James Cameron is a guy who has done a lot in his time, but it seems that he has a bit of an obsession with open water. With films like The Abyss, Titanic, and even his documentaries that have dealt with exploring the oceans (he has even been in the Marianas Trench), it was no surprise that he would not want to explore the world of Avatar even more. So now, the first sequel in what is documented to be many called The Way of Water is here.
A number of actors from the first film return like Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, and Stephen Lang while introducing new characters played by Edie Falco, Kate Winslet and Cliff Curtis. Taking place over a decade after the first film, Jake (Worthington) and Neytiri (Saldana) are now married and have started a family when humans have come back to invade their planet. Their race called the Na’vi fight back with Jake as their leader, but when Jake realizes he himself is being targeted, he goes into hiding in a different part of Pandora and accepted in a different tribe led by by Tonowari (Curtis). As Jake learns their cultures, he starts his journey to defend his tribe and his world
Let’s get right into it: this film is over three hours long, and it really feels it. I can see why Cameron wanted this film to be this long, but with a number of them still coming, there are anywhere from thirty to forty-five minutes that could have been cut and not felt like anything was missing.
As expected, the visuals here are so next-level that they are some of the best I have seen since films like the first one or The Life of Pi. The underwater scenes alone are breathtaking and being able to see Avatar: The Way of Water in 3-D made it that much more immersive for me. The script is still basically “Dances with Wolves” on another planet, but this time it felt like it was influenced by the work of Jaques Cousteau. The premium format is truly worth it, so I will recommend it to be seen at least in 3-D at your local theater.