Avatar: The Way of Water

Waiting over a decade for a sequel to a movie can be a daunting task, but when that film is the highest grossing film of all time and told numerous times it will release a certain year only for numerous delays to constantly shift its release date, you'd think all that time would lose interest. Avatar: The Way of Water is proof why patience and time are good indicators of a movie succeeding and that the original's success wasn't just a fluke. James Cameron's long awaited followup to his 2009 hit sees Jake Sully become the leader of the Na'vi clan he became a part of and having kids with Neytiri, also adopting a human kid, Spider, left behind by the RDA and son of Colonel Quaritch and a Na'vi girl, Kiri born from Grace Augustine's inert Avatar. When the RDA return, Jake uses his military skills to help hide his people and fight back against the new human colonists. Seeing Jake and the Na'vi as a legitimate threat, the RDA sends out a squad of their own Na'vi avatars, led by one with the memories of Quaritch. Wanting revenge against Jake for his betrayal and murder, Quaritch kidnaps Spider and threatens to destroy everything Jake cares about. Not wanting to put the tribe in more danger, Jake and his family head out to find shelter with a water based Na'vi tribe far from the forest. Jake's family learns to adapt to the new ways though Kiri is a quick learner thanks to her mysterious connection to Pandora's consciousness. Quaritch, meanwhile uses Spider to find Jake as he tries to go through the same trials and tests that Sully did in the first film. It all culminates with Quaritch's group drawing the family out with the help of an RDA marine operation and thus Jake must face the colonel to keep his family safe. If there's one thing to never do is doubt James Cameron, as his long lasting career with barely any misses can attest to that. Yes, his writing, alongside two others, isn't entirely new and filled with many cliches, but it's really good and Cameron knows how to keep these repeated tropes fresh. His characters, for the most part, are relatable, three dimensional, and don't just feel like typical alien stereotypes. The world building as we get to explore other parts of Pandora is incredible to behold and to show that there's more to this exomoon than what the 2009 original offered. The biggest flaw with his writing, however, is that due to being over three hours, his ambitious world building often distracts from much of the story and feels a bit padded. Another is the third act, wherein Jake and his family escape out of only then go back to the RDA whaling vessel more than once, that becomes really repetitive and suddenly turns into Cameron wanting to relieve Titanic when the vessel sinks almost exactly. Between the cast that comes back and the ones new to the series, every single actor gives strong performances, with great credit towards all the Na'vi motion capture actors. Sam Worthington is as good, if not better, Zoe Saldaña never misses a beat, Stephen Lang is once again a fun and engaging villain, Sigourney Weaver is believable playing a girl in her teens, and Kate Winslet is so good that you don't realize who she plays on first viewing. One sad note is that James Horner, the first movie's composer, died in 2015 and thus what new music he would have done is greatly missed, but Simon Franglen does a good job at recapturing Horner's work while giving his own perfect work. The biggest praise that these two films will always have is the impressive visual effects put forth to capture Cameron's vision, especially since what he wanted wasn't available for years after the first movie came out. Between the attention to detail in the water tribe's village, how realistic the water looks and moves, and Russell Carpenter's breathtaking cinematography you get visual effects that are not just outstanding but hard to top. Delays often hurt a film once it comes out, whether due to waning interest or word of mouth about troubled production, but with Avatar: The Way of Water needing to wait for the right technology, and a bit from Covid, that wait was certainly worth it. Over all: 100%

2022 top list so far:

1. The Fabelmans

2. Top Gun: Maverick

3. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

4. The Menu

5. Strange World

6. The Black Phone

7. Nope

8. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

9. The Northman

10. The Batman

11. Pearl

12. Avatar: The Way of Water

13. Lightyear

14. Dog

15. Everything Everywhere All at Once

16. X 2022

17. Scream 2022

18. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

19. Bullet Train

20. Halloween Ends

21. Thor: Love and Thunder

22. Jurassic World: Dominion

23. Black Adam

24. Sonic the Hedgehog 2

25. Uncharted