of fanciful and frightening creatures like "The Abyss." Then there's the all-out war between an alien race and those who will stop at nothing to prevent their own annihilation like "Aliens." Unlike the unique visuals, there's nothing unique to the story. Still, it's a visual wonder to behold, and one that demands to be seen on the big screen - but probably only once, so make sure it's on the biggest screen available.
The Score: A+
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