REVIEW #224 Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

The Way of Water regroups with Jake Sully on Pandora, having started a family and led the ‘Forest People’ for a number of years in peace. However as the Sky People return, Jake finds himself having to protect his family from the incoming danger.

The highly anticipated sequel, 13 years in the making, certainly had a lot to live up to and I do believe it lived up to those high expectations. James Cameron, as frustrating as his recent bitterness has been, is one of the best directors in the world when it comes to world building and The Way of Water is clear evidence of that. We explored the forests of Pandora in the first instalment and in the sequel we are introduced to the wonders of their oceans, the creatures that inhabit them and the tribes that call it their home. The cinematography is amazing and the motion capture has clearly improved, the level of detail in simple things like the Na’Vi’s hands and expressions are simply outstanding. It’s difficult to accept the poor motion capture within the MCU, when we have this level of quality on display. The character ‘Spider’ was also incorporated into the environment very well, something that I would imagine is extremely difficult to do, considering the rest of the scene is CGI. 

The acting continues to be one of the strengths of the franchise and I was once again blown away by Zoe Saldaña! Her ability to express the deepest of emotions in a way that really impacts the audience, is mind blowing. I just wish we saw more of her during this sequel, she seems to take a back seat until the final act. I also want to credit the younger cast members because they performed brilliantly and created characters that we could love straight from the start! 

Now when it was revealed that the Sky People (humans) would once again be the antagonist of the film, I was extremely hesitant to say the least. I felt like it run the risk of feeling way to similar to the original, except instead of the forests, now it was the water. In a way I was right to be hesitant because it was very similar but there was one twist to the central antagonists that spiced it up a little bit and made the plot much more interesting. The additional characters also provided an interesting dynamic, the introduction of Spider was really cool, even if he was just a sci-fi copy of Tarzan! Sigourney Weaver also returns to play Kiri, the adopted daughter of Jake and Neytiri, this character is a really interesting one because she has some rare gifts, I won’t reveal any spoilers but those gifts make her such a unique character, one that only improves the film. The overall storyline is pretty predictable, from the big deaths to the final battle, you can pretty much guess the direction it’s heading in. For that reason I believe I can’t give a higher score than this, which is unfortunate. I just would have appreciated a big twist, something shocking and unexpected. The ending would suggest that the third film is going to follow down the same path, the same set of antagonists the same sort of battles. I just hope Cameron finds a fresh way of shaking the third film up completely, quite possibly centred around Kiri! 

So overall I think The Way of Water definitely improves and builds upon the first one, it’s more of a spectacle with better visuals, more heart and emotion, as well a longer run time, which I am always down for! Even if it was slightly predictable, I think most people can have a lot of fun with this film, so I would certainly recommend it. Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long for the third.

Overall (9/10)

Thanks for reading!

Callan