Avatar: The Way of Water, 2022.
Directed by James Cameron.
Starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet, and Edie Falco.
SYNOPSIS:
James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water, the first of four sequels to his box office hit Avatar, arrives on home video looking just as spectacular as it did in theaters, with a nice long making-of documentary that should please fans. I’ll admit I was underwhelmed by both of the Avatar movies so far, but if you’re a fan, you should snap this one up.
Two confessions to kick off this review: I didn’t care much for Avatar, and I didn’t see that film, nor this sequel, in the theater. I’ve heard, of course, that both films are best experienced on the big screen, ideally in 3D, which makes sense to me from the point-of-view of seeing these movies more as experiences than anything else.
I was underwhelmed by Avatar because I found the story unoriginal and derivative, and The Way of Water was more of the same for me. I appreciate the idea that this is essentially an mid-to-late 1800s western on another planet, with the blue-skinned Na’vi standing in for Native Americans and the Resources Development Administration (RDA) playing the role of the American military that decimated their numbers.
Set 16 years after the events of the first film, The Way of Water picks up the story of soldier-gone-native Jake Sully as he has completely enmeshed himself in the Na’vi tribe he joined to fight against the RDA. He has a spouse and children, and life seems pretty good until the RDA returns.
RDA officer Miles Quaritch has also returned in the form of a Na’vi avatar, along with a group of Na’vi avatar soldiers. They form a group tasked with killing Jake Sully, which is expected to break the spirit of that Na’vi tribe and give the RDA free reign over that part of Pandora.
Trying to keep his tribe safe, Jake and his family leave their home and travel to an ocean area populated by a Na’vi tribe adept at swimming the same way Jake’s tribe can navigate a forest. Both tribes have specific rituals and customs, with the forest tribe feeling like Native Americans and the ocean tribe seeming to be based on the Maori people of New Zealand.
The bulk of act two involves Jake’s family fitting in with this new tribe, complete with his sons being mocked by the other tribal leader’s sons because they’re different. The plot beats are pretty much from any story where teens move to a new place and struggle to fit in, and as the story moves into its third act, it becomes an old-fashioned war film.
Given The Way of Water’s three-hour-plus running time, it feels like two movies crammed into one. While the story isn’t very original, it’s a gorgeous film to watch, and I’d imagine that it, like its predecessor, is even more spectacular on the big screen. I suppose that’s a big part of why both films were so successful at the box office.
However, one element of the film that I had trouble buying into were the parts where humans and Na’vi are onscreen at the same time. Oftentimes I felt like I was watching a movie crossed with video game cut scenes, but maybe I’d feel differently if I had seen the film in the theater. The Na’vi are amazing digital creations, but I was never able to forget that they are from computers and not the real world.
Since Disney isn’t sending me physical discs anymore, I took a look at this one and its bonus features via a Movies Anywhere digital code. If you’re a fan, I highly recommend grabbing this movie on disc or via digital copy, since the bonus features go above and beyond what you find in the home video releases of most movies these days.
The centerpiece of the extras is Inside Pandora’s Box, a two-and-a-half-hour documentary that you can watch in pieces or, thankfully, all at once via a “play all” button. It’s an in-depth look at the making of a movie that, in true James Cameron style, required the visual effects team to break new boundaries as they took motion capture technology to not only new heights but also new lows, as in their use of it to film elaborate underwater sequences.
I would have liked to see more time spent on the film’s development, especially since Cameron initially announced an ambitious schedule of sequels whose release was pushed back a couple times. Many parts of this documentary feel a bit too EPK-like to me, but it’s still a well-done making-of feature.
The making-of materials continue in More From Pandora’s Box, which runs close to half an hour and puts a lot of focus on the actors’ screen tests, the film’s stunt work, and more. A music video and a pair of theatrical trailers round out the bonus features.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Brad Cook
Originally published April 14, 2023. Updated April 22, 2024.
