Avatar: The Way Of Water

Review: written Jan 2023

Watered down sequel

Who would have thought it would take well over 10 years to produce a follow up to 2009’s box office smash. Avatar was groundbreaking in visual effects, made 3D kind of OK for a change, and made lots of money for all concerned… so what to expect from a follow up?

Well, how you like Avatar 2: The Way of Water will likely be very much predicted by what you thought of the first one. That’s to say that while the visual effects are inevitably innovative and stunning to look at, the script isn’t nearly so surprising or innovative.

Time has passed, and Sully, who’s in the Na’vi now, is married and has a family. The corporation who searched for Unobtainium have left, leaving only a few of the more nobler minded scientists, and an orphan boy who is friends to Sully’s kids. Events take a turn, when humans return – this time not only to strip mine, but with a view to colonisation and terraforming. They only need to stamp out ‘ the rebellion’ and so go on a hunt for the ringleader – Sully. He and his family have to go to other parts of Pandora to stay with a sea-based community to keep their tribe and family safe, requiring them to learn – you guessed it – the way of water.

Some old characters you thought couldn’t come back – are back (thanks to some convenient science fiction plot devices), and the environmentalist subtexts are as unsubtle and on-the-nose as they were in the first movie. The dialogue is clunky, and everything is taken incredibly seriously.. and yet, despite all that, and the more than 3 hour running time, I actually found myself engaged and, I can’t deny it, enjoying myself. You see, with movie making on this scale, a lot can be forgiven, because just as you threaten to find plot holes or slap your head at the dialogue – something spectacular and often beautiful happens up on the screen - I’m a sucker for sandy beaches bathed in sunlight, filtered through green foliage. Any ‘issues’ raised such as whale hunting and resource exploitation feel like old news and verge on preachy.. but Cameron knows how to put on a set piece, and this movie moves from spectacle to spectacle while still maintaining a kind of course

If the first third is “Meet the family” and the second third is “get to know this new world”, the final third finally leads to confrontation, which is suitably Cameron-esque in scale, benefitting from some more enclosed spaces to play out the action and not just on special affects vistas. In fact, it’s as if Cameron looked at his back catalogue and decided to pick his favourite bits..

- Fight with person in mechanical exoskeleton like in Aliens? Check!
- Special effect leading you through the bowels of a ship like The Abyss? Check!
- Sinking vessel trapping people filmed in large water tanks like in Titanic? Check!
- Mans hubris threatening to destroy the world (Abyss, Terminator 2)? Check!

So look – it’s predictable, and clunkily scripted, very obviously a ‘middle’ movie bridging a story gap to the next one, and too long.. and yet at the same time, it’s immensely entertaining to see it on a big screen, and some (not all) of the performances are really committed and compelling.

I’m going to give this a thumbs up – the caveats are clear, but after a couple of difficult years for audiences and for movie theatres, I for one am glad to see this up there on the big screen(s) putting smiles on peoples faces, and helping cinemas get back on their feet. And isn’t entertainment what it’s all about?