Avatar (2009 film)
2009
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Dec 16, 2022 · See what critics and audiences say about the sci-fi adventure sequel set on Pandora. Find out the Tomatometer, Audience Score, where to watch, and more on Rotten Tomatoes.
Dec 13, 2022 · Brian Tallerico praises James Cameron's ambitious and entertaining sequel to Avatar, which explores themes of family, environment, and colonization on Pandora. He admires the stunning visuals, the world-building, and the emotional stakes of the film, but also notes some flaws in the plot and dialogue.
Dec 14, 2022 · Way back in 2009, “Avatar” arrived on screens as a plausible and exciting vision of the movie future. Thirteen years later, “Avatar: The Way of Water” — the first of several long-awaited ...
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By Tom Jorgensen
Updated: Dec 17, 2022 5:26 am
Posted: Dec 13, 2022 5:00 pm
Avatar: The Way of Water hits theaters on Dec. 16, 2022. Below is a spoiler-free review.
I think it was right about when a Pandoran whale lamented, in Papyrus-subtitled dialogue, that its past was “too painful” to recount that I realized I had totally bought into Avatar: The Way of Water. The success of 2009’s Avatar heavily influenced the direction of digital filmmaking and distribution, and though the world has changed a lot in the 13 years leading up to this sequel, some things never do… like how when James Cameron decides to make a sequel, he expands and embellishes the preceding story in surprising, engaging ways. Avatar: The Way of Water isn’t afraid to be weird as hell, as it doubles down on the naked sentimentality of the first movie, refocuses the plot on more interesting characters, and yes, it has to be said, sets the high water mark for visual effects in film all over again.
The Way of Water bridges the long gap between movies with a dense prologue that explains what happened after the resource-hungry humans of the RDA retreated from Pandora. Defecting Avatar pilot and now full-time Na’vi Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) start a family as the new leaders of the Omaticaya tribe. That family grows to include three biological and two adopted children, and it’s the driving force behind Jake and Neytiri’s decision to exile themselves after the RDA return to resume their plundering, led by the practically non-existent General Ardmore (Edie Falco). These early scenes deliver a lot of exposition, and breeze over important details about the status quo and the nature of certain relationships. At a bladder-busting 190 minutes, The Way of Water almost always finds the time to circle back to reinforce the most crucial plot elements, but it does mean that there will be times where you’ll be searching for a character’s name or their place in the social hierarchy. Cameron’s betting that you’ll be too bowled over by what a decade of technological advancement has done for realizing Pandora on screen, and the results speak for themselves.
Lang manages to showboat without feeling like a showboat, with all the subtlety of Quaritch holding his own human skull aloft in grand Hamlet fashion, though there are some new wrinkles to the character that suggest a little more depth than The Way of Water has time for – yes, even at three-plus hours long. The Way of Water is in no rush to expand the franchise’s universe and, after a decade plus of seeing the pros and cons of interconnected storytelling, that serves the experience well.
Thanks in no small part to a shift in focus to the next generation, The Way of Water has far more room for levity than its self-serious forerunner. Jake and Neytiri’s kids bicker and tease, they get into scraps with their new tribemates, but above all, they stick together. Cameron invests a lot into middle kids Lo’ak and Kiri as the new representatives of the Na’vi’s warrior and spiritual leanings, with each struggling to understand their place. Spider, the Sullys’ adopted human child, doesn’t get quite as much time with his siblings because of how the story progresses, but his mix of feral energy and wisecracking attitude help him stand out. The eldest and youngest Sully children have little to do and get lost in the shuffle, apart from when someone needs to be endangered to keep the plot moving.
With the Sully kids taking center stage, Jake and Neytiri’s role in the story is proportionally diminished, and that’s okay. Jake is no more interesting a character than he was last time around, but he does have utility here as a tough father figure for his kids to struggle to live up to. Zoe Saldaña’s Neytiri feels like the legacy character with the least to do, mostly advocating for her kids to a distracted Jake. The leaders of the Metkayina tribe, played by Cliff Curtis and Kate Winslet, are cut from a very similar cloth to Jake and Neytiri and often end up feeling redundant as a result.
Avatar: The Way of Water is a thoughtful, sumptuous return to Pandora.
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Though the vast majority of The Way of Water’s technical gambits pay off, missteps in that arena are more glaring. Specifically, Cameron overplays his hand in how he brings one of Jake and Neytiri’s children to life. Kiri, the eldest Sully daughter, is voiced and played in performance capture by Sigourney Weaver, and her connection to the late Dr. Grace Augustine (also Weaver) is an important story point, but the choice to have Weaver herself play this younger incarnation frequently distracts. It’s less to do with the idea of an adult playing a child via mo-cap and more the fact that… well, it’s Sigourney Weaver. Of course, Weaver’s game for the attempt, but pitching her voice up and shrinking her Na’vi body down isn’t quite enough to bridge the uncanny valley of hearing an icon – an icon in Cameron’s own filmography, no less – being transposed into an adolescent.
Avatar: The Way of Water is a thoughtful, sumptuous return to Pandora, one which fleshes out both the mythology established in the first film and the Sully family’s place therein. It may not be the best sequel James Cameron has ever made (which is a very high bar), but it’s easily the clearest improvement on the film that preceded it. The oceans of...
Dec 16, 2022 · Take the plunge: Avatar's underwater scenes are immersive and extraordinary. Filmmaker James Cameron returns to the world of the Na'vi people in Avatar: The Way of Water. I wouldn't call Avatar ...
Dec 13, 2022 · “Avatar: The Way of Water” has scenes that will make your eyes pop, your head spin and your soul race. The heart of the movie is set on At’wa Attu, a tropical island reef where Jake Sully ...
