That crazy old James Cameron really did it. Avatar: The Way of Water was not only filmed and released but has become a massive box office success. And even I enjoyed this one. I wasn't a fan of the original but there are moments in this second one where I really appreciated a feeling of seeing something extraordinary.
Partly I think it's because we've all gotten accustomed to really bad cgi. So to see cgi that was meticulously crafted over five years almost feels like spotting a woolly mammoth at the mall, especially with the 3D on top of it. I mean, just think about--it's an over three hour movie about big blue people in 3D--and it's a worldwide box office success. It seems to defy all reason, as the first one did. And I haven't noticed any strong Avatar fandom holding on in the 13 years since the first film. Mostly whenever people talked about it it seemed like it was to joke about how it's a Pocahontas rip-off.
I watched the first Avatar again a couple weeks ago and I appreciated it more, though I still think Pocahontas is the superior film. But I do get caught up in the suspense of the film's last act.
Really, the story is more like Princess of Mars than Pocahontas and the follow-up feels like it cribs even more from Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Like the first movie, it has far too much exposition, a more egregious problem since we should all be relatively familiar with the characters and world by now. Yet the first 15 minutes or so of the movie are Jake (Sam Worthington) narrating the events that took place between the two films, rather needlessly. Now Jake is a resistance leader, coordinating Na'vi guerrilla attacks on Earthling colonists. When Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang), resurrected in a Na'vi avatar body, targets Jake and his family, Jake realises he needs to pack up and move to another part of the planet.
This is one of many points in the film where, if you think about it for two seconds, it falls apart. Do the resistance strikes continue without Jake? Wouldn't the Earthlings just go after the next leader? Would they waste their resources going after an exiled leader? Would they even know Jake had moved on? Since the Na'vi and humans aren't in constant conflict, were there ever any formal peace talks? Were there any kinds of treaties or discussions about the possibility of peace talks? If not, why doesn't anyone bring this stuff up?
Anyway, Jake and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) have reduced roles in the film which mainly focuses on their kids, biological and adopted. Sigourney Weaver is back, now playing the teenage Na'vi called Kiri, who gestated in Dr. Augustine's (Weaver in the first film) avatar. A lot of the film's best visuals involve Kiri communing with nature.
First with the forest, then with the astonishing underwater environments.
The writing still isn't great, bogged down with simplistic environmentalist morality and a repetitive plot in which the kids get kidnapped again and again. But everything is elevated by the level of detail in the worldbuilding, both in terms of Na'vi culture and the physical environment. The underwater shots are captivating and one has to marvel at the complex, totally imagined, ecosystem carrying on with its business.
If the weather and pandemic permits, I heartily recommend seeing this in 3D if you can. The spectacle really is 90% of the cake here but what a spectacle it is.
Avatar: The Way of Water is in theatres worldwide.
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