REVIEW: "Avatar: The Way of Water" (2022)

There are three things that are certain when it comes to filmmaker James Cameron. 1) He knows how to make an effective blockbuster movie. 2) He constantly pushes technology (including 3D) forward, but never lets it get in the way of engrossing storytelling. And 3) he likes to go big. Really big. 

From Aliens (1986) to The Abyss (1989) and Titanic (1997), the visionary director has strived for thrilling cinematic experiences with deeply emotional stories that certainly deliver on those levels. On the other hand, the biggest disadvantage of his 2009 box-office juggernaut that was Avatar (which remains the highest-grossing film in history, unadjusted for inflation) was that it lacked originality. Its central story of a wounded American soldier (Sam Worthington) who experiences a distant planet called Pandora--full of indigenous blue-skinned natives and fantastical creatures--and falls for a fierce warrior (Zoe Saldana) has been seen in film and other media many times before. The result was a conventional story--with a pantheistic worldview--in an otherwise visually-groundbreaking experience that resurrected the former gimmick of 3D viewing and pushed immersive filmmaking in a new direction. 

The long-awaited follow-up, Avatar: The Way of Water, marks Cameron's first official sequel since 1991's Terminator 2: Judgment Day. In fact, Cameron has been spending the last decade building the technology needed for this film and three other planned sequels for the next six years. But the real question is if it's more original than its predecessor. The simple answer is, yes and no. 

A familiar face?

First, the No. One thing that plagues many film franchises is the use of recycled elements from the first installment (i.e., booby traps from Home Alone, over-the-top action from Die Hard, smashing metal from Transformers, and the same villain from Back to the Future and The Matrix). The Way of Water falls short by reusing the antagonistic Colonel Quarich (Stephen Lang), but this time in an artificial alien body. The concept of seeing from a different perspective is intriguing, but it's not enough to overcome the same arc (not to mention a typical revenge story) from the first Avatar. An additional subplot referring to a dying earth, and looking for new homes, is equally contrived. (Interstellar, anybody?)

As for the Yes, where The Way of Water really makes waves is in the subplot involving the children of leads Jake and Nytiri (including the scene-stealing Kiri, played by Sigourney Weaver). The same goes for the new locations and islands discovered on Pandora, specifically the oceans as well as the natives and creatures that occupy them. Cutting-edge motion capture was actually filmed underwater, and the results are spectacular and breathtaking; ditto Simon Franglen's electrifying score, a remarkable extension of the late James Horner's compositions from the first film. Themes of the relationships between parents and children--whether biological, surrogate, adopted, or mixed--are equally thought-provoking.  

Again, this is only the first of four sequels Cameron and company have been developing and producing for over the last decade. It's anyone's guess how the events of this second film will effect the course of the rest of the series. Original or not, we can certainly expect them to be effective, engrossing, and big--and then some. Hang on and look out.