Film review: ‘AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER’ by Nick Gardener from ‘Built For Speed’

After a mere 13 years comes the first of apparently many sequels to James Cameron’s Avatar, the highest grossing film of all time.  I had mixed feelings about the 2009 original which depicted the giant blue alien Na’vi people’s battle to preserve their home world of Pandora from greedy, destructive earth forces. While its central science fiction concept of people’s consciousness being transplanted into host bodies or avatars was intriguing and its messages about environmental preservation, indigenous land rights and the dangers of colonialism were welcome, it felt superficial and it ultimately descended into a slightly silly CGI-drenched war movie.

The sequel, Avatar: The Way Of Water sees the first film’s hero, former marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) living as his Na’vi avatar in a seemingly idyllic life on Pandora with partner Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and their four children, one of whom, Kiri was adopted from the original film’s Dr Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver, who voices Kiri). Meanwhile, Jake’s nemesis Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) who was killed in the first film, has been resurrected as a recombinant, a Na’vi avatar implanted with a person’s memories.  Slightly miffed at Jake and Neytiri for thwarting his plans and knocking him off in the original film, Quaritch launches a revenge mission.  Forced to flee their forest home, Sully and family seek asylum in the apparently safe world of the Metkayina Reef people but Quaritch is determined to rain destruction on Sully and anyone who gets in his way.

Those who adored the first film will no doubt be enraptured with The Way Of Water.  James Cameron’s world building is even more epic and detailed than in the first film as he fashions a variety of cultures and environments including intricate forest and underwater communities and ecosystems.  Also, being a James Cameron film, there’s plenty of hardware as he constructs a universe full of futuristic technology including Aliens-style exoskeletons and mini-submarines that transform into crab-like machines.  There are, in fact, snippets of James Cameron’s back catalogue popping up all over this film with the military fetishism of Aliens and Terminator, the fluorescent Christmas bauble undersea look of The Abyss and even a sinking ship drama reminiscent of Titanic.

At over three hours, the length of this film will, however, test most viewers.  The middle section temporarily abandons the Sully vs Quaritch plot to delve into the Reef People’s world and way of life and Sully and his family’s attempts to integrate with them. Those who prefer Cameron the action director will probably find this section a little dull.  Those who prefer the Cameron of The Abyss will likely appreciate this slowly unspooling section as it allows for a little more character development than in the first film.  There’s particular focus on Sully’s younger teenage son Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) who’s a bit of a misfit but connects with sea creatures including a massive whale.

Much has been made of this film’s special effects and their apparent improvements over those in the original. The effects are again a mixed bag.  Some sequences, especially the extended undersea excursions are genuinely wondrous with Cameron making fine use of 3D to immerse us in this world.  Occasionally, though, the effects look clunky.  The main problem is that the Na’vi’s movement on land still looks jerky and as if their floating in space rather than interacting with the physical world. Also, disturbingly, the film at times adopts the weird looking high-definition video aesthetic that plagued the first Hobbit film and the Will Smith dud Gemini Man. These sequences look more like a video game than a movie.

As the world of Avatar is largely computer-generated, it hardly gives the actors much chance to deliver indelible performances.  Still, Stephen Lang manages to cut through the layers of CGI to give Colonel Quaritch a malevolent glee, fierce determination and as he discovers the fate of his own offspring, flickers of humanity.  Sam Worthington is solid as essentially a Na’vi Braveheart but he doesn’t succeed in making Sully any sort of sci fi icon.  There’s also the weird inclusion of Brendan Cowell as an Aussie whaler named Scoresby.  There’s something very odd about watching what appears to be a Bay 13 cricket bogan conversing with a 10 foot tall blue alien.

A vast enterprise like the Avatar franchise is essentially critic-proof and the film will no doubt recoup the GDP of small nation but while some parts are remarkable, it ends up a satisfying rather than thrilling experience.

Nick’s rating: ***

Genre: Science Fiction/Drama/ Action/ Adventure.

Classification: M.

Director(s): James Cameron.

Release date: 22nd Dec 2022.

Running time: 192 mins.

Reviewer: Nick Gardener can be heard on “Built For Speed” every Friday night from 8-10pm on 88.3 Southern FM.

 

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