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Avatar: The Way of Water
It took him thirteen years, but Oscar winning director James Cameron has managed to come up with a viable sequel to his 2009 smash called Avatar: The Way of Water, a thunderous and technically breathtaking sequel that offers a similar ecological message as the first film, but also provides a surprisingly humanized look at family dynamics that makes this story a little more accessible than the first one.
As this film opens, Jake Scully (voiced by Sam Worthington) and his wife, Neytiri (voiced by Zoe Saldana) have settled comfortably into their lives on Pandora where they now have four children, two of whom are adopted and one who is human. Colonel Quartrich (voiced by Stephen Lang) has not given up on his vendetta against Jake and has assumed Avatar form to get him back, a vendetta that forces Jake and his family to leave their current home and reside on a neighboring moon with a similar tribe, who initially welcome them and try to introduce them to a new life, but Quartrich's determination and some surprising familial connections come to surface making a new life for Jake and his family virtually impossible.
As expected, Cameron has provided us with a feast for the eyes ad ears courtesy of unparalleled film technique, but he has layered the cinematic razzle dazzle with multiple stories centered around family dynamics that make this film as much of a family drama as it does a science fiction adventure. We witness Scully's adopted son, Spider, being separated by his family but never wavering in his love for him, as well as a younger brother trying to step out of his older brother's shadow, and a teenage daughter struggling to find her place in the family. The aforementioned ecological message comes through as Jake's family learns that life on the new moon involves learning to live underwater. The family's initial plunge into the water where they seem to develop the ability to breathe underwater and the younger brother's relationship with a gargantuan sea monster are a joy to behold. The emotions that the characters express are much richer in this film as is the demented determination of Quartrich, which reminded me of T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
Cameron's attention to minor details is on the money here. My eye was immediately struck by the sight of the new tribe and the similarities and differences between them and Jake's family. The new tribe have bigger and thicker tails and all of their hair is different. Jake's family all have the same braids. Also loved the detail put into the sound whenever a character would hold their breath before plunging underwater. Was also impressed when Jake's younger son gets into a fight with teens from the other tribe and during the next scene, one of the participants has a huge bruise on his face. More importantly, like he did in The Abyss, Cameron shows the power of water and how it can destroy as quickly as it can protect.
The film has received four Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Production Design, Visual Effects, and Sound, the award it should definitely win. If you enjoyed the first film, you will enjoy this one too, but if you've never seen the 2009 film, you should watch it first like I did. It's a little longer than it needed to be, but riveting enough I was able to forgive.
It took him thirteen years, but Oscar winning director James Cameron has managed to come up with a viable sequel to his 2009 smash called Avatar: The Way of Water, a thunderous and technically breathtaking sequel that offers a similar ecological message as the first film, but also provides a surprisingly humanized look at family dynamics that makes this story a little more accessible than the first one.
As this film opens, Jake Scully (voiced by Sam Worthington) and his wife, Neytiri (voiced by Zoe Saldana) have settled comfortably into their lives on Pandora where they now have four children, two of whom are adopted and one who is human. Colonel Quartrich (voiced by Stephen Lang) has not given up on his vendetta against Jake and has assumed Avatar form to get him back, a vendetta that forces Jake and his family to leave their current home and reside on a neighboring moon with a similar tribe, who initially welcome them and try to introduce them to a new life, but Quartrich's determination and some surprising familial connections come to surface making a new life for Jake and his family virtually impossible.
As expected, Cameron has provided us with a feast for the eyes ad ears courtesy of unparalleled film technique, but he has layered the cinematic razzle dazzle with multiple stories centered around family dynamics that make this film as much of a family drama as it does a science fiction adventure. We witness Scully's adopted son, Spider, being separated by his family but never wavering in his love for him, as well as a younger brother trying to step out of his older brother's shadow, and a teenage daughter struggling to find her place in the family. The aforementioned ecological message comes through as Jake's family learns that life on the new moon involves learning to live underwater. The family's initial plunge into the water where they seem to develop the ability to breathe underwater and the younger brother's relationship with a gargantuan sea monster are a joy to behold. The emotions that the characters express are much richer in this film as is the demented determination of Quartrich, which reminded me of T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
Cameron's attention to minor details is on the money here. My eye was immediately struck by the sight of the new tribe and the similarities and differences between them and Jake's family. The new tribe have bigger and thicker tails and all of their hair is different. Jake's family all have the same braids. Also loved the detail put into the sound whenever a character would hold their breath before plunging underwater. Was also impressed when Jake's younger son gets into a fight with teens from the other tribe and during the next scene, one of the participants has a huge bruise on his face. More importantly, like he did in The Abyss, Cameron shows the power of water and how it can destroy as quickly as it can protect.
The film has received four Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Production Design, Visual Effects, and Sound, the award it should definitely win. If you enjoyed the first film, you will enjoy this one too, but if you've never seen the 2009 film, you should watch it first like I did. It's a little longer than it needed to be, but riveting enough I was able to forgive.