Cameron's Sequel/Passion Project Earns The Credit It's Been Given (Avatar The Way of Water)

13 years ago, Avatar revolutionized cinema and made 3D an experience worth considering but not many movies have made that a viable option. Avatar is still the highest-grossing movie of all time and for an undeniable reason. James Cameron's passion project of a sequel has finally arrived to hopefully break as many records as it possibly can while also living up to the predecessor's unforgettable reputation. 

Avatar The Way of Water immediately deals with the repercussions of the original film as the Avatar program is still up and running. In Pandora, Jake and Neytiri are living the ideal Na'vi life as a married couple and parents to 3 children, Neteyam, Lo'ak, Kiri and Tuk, alongside adopted child, Kiri and guardian to a human child, Spider, an unepxted extension of the family. When a new threat emerges, the Sully family relocates to a new Na'vi clan that resides by the sea. As tensions rise, the family has to learn and protect their new home. 

James Cameron has indeed done it again. As one of those people who weren't exactly a die-hard fan of the original (and I know everyone has opinions on that) Avatar The Way of Water is an experience. The imagination and the visuals are just as good or, as hard as it is to admit, looked better than the original. The sequel still makes use of a number of Hollywood cliches but unlike the predecessor, it is what makes this sequel familiar yet engaging when applied to characters and their respective arcs. What should make this sequel appealing is its approach as a family film as opposed to the predecessor's focus on the love story between Jake and Neytiri. Unlike the first film, there is a plethora of characters that are introduced that make this film a lot more well-rounded in addition to giving the returning characters complex arcs of their own. However, it is easy to say that Avatar 2 is better because of the kids. 

Newcomers like the adorable Trinity Bliss, who plays Tuk, gets a headstart into a bright career. Bliss may not have much to do considering her young age but Britain Dalton and Jake Champion are the real stars of the film in their roles of To'ak and Spider respectively. Both have the potential of being the next Hollywood heartthrob, eventually becoming marquee names for their memorable performances the same way Titanic put Leonardo DiCaprio on the map. Familiar faces like Jamie Flatters and Bailey Bass are also just as impactful with their contributions as Neteyam and Tsireya, luckily they are not overshadowed. Hollywood has a whole new bunch of talent that is hopefully utilized outside the Avatar franchise because they would be wasting quality actors. 

The surprising factor with the kids is that Sigourney Weaver is playing 14-year-old, Kiri with her own mysterious backstory to unpack. This was an interesting choice on Cameron's part, to ask a Hollywood legend to break herself down into a teenager. Kiri may not be the best but she is the most interesting character of the bunch. The audience's lack of knowledge of her parentage and her relevance to her obviously large role in the film, Kiri definitely is a character audience will want to learn more about. 

With the focus mainly on Jake Sully's kids, Sam Worthington is sidelined considering he was the headline character of the original film. Despite this fact, I think this was a fair choice. Even if he did not have much to do, Worthington's role as a father well as well as a partner to Neytiri may seem like alot to do but it seems reactionary when his kids are under the spotlight. On a good note, his dynamic with each of his castmates is electric, which helps improve his generic arc. Due to the great portrayal, the character's arc comes with great struggle as Jake's main focus in this film is protecting what he has built. A lot of that was challenged and dealt with full-heartedly, even if there were more losses than wins in the long run. 

The same can be said about Zoe Saldana's Neytiri. Many may consider her character much more in the background this time around for being more of a mother rather than the warrior we know her to be but that is far from the truth because she is both. A lot of the choices she makes are primal, maternal, and relatable. Like her partner, she would do ANYTHING to protect her family, especially in a war setting. It is getting a bit repetitive with how Cameron continues the character's path to being constantly hostile, in pain, and struggling to juggle those emotions along with her loyalty to Jake. I guess we would have to hold out longer to see if these traits can be further explored or at least, reflected on in the many sequels that are being made or developed. 

Stephen Lang's return as Quartich is one to pay attention to. (And yes, this is not a spoiler). He was as cliche as it gets when it came to army-commando villains in the original film. Quaritch is now so much more. He had his own internal battle with what is provided to him in his storyline. Whether it is revenge, questioning his fate, or making a reactional decision, it's clear that we are heading towards the route of redemption for this silver-fox-turned-Avatar antagonist. 

While the characters are improved and fleshed out timely in this 3-hour and 12 minutes mega film, the heart of this movie happens to be once again another Cameron-Esque commentary on appreciating nature. While the first film uses its message to bring awareness to the wonders of the forests and forest life, here it is used for the water and its marine life. With the film's exquisite visual effects, camerawork, and imagination, The Way of Water's cautionary warning towards preserving the world in the water was a lot more effective as opposed to the first film. That could be debatable considering that not many people really focused on deforestation at the time but only after this film comes at a time when global warming to ice and water on Earth. There's a subtle hint towards whale hunting but I think that should be dealt with when you are at the cinema itself. 

Avatar The Way of Water is the event of the holiday season with everyone flooding the cinemas to watch this. And I agree this was worth the wait for longtime fans while providing perspective on Pandora for people who did not like or have not seen the first film when it came out 13 years ago. It's clear Cameron listened to most of many of the criticisms the first time around in order for this sequel to be received better. And it worked.