Avatar: The Way of Water became one of the most-anticipated sequels of all time as soon it was announced over a decade ago. And it makes sense. Avatar is only the highest-grossing movie of all time. And director James Cameron is as legendary as they come. Given how much time passed between the 2009 smash hit and its sequel, there’s been countless discussions over how much of an appetite there would be for a sequel. Avatar was groundbreaking in its use of 3D filming (still hasn’t taken off and I just really don’t see the appeal; but that’s a topic for another time), and was consistently praised for its stunning visual appeal. The story wasn’t anything special, and the characters were hit-or-miss, so the look and scale of it all carried it along.
But, it’s still James Cameron. The man behind such sequels as Aliens and Terminator 2, two of most highly regarded sequels of all time. The prevailing thought was, “If anyone can do it, it’s James Cameron.” And that was my hope going into Way of Water. While the visual wonder is still there, though, it’s decidedly a mixed bag.
The story picks up more than a decade after the events of the first film. Jake Sully and Neytiri are now parents to four children, balancing their everyday family duties with staving off the ever-present threat of the Sky People. Jake leads the Na’vi resistance, successfully keeping the human military at bay. But it’s a constant battle. The return of Colonel Miles Quaritch, who Neytiri killed in the first movie, heightens that threat. He’s been resurrected as a recombinant, an Avatar created with Quaritch’s DNA and memories; a clone, in other words. Quaritch takes his team of recombinants into the jungles of Pandora to hunt down and kill Jake and Neytiri, hoping that will crush the Na’vi resistance once and for all.
After a couple close calls, Jake realizes he and his family can’t stay in the forest. Quaritch isn’t hunting Na’vi; he’s hunting Sullys. He and Neytiri make the tough decision to leave their home, choosing to relocate and seek refuge with the ocean clan Metkayina. The Metkayina accept them, and the Sullys begin learning the way of water. They find some peace – though there are some bumps along the way, of course in their new home. But it’s only temporary, as Quaritch and his team eventually find them, setting up another epic battle between the Sky People, Jake’s family, and Metkayina.
This is the first problem with The Way of Water. At its core, it’s essentially the same story as the first movie. In the first, Jake is taken in by a new society, and has to learn their ways and adapt to their culture. It’s the same thing here, except now it’s his family rather than just him. It’s not necessarily a bad story, but too many story beats feel too similar to its predecessor. Compared to some of the movie’s other issues, though, this may qualify as more of a nitpick than a true complaint.
One of the biggest selling points – maybe the biggest selling points – of Avatar and its sequels was the visual appeal. It hit the mark in 2009 and it hit the mark again here. The world building is once again stunning. The underwater scenes are consistently magnificent and you often feel like you’ve been transported directly to Pandora.
However, while all that is wonderful, it comes at the expense of the story. Too many scenes go on for too long, feeling like they’re only there for Cameron to flex his (admittedly genius) directing muscles. Complaining about runtime can be an empty exercise, and I don’t inherently have a problem with long movies. But when a movie hits three hours (The Way of Water checks in at 3:12), every minute needs to feel deserved. There are several stretches that could have cut a minute or two here and there without sacrificing anything from the story.
It also makes the emotional investment in the characters harder to pull off. That should be an easy sell. A mother and father doing whatever they can to protect their family. Their children being forced from the only home they’ve known and having to adapt to an entirely new culture, all while trying to live up to the lofty expectations set for them by their war hero parents. Kids growing up feeling different and out of place trying to discover who they are.
With good performances all around, this part should have been a slam dunk. But with the scenes dragging on and on, it’s hard to form a consistent emotional attachment to the characters. There are moments that work, but with the momentum stopping dead in its tracks time and time again, it has to reset itself multiple times, making a sustained attachment next to impossible.
These issues would have been easier to look past if the main conflict had been better. But the bad guys here are awful. AWFUL. It’s nothing more than “the military is bad because the military is bad.” I didn’t love the RDA’s motivations in the first film, but at least it was clear and you could see the reasoning behind it, as simplistic as it might have been. But in The Way of Water, it reads much more like a one-man revenge tale. Quaritch wants to take out Sully and Neytiri because they defeated him in their first go-round. When everything else about the movie and story is so epic in scale, this was a massive shortcoming.
But it’s not all bad, far from it. While the first two acts kind of limp along at times, the third act picks up the pace and is the strongest part of the movie. Any emotional buildup finds its final payoff, all under the scope of a massive, epic final battle between the Pandora clans and the Sky People. But even this drags on for a bit too long, with one key scene in particular feeling like it went about twice as long as it needed to.
The action in this final fight carries it. What might be the coolest thing the movie does is use a high frame rate during some of the sequences. The Na’vi and Metkayina are huge, powerful, and fast. The sped up frame rate emphasizes that and looks super bad-ass in doing so.
James Cameron’s visionary skills, top tier visuals and special effects, and a strong ending do the heavy lifting here. But the meandering plot, too-familiar story, and horrible villains prevent The Way of Water from reaching the heights it aspired to.
Score: 72/100
