Finally, after 13 years of ‘development’, Avatar: The Way of Water has been unleashed upon the world in all its 3D glory. Does it live up to the hype and deliver on an epic ride that the critics say is: ‘better than the first’?
No, it does not. The first Avatar is the better movie, by a lot. However, The Way of Water is quite an experience and well worth your time and entertainment dollars.
The Sully family unit is in full focus, and we spend a lot of time with Jake and Neytiri’s children as they adapt to their new circumstances and fight those annoying ‘sky people’. Sigourney Weaver is a lot of fun to watch as the young Kiri, who is apparently the Na’Vi version of Jesus as the plot implies that she was immaculately conceived. She can also can hear her Mother, you know, in her head.
All of the kids are great and have their moments. Jake and Neytiri feel a bit diminished in this one as they take a back seat, especially Zoe Saldana’s character who mostly plays either heartbroken or angry the whole film. Not that I’m complaining – the emotion and fury of a desperate mother fighting for her children is beautifully rendered by the army of animators and computers. The entire world of Pandora is a visual treat, and the underwater scenes make paying the extra 3D cost more than worth it.
It’s the story that lets me down. You would think that after all this time between films there would have been some plot twists that were more inspired and surprising. Instead everything that happens is predictable, and feels like leftovers. I mean, I hate leftovers. Give me something fresh!
Colonel Quaritch gets a Na’vi body and we’re back to fighting the same old enemy. We already did that journey, and it was great – but let’s not do it again Mr. Cameron!
The ending is even more frustrating because it promises us more of the same. Stephen Lang is a great actor and was a good bad guy in the first movie, but his character is not Voldemort or Darth Vader. We don’t need to keep fighting him in every film. There is so much opportunity to do something different, which was what attracted audiences to Avatar in the first place. Sure, it was a technological breakthrough from a production standpoint, but it’s the world of Pandora that is the draw. In order for this franchise to keep bringing us back, it needs to keep giving us something new from a story perspective. I get it, this time we go underwater, and it is certainly cool, but I was expecting more than just that.
Also, the other detriment to the story is the fact that we are fully in this film through the lens of the Na’vi now. One of the things that makes the first film so special is that we are going through this journey with Jake as he discovers this new world. Now we only have a few ‘good’ humans who show up minimally, and everyone else is an evil invader. The message we are meant to learn certainly isn’t subtle. I get it Hollywood: people are bad, you think the Earth is better off without humans, the sins of our colonizing forefathers are unforgivable, etc.
Despite those few detractions, it’s still a good movie and I found myself recognizing a little bit of all of James Cameron’s previous hits meshed together in one big visual festival. There’s Aliens, The Abyss, Titanic – for a world of imagination like Pandora, so much in the movie still feels familiar. Here’s hoping the third movie finds new territory to cover.