11 Takeaways From Avatar 2 The Way Of Water
The way of water is a shallow affair — fun to splash around in, but lacking any real depth.
The inclusion of a single human character — Spider, son of the enemy commander— was more jarring than anything else. It ruined the immersion slightly and felt like little more than a device for providing insight into the enemy army.He looked to me so much like the disgraced snitch rapper Tekashi69 with his hair a normal color and his tattoos lasered off. His plot armor was palpable and his demeanor barbaric.
The reanimation of the antagonist from the previous film in an avatar body seemed an odd and almost cheap directorial choice. His breaking of the 3rd wall in his opening scene (“Why so blue?” — which would illicit several laughs from the audience) told me all I needed to know about the next 3 hours of cinema that I was about to be dunked in.
It would have been nice if Avatar 2 expanded on the spirituality of the Navi alluded to in the first film which allows them to be more connected to the world around them in advanced ways beyond our understanding. Instead of providing them a platform to demonstrate how they were though, the Navi were often depicted as disadvantaged in every scenario against the hybrid avatar-human armies, appearing more like primitive tribesman than anything else.
It could just be that I have gotten more older and cynical, but the 3-D effects failed to impress me the way they did when I saw the first in theatres 13 years ago during my days in high school. Perhaps the fact that we have become more immersed in virtual worlds in that timeframe, including the advent of the Facebook Metaverse coming our way, has lessened my enthusiasm for films that take me away from reality.
Sam Worthington, for what it is worth, who plays the protagonist Jake Sully, does a decent enough job reprising his role as the concerned father/husband trying to protect his family. It is a bit confusing why he fled and what happened to the forest tribe he previously stayed with in the first place though. His assimilation with the new water tribe grants us a feel good opportunity for us to connect more deeply with his character and the family he is raising and this new tribe and the way that they live. The Christian actor, who has starred in popular faith based films such as The Shack in the time since we last saw him in his avatar body, is a welcome sight on a screen which is often tearing apart traditional male archetypes.
Was that Eddie Falco from The Sopranos playing the female commando woman? Wow she has not aged a day. It is good to see her again.
There is no denying that the film itself is nothing short of a technical masterpiece, which required a lot of experienced and talented people to assemble. The ship sinking sequence towards the end is particularly impressive, a reminder that it is in fact the great James Cameron at the helm. He has obviously not forgotten the work he did on Titanic nearly 25 years ago, and perhaps wanted to remind us what he is capable of , despite the product he is now offering to us.
Getting people back into theatres after the Covid pandemic is no easy feat. You have to compete with the likes of the Marvel universe, and video games, and rap music. Speaking of hip-hop, did anyone catch that Weeknd song playing during the credits made exclusively for the film? What James Cameron and The Weeknd have in common is that they have both diluted their art form on their quest for greatness to appeal to the masses. This is the only context which makes this coupling make any sense, because otherwise it felt very out of place. This may be a device that many modern movies use to connect with viewers, it still felt gimmicky being used here.
Are they really going to make 3 or 4 more iterations of this? It seems that the only way for an IP to survive these days is if it contributes something of value to the growing multiverse — which Avatar does of course. Pandora is an exciting world full of diversity and life beyond anything we are capable of in our current evolutionary capacity. It is only natural that James Cameron would want to contribute what he can as part of his legacy, to avoid falling into irrelevancy while he still has his position in the industry. The life of an avatar is exhilarating. I only hope people do not forget that being human can be exhilarating as well.
Ultimately, Avatar 2 The Way of Water falls short of being great by failing to force its viewers to ask anything meaningful about it. All it does is offer an exciting world to escape to for 3 hours, completely forgetting or ignoring anything that might or could be happening back on planet earth. It is fantasy entertainment. This does not make it bad. I was glad to return to this world and imagine all the possibilities of how an avatar body could tranform my understanding of existence. There is still time for the sequels to offer something to audiences which will make it substantial and a worthy addition to the world of film. The first film is one of my favorites to watch, especially while tripping, but now with the world of Youtube I am not sure if offers anything more than what I might get out of chilling with a Pandora ambience video on.
3 out of 5 Stars. Or 6.5 out of 10, if you prefer. You’re move, Hollywood. Oppenheimer is the next big one that will carry the baton of ensuring people return to cinemas. We shall see.
