Avatar: The Way of Water Review

“Sully’s stick together.”
Jake Sully

Hey everyone! This one is long, long overdue but hey, better late than never right? So, Avatar 2: The long awaited sequel to the original Avatar is a pretty good film and one that I was highly excited for. Did it live up to my expectations? Well, mostly. Let’s break it down.

The standout is definitely, definitely the visuals. There is not one film I have seen that is more of a visual spectacle than Avatar 2. Yes. It’s that good. Cameron has once again displayed what a great deal of dedication to one’s craft can yield given the right resources, experience and a great deal of time, a lesson we can all learn. The second act of the movie, as well as the first, displays in grand fashion how far CGI has come since it’s conception creating wonders that truly seem real. It’s a film that deserves to be seen in 3D and no less.

The story of the film is a tad bit lacking. Since there’s so much focus on the visuals, one tends to be overwhelmed by the beauty of the film and dosen’t pay much attention to the storytelling. However good form demands good substance. Maybe it’s because Cameron intends the Avatar story to be seen as a saga, or maybe not, but the story does feel a bit empty for the 3-hour plus runtime. I feel there’s a lot more they could have done, especially because they had a plethora of great characters already alongside the many new characters introduced in this film. This is not to say, by any means, that the story is bad. It’s a beautiful tale of family and loss, shown remarkably through the dynamic of the Sully family. I think the film has no singular protagonist. It’s the family that’s a character in itself. If there is any protagonist in this film, it has to be the whole Sully family. I think this idea was incorporated pretty remarkably by Cameron.

The new characters, like I said are fantastic but the standout sellers for me were Lo’ak and Neteyam, Sully’s sons. The film’s stars are the Sully family, but these two shone the brightest. There is an interesting antagonist this time too. I can’t go into spoilers but yes, I’m sure all of you will be surprised by how they dealt with it. The movie has a great score just like the first one and it accompanies it well.

I’m excited for the future of the Avatar franchise and what it holds. Avatar 2 is a good film held back by it’s story but skyrocketed by it’s visuals. I’m sure the future installments will have a different tone about them as Cameron has said in multiple media statements already that 1 and 2 are a sort of ‘starter’ while 3 and 4 are like a ‘main course’. So till my next review, I’ll see you on Pandora. 😁

7.5

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