MickeyBlog Movie Review – Avatar: The Way of Water
Scientific research suggests that water covers 71 percent of the planet. I strongly suspect that James Cameron used every drop of it to film his latest movie.
Here’s my review of Avatar: The Way of Water, a film Cameron has been trying to make since the late 1980s.
To Disney theme park fans, it’ll feel more like Avatar: Flight of Passage: The Movie, though.
Welcome Back to Pandora
Thirteen years ago, James Cameron managed something that is wildly unlikely to be duplicated.
The director’s 2009 release, Avatar, surpassed his previous blockbuster, Titanic, to become the number-one film of all time.
Yes, for nearly a decade, the same director claimed the top two films ever in terms of the box office.
While the iconic romantic pairing of Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio explained the success of Titanic, Avatar’s popularity stemmed from something else.
Cameron waited until computer animation could achieve the vision he had for an otherworldly romance set on a breathtakingly gorgeous planet.
You may recall the short-lived 3D phase at the cineplex.
That forgotten bit of pop culture occurred because audiences found Avatar so mesmerizing. They desperately searched for the next thing that could similarly stimulate them.
Few titles have come close, which shows that Cameron is now and always has been in a league of his own.
Finally, after an extended absence, he returns to Pandora and reminds us why we fell in love with this planet in the first place.
Even better, technology has advanced by leaps and bounds during his 13-year break. So, the whole world looks shinier than ever.
In fact, I rarely thought about how most of the characters I watched were avatars or aliens rather than humans.
Occasionally, The Way of Water intentionally shows people just to remind you that what you’re seeing is entirely fake, which makes the magic trick all the more impressive.
While watching the film, you should never forget the title. Avatars populate the land of Pandora, some as scientists who have gone native and others as invading soldiers.
During the entire movie, you’re watching Avatars and aliens fight for the soul of Pandora. And Cameron wears his heart on his sleeve with the sequel.
A Somehow Familiar Return to Pandora
I’ll never forget the first time my wife and I watched Avatar in the theater. Afterward, she looked euphoric as she said, “This changes everything.”
The introduction to Pandora had that effect on many viewers. It’s why I’ve always laughed away criticisms that Avatar lacked any sustaining cultural impact.
To the contrary, part of the societal significance stems from the fact that everyone remembers that first viewing of Avatar. It was the moment they realized anything was possible in cinema.
In an odd way, Disney fans will find themselves better prepared for the sequel than the average consumer.
We have watched two trial runs of Avatar 2 at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Na’vi River Journey’s sumptuous visuals demonstrate the beauty of Pandora.
Conversely, Avatar Flight of Passage reveals many of the previously unseen inhabitants, including one I’ve always called the space whale.
That creature or something very similar to it plays a significant role in The Way of Water. So, the concepts from the rides factor heavily into the story.
For these reasons, Pandora – The World of Avatar works as an introductory lesson to the latest film version of the alien planet.
Meanwhile, Cameron had listened to critics from the first film and identified their chief complaints. So, he focuses on character development more this time.
Specifically, Jake and Ney’tiri have lived together long enough to form a family of two sons, two daughters, and an adopted son named Spider who I can only assume is based on Jungle Boy Jack Perry.
Their idyllic family life is threatened by the return of an unlikely enemy, a Recombinant (read: avatar) version of Colonel Miles Quaritch.
Some of Quaritch’s loyal Marines also become Recombinants and, my goodness, do these folks ever hate all things Pandora.
A Less Than Subtle Message
You know how every horror movie uses the lazy trope that the real monsters are humanity? James Cameron isn’t afraid to milk the concept for all it’s worth.
The director of Terminator 2 has apparently decided that the environmental message from the first film didn’t hit home hard enough.
So, he has created what I call a ten-minute murder scene in The Way of Water. During this sequence, Recombinants and humans work together to kill an innocent creature.
The subtlety of these events rivals anything from The Three Stooges, by which I mean not at all. Also, it could have told the same story in about 75 seconds.
While I will tell you right now that Avatar 2 gets an A+ from me, that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. Cameron could have used an editor on this one.
Even by his standards, he gets overly indulgent as he dredges up some of his greatest hits from the past.
In 1989, the director famously lost control of The Abyss, a disastrous production that ran way over budget and took far too long to film.
Cameron has desired a re-do of some of those concepts for more than 30 years, and he finally gets them here.
Some of the underwater shots eerily mirror ideas from The Abyss, but they primarily underscore just how much he has mastered his craft during that time.
Similarly, you can’t help but think of Titanic at times as characters find themselves submerged in the water and desperate for their next breath.
The whole thing is enough to make an entire generation of 30-something women mourn Leonardo DiCaprio all over again.
In truth, I noticed almost as much of The Abyss and Titanic during the climactic events of The Way of Water as I did Avatar.
The Good and Bad
Let’s start with the obvious. We live in a TikTok culture. No theatrical release should run three hours and 12 minutes without an intermission. I don’t care how engaging or shiny it is.
Legitimately a quarter of our audience got up and went to the bathroom at some point or another…and I was one of them.
Still, you must resist the impulse to wait until streaming for The Way of Water. It’d be like watching a Rolling Stones cover band rather than the real thing.
Thirteen years ago, Cameron created a movie so achingly beautiful that it directly led to six years of 3D HDTV sales.
THAT is the cultural impact of Avatar. The dude made a movie so unique that it unintentionally sold millions of electronic devices.
During the interim, Cameron has spent much of his time wondering how to make everything even better. And the magical answer is apparently water.
Without getting into spoilers, forest people suddenly move to the beach, giving Cameron an excuse to stick cameras underwater once again.
You’ll undoubtedly find some of it excessive and needlessly prolonged.
As long as you accept that when you enter the theater, you’ll love virtually everything else about the movie other than the shamelessly manipulative storytelling.
The villains here twirl mustaches and tie innocents to train tracks…or the Pandora equivalent of that. There’s not much ambiguity here.
You’re either on Team Pandora, or you’re rooting for the brain-draining murderers.
The rest of the experience will take your breath away, though…repeatedly. It’s the crowning achievement in the career of the greatest filmmaker of his generation.
Even though Avatar 2 isn’t perfect, it’s so effortlessly great for three hours that I overlook the negatives.
Friends, you’ll always regret it if you don’t watch The Way of Water in theaters.
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Feature Photo: Source: 20th Century Studios