Avatar: The Way of Water
James Cameron’s latest was a beautiful headache for this reviewer
James Cameron dives into a new technological marvels with the sequel Avatar: The Way of Water.
Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) was tasked with infiltrating the Na’vi — a large blue alien population — so that he could help his fellow humans exploit the resources of their planet, Pandora. But Jake had apparently watched Dances with Wolves a few times and decided that instead of helping exploit a native population, he should join them in expelling the invading force. So Jake joined the Na’vi, fell in love with fierce warrior Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), and lead the rebellion. The humans were expelled. Jake’s mind was forever fused with his avatar, and the Na’vi lived happily ever after.
Or so they thought.
Over a decade later, the Sully family expanded rapidly. They have three children: dutiful eldest Neteyam (Jamie Flatters), rebellious second-born Lo’ak (Britain Dalton), and adorable youngest Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss). Jake and Neytiri have also adopted teen Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), who is the biological child of the deceased Dr. Grace Augustine’s (also Weaver) avatar.
While the family experiences the typical pains of raising teens, they’re blissfully happy — until the humans return.
When Jake spots the ship approaching in the night sky, he knows that the humans won’t be so easily fended off this time. This time, the humans are prepared, with specialized autonomous Na’vi avatars called recoms who are tasked with destroying anyone who tries to stop their colonization of Pandora. Realizing that his betrayal of humanity has made him a target, Jake convinces Neytiri to abandon their home and people and start over again in one of the other Na’vi villages.
Settling in Metkayina, an ocean village with seafaring people, the Sully clan must learn the way of the water if they want to thrive in their new environment. Though the family is determined to persevere, the recoms won’t give up their hunt for the Sully family so easily.
Can the Sullies survive in a new land? And can you survive a three-hour and 12-minute movie?
If you’ve been clamoring for an Avatar sequel, director James Cameron will not disappoint with this opulent spectacle of a film. After spending a decade working on the motion capture technology he’d need to craft the sequel he wanted, Cameron returns to the world of Pandora with impressive visuals and a story that still drags. The result is a film that feels like the equivalent of watching an impressive light show for several hours.
The story is better thought out this time around. Instead of a direct mashup of Dances with Wolves and Ferngully, Cameron seems to have drawn inspiration from several sources. There’s a mashup of his greatest hits: The space marines from Aliens, the chosen-one woman who might be able to save the world, and a large boat sinking for about 45 minutes. He also manages to draw some visual and storytelling inspiration from Free Willy, which is impressive and a little funny. Still, overall, the story of the Sully family fleeing a colonizing force is better written and more compelling than the narrative of the first film.
But it’s clear that Cameron is more interested in exploring the world visually than he is from a storytelling perspective. This time around he moves the action from the floating forests of Pandora to the oceans. We learn about sea life and experience a new version of motion capture that was designed specifically for underwater. It’s an impressive feat, and it’s clear that each set piece was lovingly constructed and intended to be a visual feast on the largest screen possible.
This is why it’s a shame that Cameron had to shoot the whole film in 3D at High Dynamic Range (That’s 48 frames per second instead of the standard 24). This was intended to make the world more immersive and tangible. But if you’re not used to 3D or 48 frames per second motion, you may leave the theater with a headache that has nothing to do with the numerous clunky plotlines. A few of my gamer friends who are used to High Dynamic Range in first-person-shooter games were unaffected, so mileage may vary. But I had to sit in my car for 15 minutes after the screening with my eyes closed before I felt comfortable driving home. Keep this in mind when buying a ticket.
The other issue is that, in spite of Cameron’s tireless work perfecting performance capture, there are still some performances that aren’t worth capturing. Worthington remains one of the stiffest screen presences I’ve seen in decades. He sighs and huffs, but everything feels flat. It’s strange that the expressive Na’vi people would be drawn to such a lacking personality.
Another odd performance is found in Weaver’s Kiri. While Weaver is a brilliant actress, seeing her attempt to embody a young teen is…odd. She’s got the physicality down, but her very adult lady voice piping out of a child’s face is discombobulating. Think of Baby Herman or the Boss Baby and you’ll understand the cognitive discord of hearing Sigourney Weaver yelling “Daaaaaaaad!”.
The Avatar franchise seems to be shaping up like the Fast & Furious franchise, in that you either get it, or you don’t. Either you’re willing to listen to Dom growl about family — or in this case, Sam Worthington talking about it in a monotone — or you’ll develop an eye twitch. If you value cutting-edge graphics and cool underwater photography, you’ll adore this film, it’s undeniably beautiful. If you’re looking for interesting character development, you’ll feel every minute of that 3-plus hours.
Verdict: Your opinion on the first Avatar will likely determine your opinion of this one, it’s undeniably beautiful if you can take the 48 frames per second speed.
Avatar: The Way of Water is rated PG-13 and is available in theaters Dec. 16.
