The Way of Water - The Most Sequel-y Sequel Ever
DescriptionA review about the most recent Avatar movie and how it's nothing more than exactly what was expected... which is not necessarily a bad thing.
MessageWe recommend watching Avatar: The Way of Water to form your own opinions about the movie.
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Disney/20th Century StudiosAvatar: The Way of Water released on December 16, 2022, almost thirteen years after the original. The first Avatar has stayed as one of the most successful movies of all time, grossing a total of almost three billion dollars. Both star Sam Worthington as Jake Sully, Zoe Saldaña as Neytiri, Stephen Lang as Colonel Miles Quaritch, and Sigourney Weaver as Grace Augustine in the first and Kiri Sully in the second. Of course, with such a stacked cast and lucrative predecessor, the sequel had high expectations. And so far, it has done so, making around two billion in its first month. TWO BILLION. So what is this massive sequel like? Is it a visual spectacle? Is it as good (or bad) as the first? The answer is yes to all.
Avatar 2 practically has the same story, visuals, and villain as the first, just with different motivations and goals. It regularly sacrifices its narrative, like the first, for the sake of making a dazzling masterpiece. But that's not necessarily a bad thing, as director James Cameron is a master at working up emotions and making a unique experience, which he does wonderfully in The Way of Water.
The movie follows Jake Sully and Neytiri, who are now parents with three biological and two adoptive kids, as they run from the recolonization of Pandora by humanity. The Earth is in even worse condition before, meaning that they sent an entire fleet of ships to continue the exploitation of the moon and permanently settle there. Quaritch, who was killed at the hands of the Na'vi, is reincarnated using his avatar, now fueled with revenge against the Sully family for his previous version's death. Most of the plot is about their travels to the "water nation" of Pandora, as they as a family attempt to integrate in. Everything culminates in an epic finale where The Colonel finds them, fights with them, and eventually, loses yet again, though he is kept alive.
One theme seems to run deep throughout this newest Avatar film, that mainly being the importance of family and unity. That is the biggest difference between the first and the second, as we see Jake, who was rather bland in the first, really take the role of being a father seriously. We as an audience see his military lifestyle clash with the nuances of parenting, Neytiri having to remind him that they are not soldiers, but kids, ones that look up highly to their father. There is also the relationship between Quaritch and his newly introduced son, Spider, who was one of the adoptive children of the Sully's. He was mostly just taken around by his father, but they did start to bond, and ultimately, the reason Quaritch lived is that Spider saved him, so it was interesting to see that development.
That leads to another massive separation: the motivations. Both Jake and Quaritch, who in the first movie hated each other, hate each other in this film too, but for entirely different reasons. They see one another as someone who will hurt their kids, as someone who will do anything to ruin their families. They, more than ever, are the same, just on different sides because of revenge, which is a much better motivation than the first film's "good guy, bad guy" structure.
Overall, Avatar: The Way of Water is essentially just a bigger and better carbon copy of the original. It is an amazing experience to see in theaters, that's for sure, and it has a heart in its core, one that you can see when Cameron talks about these films. There is clearly a large amount of passion, world-building, and boundary-pushing imbued into this movie and likely its future iterations, which is quite exciting. All that anyone can ask for is that the next one has a bit more creativity while not sacrificing the beauty of Pandora, something that I think James Cameron can pull off better than anyone. Because if he doesn't, no one else will.
Avatar 2 practically has the same story, visuals, and villain as the first, just with different motivations and goals. It regularly sacrifices its narrative, like the first, for the sake of making a dazzling masterpiece. But that's not necessarily a bad thing, as director James Cameron is a master at working up emotions and making a unique experience, which he does wonderfully in The Way of Water.
The movie follows Jake Sully and Neytiri, who are now parents with three biological and two adoptive kids, as they run from the recolonization of Pandora by humanity. The Earth is in even worse condition before, meaning that they sent an entire fleet of ships to continue the exploitation of the moon and permanently settle there. Quaritch, who was killed at the hands of the Na'vi, is reincarnated using his avatar, now fueled with revenge against the Sully family for his previous version's death. Most of the plot is about their travels to the "water nation" of Pandora, as they as a family attempt to integrate in. Everything culminates in an epic finale where The Colonel finds them, fights with them, and eventually, loses yet again, though he is kept alive.
One theme seems to run deep throughout this newest Avatar film, that mainly being the importance of family and unity. That is the biggest difference between the first and the second, as we see Jake, who was rather bland in the first, really take the role of being a father seriously. We as an audience see his military lifestyle clash with the nuances of parenting, Neytiri having to remind him that they are not soldiers, but kids, ones that look up highly to their father. There is also the relationship between Quaritch and his newly introduced son, Spider, who was one of the adoptive children of the Sully's. He was mostly just taken around by his father, but they did start to bond, and ultimately, the reason Quaritch lived is that Spider saved him, so it was interesting to see that development.
That leads to another massive separation: the motivations. Both Jake and Quaritch, who in the first movie hated each other, hate each other in this film too, but for entirely different reasons. They see one another as someone who will hurt their kids, as someone who will do anything to ruin their families. They, more than ever, are the same, just on different sides because of revenge, which is a much better motivation than the first film's "good guy, bad guy" structure.
Overall, Avatar: The Way of Water is essentially just a bigger and better carbon copy of the original. It is an amazing experience to see in theaters, that's for sure, and it has a heart in its core, one that you can see when Cameron talks about these films. There is clearly a large amount of passion, world-building, and boundary-pushing imbued into this movie and likely its future iterations, which is quite exciting. All that anyone can ask for is that the next one has a bit more creativity while not sacrificing the beauty of Pandora, something that I think James Cameron can pull off better than anyone. Because if he doesn't, no one else will.
