James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” is a visual masterpiece—there are many words that could be used to describe this breathtaking new film. I will use the word: perfect. It’s been 13 years since the first “Avatar” and in the new film, a look back into Pandora’s world is bigger and better.
“Avatar: The Way of Water” is just unbelievable. Not only is it eye candy, it touches the heart. The soul of the movie is set on At’wa Attu, a lush, tropical island reef. This is where Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), the leader of the Na’vi insurrection, started. At first, he was a disabled U.S. Marine. Later, he becomes a half-breed through his Avatar identity and relocates to live out a life with his now-wife, Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) and their four children. The family has sought refuge from the corrupt military, the “Sky People,” who are desperately trying to colonize Pandora.
On the island, Jake and his family have formed a strategic alliance with the Metkayina, an underwater clan who have a light teal skin hue and Maori-like tattoos.
Culturally, the teenagers of both tribes create meaning by performing adolescent ritual rites in an effort to bond.
To witness life in the Pandora ocean is a vision. The fish and other animals are wonderfully strange. For example, whales have faces like hammerhead sharks, and all are imperfectly formed and executed by state-of-the-art 3D.
It’s no secret that “Avatar: The Way of Water” was expensive (reported to cost $350 million), so to break even it will have to become a serious money maker.
And it just might hit that mark when all the global box office receipts are finally counted. It’s a thrilling ride. Exhilarating. Cameron knows how to tell a story and here, he’s co-written the screenplay and delivers an equal amount of thrills and heart-tugging moments.
Here’s the story. The evil, greedy and ruthless Sky People, led (again) by the lecherous Col. Quaritch (Stephen Lang), have stepped into the world, becoming Avatars themselves. Quaritch is anger personified, a Na’vi redneck. Their goal is to hunt Jake down, but he escapes with his family and hides out with the Metkayina. A determined Quaritch and his squad track him down by ship.
“Avatar: The Way of Water” is action with lean dialogue. The crisscrossing of the worlds doesn’t really need a lot of languages. The danger is understood. Colonization and all the evil it brings don’t need long monologues for us to understand the impact.
“Avatar: The Way of Water” is the result of the mastery of director Cameron, a four-decade veteran who knows what he’s doing and does it better than most. It’s good vs. evil with the screenplay by Cameron, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver; they keep it simple but deliver those important specifics of the world in which it takes place and never miss the tenderness which makes this film specular. In the observation of the Indigenous inhabitants, we have an understanding of what’s at stake.
The fight sequences are thrilling. It’s one of the things that makes you endure the three-hour movie length. Plus, we believe in the relationship between Lo’ak (Britain Dalton), Jake and Neytiri’s second son, and the special bond that’s formed with one of the whales.
There’s no reason not to see the movie, and every reason to go.