Avatar: The Way of Water Movie Review by Josh Davis : Pop Culture Leftovers

Avatar: The Way of Water Movie Review by Josh Davis

December 23, 2022 11:29 am |

The first “Avatar” movie, released in 2009, was a worldwide phenomenon, transforming the movie industry because of its groundbreaking 3-D visuals, and setting the new standard for global box-office receipts.

I, personally, was not a fan. My initial takeaway was that the visuals were stunning, but the premise felt recycled, the overall story paper-thin, and much of the acting was average at best.

More than a decade later, director and co-writer James Cameron’s first film has aged surprisingly well. The CGI doesn’t look dated at all — something few if any 13-year-old films can say anymore. And the story — at least for this reviewer — was better upon recent rewatch than I remember.

All of that is to say that I went into “Avatar: The Way of Water” with some trepidation, expecting a great-looking film that’s largely superficial and superfluous.

Instead, I was treated to one of the best moviegoing experiences of my life.

The story picks up roughly two decades later. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) has become chief of the Omaticaya tribe of the Na’vi, the tall, blue, cat-like people native to the planet Pandora. He and his mate, Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), now have four children: two boys, a young girl, and an adopted daughter named Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) who is somehow the child of a human scientist from the first film, Dr. Grace Augustine.

In the opening, it all seems like an idyllic existence as the family thrives and the Na’vi people in general have returned to their harmonious relationship with nature.

Then, in a thinly veiled metaphor for both western imperialism and the industrial revolution’s continuing war on the natural world, earthlings return to Pandora and chaos ensues. Immediately, their fiery landing blazes through countless acres of Pandora forests, and indigenous wildlife are reduced to ashes.

“Avatar” had humans visit Pandora to mine the precious — and lazily named — “Unobtanium.” In the sequel, Cameron has mankind coming back both for a new substance said to stop human aging, and because the Earth itself is in crisis and humanity needs a new plant to inhabit.

Also complicating matters is the resurrection of Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) in a Na’vi body, and the fact that he’s and hellbent on revenge against Sully and his clan.

Fleeing the human invasion and a new team of Na’vi hunters in Avatar bodies led by Quaritch, Sully, Neytiri and their children flee from their forest home to a village called Metkayina, where the Na’vi people have adapted to live in harmony with their oceanic surroundings. Their tails have evolved to help them swim, and they travel above and beneath the water on creatures similar to the flying, yelping dinosaurs from the first movie.

The plot isn’t terribly original, but it really doesn’t matter. The overall story is more engaging, and the digital effects are even more breathtaking than before.

Cameron has long been obsessed with water, from “The Abyss” and “Titanic” to his documentary work, but there has never been anything like “The Way of Water.”

The environment that Cameron has created is so rich, immersive, and utterly enjoyable that almost every other shortcoming can be forgiven. It’s the kind of movie magic that can trace its roots from “King Kong” to “Star Wars,” to seeing a man fly in Richard Donner’s “Superman” or dinosaurs walk the earth in the first “Jurassic Park.”

It can be described and heaped with praise, but really it just needs to be seen, and seen on the biggest screen possible and with 3-D glasses. As a side note, I went to “The Way of Water” with someone who has never been able to watch 3-D without getting severe motion sickness, but she had zero issues watching this film. Again, Cameron has reinvented and perfected the medium.

As for the actors and the performances, everyone is at least passable, and none are distracting from the movie magic. But the real scene stealer and perhaps the biggest surprise is Weaver as Kiri. Having a 73-year-old actor – no matter how talented – play a child seemed daunting at best. But Weaver is abundantly charming and believable in the role, and the effects team created one of the finest fully CGI characters in movie history.

Kiri is the real heart of “The Way of Water,” and her journey, her mysterious origins, and her connection with the natural world around her is sure to be central to the further “Avatar” sequels already well in development.

Lang and Worthington, both just fine in the first film, are much better here, with Lang especially playing the villain role with relish and gravitas.

If you love movies — and especially big, landmark ones like “Star Wars” and “Jaws,” “E.T.” and “Infinity War” – forget any hang-ups you may have about the first “Avatar” movie.

Cameron, like he did with sequels to “Alien” and “Terminator,” once again proves he is the master of upping the ante in terms of both storytelling and spectacle.

In short, “Avatar: The Way of Water” is not to be missed. And count this reviewer among the converts who cannot wait to see more of Pandora.

PCL RATING: Tupperware

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: FRESH