Avatar: The Way Of Water

Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

78% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 357 reviews)

Runtime: 192 minutes

Directed by: James Cameron

Starring: The main players from the first film thirteen (!) years ago, along with Edie Falco (!?) as a general for some reason

From: 20^th Century Studios

Why did a Na’vi avatar look like STEVEN SEAGAL? It’s a creature which sometimes wears what looks like Oakley sunglasses which is bizarre as is but also resembling modern bloated Seagal is something else entirely.

This will be a longer review than normal; come to think of it, that’d be appropriate for a sequel a baker’s dozen years in the making to a movie that never became a cultural touchstone such as Star Wars or something from the MCU but still is the second-highest grossing of all time adjusted for inflation. It’s a movie I’ve always enjoyed yet never thought was a masterpiece or something I love such as the first two Terminator films and Aliens. It was more about the visuals than the story. In the meanwhile, the Avatar area at the Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World looks tremendous-although there isn’t much to do that aside from a restaurant and two rides that are great in different ways-and I enjoy visiting that place for the vibes. I haven’t been waited w/ baited breath for all these years for the sequels (it was more a perverse curiosity) yet it’s from James Cameron so it still had to be a theatrical experience.

As for that experience, the HDR aspect needs to be addressed. Many chains don’t note which screenings have it and which don’t; from Regal’s website helpfully providing this information, the rule of thumb there is that no 2D screenings are like this and many (though not all) 3D screenings do. I know that will be a problem for some as they just won’t accept its “real-life” look. From Unlike Gemini Man (the only other theatrical experience I’ve had with this gimmick) that was always HDR, The Way of Water constantly alternated between the two. That always being noticeable wasn’t a problem for me; what my brain told me during much of the fast-moving action was: imagine the image was in fast-forward while the soundtrack was in regular speed. As I haven’t seen anyone else note this in their reviews, presumably not everyone will think the same way if they had the HDR experience. Whether or not we will get an increase in movies using the format: that is still up in the air. Also, SHOULD movies start using HDR?

The complaints aside, I still loved seeing it on a giant Dolby Cinema screen at an AMC in 3D; there are stunning images all around, although the clear-pun intended-highlight was the copious underwater scenes. As for the actual story: not exactly a thorough plot full of machinations. At the same time, I was happy to see a modern film that wasn’t pretentious, was not a clusterfrick, or did not go the Marvel/modern Star Wars route of shoving in unneeded comedy that ruined scenes—the few humorous moments felt more natural than what we typically get now. Bad guys want revenge on the former Jake Sully & the family he now has in the time between the two movies so he flees to another part of Pandora, where the species is aquatic-based instead of residing in forests.

As it’s Cameron the dialogue is not spectacular, and boy were there some eye-rolling moments. Be that as it may, overall the movie was not only a grand old spectacle despite the epic length, it was better to me than the original. The visuals were bigger, along with the plot and especially the action: there were plenty of awesome moments in the final hour. Plenty of time is just spent on the visuals; when they are so breathtaking, though… the key aspect to note is that the focus is on family, which at least is relatable to everyone even in a fantasy world like this. The kids are followed and they are typical teenagers, which again is relatable and is done in a way that doesn’t feel rote. I’m glad The Way of Water did not feel… alien.

How often I’ll view this at home is still unknown; the theatrical experience was even more dazzling than Avatar 13 years ago. The Dolby Atmos experience was also pretty sweet (in part, there was a nice score) and at Dolby Cinemas, the seats moved during big action beats. It made me more interested for the subsequent sequels, that’s for sure.