The Way of Water begins 14 years after the events of Avatar, long enough for Jake Sully and Neytiri to be raising a family and for the humans to have made the journey back to Earth and returned in force. In the real world nearly the same amount of time has passed, long enough for James Cameron to have done a bunch of deep sea exploring and come up with a whole host of new filming technology and techniques.
Does this technical advancement make the film a must see? Yes. Sort of. Maybe. At its best, Way of Water is blockbuster filmaking of the highest level with visual effects and attention to detail that put the CGI in other films to shame. The underwater scenes on something like Wakanda Forever are down right laughable compared to what you see here. It also manages to shake the full on cartoon feel of its predecessor and you can almost believe you are watching a real alien landscape.
Story wise you get very earnest filmaking with a hugely on the nose environmental message, blunt commentary on colonistion and the abuse of indigenous peoples and plenty of sentimentality. This isn't a problem itself but it does sow the seeds of some of Way of Water's biggest flaws. Like the first film the humans are comically evil. There is an attempt to add some nuance to their goals with a line referencing a dying Earth but they are soon back to bullying and butchering the local fauna for profit. The Sully family clan are also a bit one dimensional. The children consist of the dutiful son, the rebellious one and an adopted daughter born of Sigourney Weaver's avatar whose father is unknown (tiresome Jesus allegory incoming) with Jake the loving but overbearing father. Zoe Saldana's Netiri is sidelined to pretty unforgivable degree, in a film with focus on family she spends most of her time commitmenting on Jake's parenting rather than doing any herself and as the family attempt to fit in with the water tribe Na'vi we see none of her journey. Maybe the aim is to give her and a practically unused Kate Winslet more to do in the upcoming sequels.
The best character, once again, is Colonel Quaritch. Killed off in the first film he returns in Avatar form with Stephen Lang managing to keep the same anger and menace despise the transition to CG. He is involved in the best scenes and the showdown involving his blued up marine team, a whaling ship, a bunch of Na'vi and some pissed off sea creatures is oustanding.
Indeed most of action set pieces are spectacular, its the stuff in between that drags and at over three hours it can be a bit of a chore to sit through the less riveting sections. Cameron's aim is obviously immersion rather than narrative efficiency but its hard to believe the movie wouldn't have benifeted from shaving 30-40 minutes off. Overall enjoyment of Way of Water really depends on your willingness to forgive some shortcomings (or longcomings) and let yourself be transported to stunning, if overly blue, alien world.
7 "get the f**k out my offices out of 10 execs trying to tell James Cameron the film is too long.
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