‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ Left Me Wanting More, and Not in a Good Way
Is Avatar: The Way of Water worth the ticket price and time spent? Find out in my spoiler-free review.
After a thirteen-year absence, James Cameron is back with a new adventure in Pandora. The story takes place over a decade after the first movie and tells the continued story of Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana). Their family has grown – adding biological kids Neteyam, Lo’ak, and Tuktirey, plus adopted daughter Kiri (voiced by Sigourney Weaver). As the family has gotten bigger, so have the threats to the Na’vi and the Omaticaya clan.
Before I jump into my review – if you loved the first one, you already have tickets, so why are you here? Enjoy – ignore me! Fans of the original will like this movie. It will give you more of the cultures of Pandora, an expansion of the planet and its wildlife, and a continuation of the environmental and colonialism themes. If you’re still on the fence, read on.
The Way of Water Review
The threat comes from the stars again, as humans with a new agenda return to the planet. The sequel carries the same environmental harmony vs. destructive capitalism themes of the first movie. Humanity is not done exploiting Pandora and its people (as we are not done exploiting ourselves and our planet). Jake, who is now the leader of the clan from the first movie, leads a rebellion to save the forest and his clan from destruction. The conflict becomes personal when a familiar enemy is sent to take Jake out, and the entire family has to find sanctuary with another clan.
There is a lot of world-building in this latest round of expansion – Na’vi culture and daily life take up nearly two hours of the run time. Outside of the main conflict, the growing Sully family is the focus. Most of the characters don’t have real arcs in this story even though they’re uprooted from their home, have to integrate with a new clan, and face an enemy that aims to kill them at any cost. It makes many characters hard to care about or keep track of. Sully is a boring protagonist that shows no growth, and Neytiri is relegated to being a mom that’s angry and can use a bow. Remove the CG, and the new generation are stereotypical kids on bikes that face the same old conflicts. It’s not exactly inspiring or attention-keeping.
Evil money-focused, space-faring humans continue to be evil money-focused, space-faring humans. Not a lot of development there. The antagonists are cartoonish and underdeveloped. The main antagonist only has one motivation and is one-dimensional because of it.
via 20th Century Studios
Is The Way of Water Pretty?
I was expecting more from it, given all of the hype around the beauty and immersion of the movie in the initial reviews. I saw it in 2D (3D gives me horrible headaches, there are many of us). It’s obvious where Cameron placed big 3D shots; they were a bit wonky and didn’t look great in 2D format. Things look flat and lose detail sometimes making characters look like claymation. 3D was the priority and standard was left behind, which is a mistake. Cameron is obsessed with it, so his vision will suffer outside of select theaters. I hope they do a clean-up pass before the home release.
The movie is still pretty in 2D, and the CG is top notch. I’ll give them props for the way the film handles light. Dark shots don’t get muddy at all, and daylight shots are vibrant. There’s a lot of hard work and hours put in here, and most of it is impressive. The CG suffers the same pitfalls as any movie, though. You can see where the budget was moved around and where time ran out based on textures and details. The underwater mocap was supposed to make the actor’s motion look more realistic – but I’m not sure it was worth it in the end as it doesn’t look that different than standard mocap mixed with CG environments. I feel sorry for the actors that had to endure it.
Is The Way of Water Worth the Ticket Price? Kind Of.
Overall, it’s just ok. It’s not a horrible movie, but it is not a life-changing experience. The story can’t hold the film up on its own, and the CG doesn’t do enough heavy lifting to make it worth seeing in a theater unless you can see it in 3D. The final product looks like any other CG movie in 2D. It’s also too long (my constant complaint these days). It could have been thirty to forty-five minutes shorter – possibly forcing it to be focused on its story and less on showing off tech.
If you’re not a big fan of the franchise, if 3D isn’t your thing, wait until you can watch The Way of Water on your couch. That way, you can pause to get snacks and go to the bathroom.
Avatar: The Way of Water is out in theaters in multiple formats now.
