PLOT: Years after defeating humans in the battle for Pandora, Jake Scully (Sam Worthington) and Ney’tiri (Zoe Saldana) must defend their family following the unexpected return of an old foe.
REVIEW: So that’s why it took so long. That’s sure to be the thought of many an audience member while watching James Cameron’s majestic Avatar: The Way of Water unfurl before them on the big screen (understatement of the year: See this on the biggest screen possible). It’s been 12 years since Avatar become a global phenomenon, and the inevitable encore has taken its sweet time reaching those of us who were eager to see what else Pandora had to offer. The wait was significant, but necessary: Cameron and his technicians, artists and designers clearly needed the years to ensure the sequel topped the original in every conceivable way. They’ve succeeded, and then some.
Strictly in technical terms, Avatar: The Way of Water is a visual marvel; cliches such as “a feast for the eyes” don’t do it justice. Cameron and his team have painstakingly thought through every imaginable fragment of Pandora’s ecosystem, and there isn’t a frame in the movie that isn’t brimming with intricate detail. We’ve become so desensitized to CGI in movies that we’re hardly capable of genuine wonder anymore; one digital environment blends in to the next, and motion-capture characters have ceased to blow us away. At the risk of sounding trite, The Way of Water pulls off the impressive feat of wowing us again, offering up a steady stream of “how did they do that?” splendor and once again transporting us to an alien world that looks all too real. In fact, it’s even more convincing this time around. In the 12 years since the first film’s release, technology has advanced quite a bit, and when seen after a revisit of the original (which I just re-watched after a long time) the improvement in the sequel is undeniable. The first Avatar feels closer to a cartoon in light of the stunning realism on display in the new film.
The story? Well, every plaudit Cameron has received for his technical craftsmanship over the years is usually followed by a knock on him for his predictable narratives, his thinly-sketched characters, and his less-than-enlightening dialogue. Though he knows exactly which heartstrings to tug and when to tug them, Cameron will never be mistaken for a highbrow writer – which is a bit unfair considering how good he is at telling a story that proves irresistible to the audience: think about how thoroughly engaging his scripts for Aliens and Terminator 2 are. Avatar: The Way of Water won’t necessarily win over any naysayers who think he’s playing checkers instead of chess in the screenwriting department, but Cameron isn’t interested in a complex narrative here. It’s a simple fable with many familiar story beats; if you were being uncharitable, you could say it’s an awful lot like the first film in several ways, plot-wise. Cameron’s more concerned with allowing you to get to know his characters as they grow and adapt to their ever-changing situations, while hanging his hat – as he always has – on themes of love, family, loyalty, and courage. Easy-to-relate-to themes, to be sure, and Cameron’s a master of hitting those notes.
Since this is spoiler-free review, for the most part, I’ll tread lightly and paint the picture broadly: A decade after the conclusion of Avatar – which saw the “sky people” booted off the planet by the Na’vi – the indigenous people live peacefully. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) has fully adapted to his avatar body, and together with his wife Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), he attentively watches the development of his four children, one of them adopted. Naturally, harmony doesn’t last forever, as the return of the sky people fosters in a new age of heartbreak for the Na’vi, ultimately forcing Jake to take his brood and flee to another part of the planet in order to save the species he’s come to call family.
Jake and company find themselves settling in – or attempting to – with the Metkayina water clan, led by proud warrior Tonowari (Cliff Curtis) and his wife Ronal (Kate Winslet), who take in the refugees with some hesitation. Now Jake and the rest of his family has to adapt to yet another new environment: the lush, sometimes treacherous waters and reefs of this previously unseen part of Pandora.
And here Cameron and his enormous team of technicians really show off what they’ve been working on all these years. If the story slows down significantly during the second act, it’s to allow us to bask in this glorious new place as Cameron submerges us – and his characters – into an ocean teeming with dazzling flora and fauna. Cameron’s affinity for the sea and all of its mysteries has never been more clear than it is here, and the long stretches where we simply swim along with our characters indicates he aims to make us cherish the water as much as he does. And who could blame him; during its most serene moments, the tranquility of the place is delightful – as long as Cameron allows it to be tranquil. True to his proficiency at being a veritable rollercoaster designer, Cameron is never going to let us get too comfortable for long, constantly finding new threats and adventures to challenge our protagonists.
As was the case with the first film, Cameron fills every inch of the screen with rich detail; one could conceivably watch it five or six times and still not catch every vivid flourish he and his team have crafted. And this time around, these characters have real weight to them; every move they make seems to effect their immediate surroundings. For as skillfully made as they were, the Na’vi in the first film often seemed to float along, betraying their digital landscape. This time, the characters for all the world look like they’re actually there, and the motion-capture magic performed by WETA has never been more impressive. The previous benchmark, in my mind, was the exemplary mo-cap work in War for the Planet of the Apes; The Way of Water surpasses it.
The second act is deliberately paced and, absolutely gorgeous to behold as it is, one can sense Cameron’s fallen so deeply in love with his creation that he never wants to leave it. Understandable, to a point, but there’s no doubt The Way of Water’s 190 minute runtime is weighed down by sequences in this section of the film. Roughly 15-20 minutes could be cut out from the second act – in which Jake and Neytiri’s children take center stage – and you’d basically lose nothing vital in terms of story or character development. Naturally, that won’t matter to you if you’re utterly immersed in the show Cameron’s putting on, and the people who paid to see the first movie innumerable times just to lose themselves in Pandora’s exotic atmosphere will have no complaints whatsoever.
Those who might find themselves drifting a bit during this middle act should remember that if there’s one thing to know about the director, it’s that his mastery of the third act is indisputable, when he truly enjoys giving us every penny’s worth of what he’s capable of. The Way of Water is no different, displaying Cameron’s prowess at coordinating a finale filled with stunts, pyrotechnics and nail-biting suspense while keeping us invested in the fates of our main characters. The thrilling final 45 minutes (maybe an hour?) of The Way of Water combines the go-for-broke conclusions of the first Avatar and Titanic, with the more perilous sequences from The Abyss thrown in for good measure. Cameron doesn’t mind stealing from himself from time to time, and you likely won’t mind considering he’s giving yet another masterclass in how to send the audience out with a bang. I know I for one had a big dopey smile on my face for this exciting final stretch, even while enduring Cameron’s apparent fetish for showing people (and aliens alike) nearly drowning.
What the director has in store for Avatar 3 is anybody’s guess; it’s hard to imagine how he’ll top himself here, but if there’s one truism in the movie business it’s that you can never doubt the man. I for one wouldn’t mind seeing him take a few more risks with the direction of the story; he’s basically tread the same path twice now, and while I’m fond of the main characters I’d like to see them in a story that’s a little more unpredictable next time out. Cameron’s always pushing himself to show us the next most amazing thing possible; it would be heartening if the story followed suit (Perhaps it’s an encouraging thing that he has a team of writers working with him on these sequels).
But make no mistake: as an experience, Avatar: The Way of Water is a terrific time at the theater. See it on the biggest screen possible, preferably in 3D – yes the high frame rate 3D is expertly accomplished here, no complaints at all on that front. To prop up another cliche: You’ve never seen anything quite like it. These days, that’s reason enough to go to the movies.