Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

 

By now it's common knowledge that James Cameron has an extensive plan for a series of 'Avatar' films. Sure, it took a ridiculously long time for this sequel to get made, but it once again makes oodles of sense once you realise that this was because they needed to make sure the technology was up to par with what they had in mind. 

Which is underwater photography, something notoriously difficult to pull off, let alone do it all through CG and motion capture.

Well, they did it. Oh how they did it.

Picking up several years after the events of the first film, Jake Sulley now has a family and all is well. That is, until those pesky evil humans return to Pandora. Among them is even an avatar of Miles Quaritch, that hard-assed military guy from the first film, because his memories and personality were stored away before he was killed by Jake.

Well that's convenient.

But then again: if you need an imposing bad guy, you could do a lot worse than get Stephen Lang to come back. 

Jake and his family flee the forest and head out to sea, where they try to fit in with a tribe of marine dwelling Na'vi known as the Metkayina. Some things go a bit sideways for the kids and one of them actually befriends a whale-kind of creature known as a tulkun. But wouldn't you know it? The evil humans are back and this time they are hunting tulkun for a resource that is in their brains and which effectively stops human aging. 

So the fight is on. Round two. Continue.

So once again the story is probably the weakest link here. It's pretty cut and dried: stop the whalers. But this isn't one of those films you watch for the story, even though you get sucked into the adventure quite easily. But it is the visuals that will make the biggest impression. Every shot is eyecandy and the underwater sequences are gorgeous, almost like ballet. 

Cameron also pulls on the heartstrings on several occasions, although the whale hunt where a female tulkun is killed is pretty harrowing and thus one of the more realistic things here. 

Most of the acting is okay to good, but massive props need to go to Zoe Saldana, who is so damn good it's not even funny anymore. There are a few scenes where she has to portray immense grief and subsequently feeling dead inside to ferocious anger and she nails every single one. It's pretty bloody impressive. 

If you liked the first one, you'll also enjoy this one. If you don't have a thing for blue feline aliens and a very clear environmental message then you might need to look elsewhere. But still: another very good entry in the impressive catalogue of James Cameron.