Avatar: The Way of Water - A Movie Review

Let’s have an adventure in Pandora today.

Premiering 13 years after the original, Avatar: The Way of Water is a 2022 film that follows the new tales of Jake and his family. Finding new territory, a familiar threat returns to destroy Pandora. The tribe must fight the army to protect their home.

I remember seeing Avatar in the IMAX theater on New Year’s Eve when it first premiered. Avatar’s impeccable visual effects gained attraction from moviegoers. Avatar: The Way of Water is too long, spoiling audiences with visual effects, and lacking in what could have been a good story.

Avatar is a unique acting endeavor. Overall, Avatar: The Way of Water’s primary focus explores its amazing visual effects instead of the dynamic between the main family. Jake and Neytire (Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana) are hardly in the story only to give their kids helpful advice or to fight off the villains in the climax.

As Jake and Neytire’s kids, (Kiri), Britain Dalton (Lo’ak), Trinity Jo-Li Bliss (Tuktiry), and Jamie Flatters (Neteyam) were all terrific in their performances. The film doesn’t spend enough time on their dynamic. This is what the film is about, not resurrecting the plot of the first film to combat violent wars.

Sigourney Weaver’s involvement in Avatar: The Way of Water is confusing. In my opinion, it was an excuse to have Weaver back in the film. Kiri should have been played by a different actress, preferably someone who was a teenager. Weaver’s mature vocals didn’t mesh with the character.

Is there a reason why Quaritch (Stephen Lang) had to return to the story? His storyline is a repeat of the first film. We didn’t need his character. Now, Quaritch is transformed into the Na’vi, which looks weird. He was against the Na’vi to begin with.

This story should have been it's own. The story deserves a brush-up. It’s similar to the first. Cut out an hour or more and I would have been happy to watch a film about the Sully family learning to abide customs of their new tribe. It would have shortened the film to its unnecessarily long runtime.

What saves Avatar is the visual effects. Seeing Avatar on the big screen was well worth it. As the title signifies, most of the film takes place in the water. Swimming in the waters, filmmakers created distinguished designs for new sea life. I felt like I was holding my breath with the amount of time characters spent underwater.

Why does the film have to be so violent? I was so tired of all the gunfighting. The sequel is supposed to represent how they found peace in Pandora.

The ending of the film turns into Titanic, another film that James Cameron directed. The climax is an epic and suspenseful ride. I was on the edge of my seat as the characters feverishly attempt to escape the sinking ship while getting stuck in flooding corridors. The actors mentioned that they had to hold their breaths for long periods while filming these scenes.

As much as I enjoy a good disaster film, this ending did not work. Avatar: The Way of Water rehashes most plot details from the first film. This film had so much potential to bring a new story to the table.

More sequels to Avatar are coming. Each of them deserves to expand the story instead of just making them the same film. If you want to see Avatar: The Way of Water it is well worth seeing it on the big screen to experience the visual effects.