Film Review - Avatar: The Way of Water

Source: Disney Press Release 2022

13 years in the making, billions of dollars and a film that had all been forgotten about by most. Was Avatar 2 really worth the wait?

In the years since the release of the first movie, virtual effects in films and television has improved hugely. The original movie was such a hit due to its 3D viewings and unbelievable CGI for its time period in 2009. The first movie was decades in the making and became the highest grossing movie in history hitting $2.9 billion in gross revenue worldwide.

The marvel of the original movie died off quickly, with a lack of follow on material, and a world that almost forgot about it. The second movie had been teased for years since the release of the original but most thought it was a failed idea. However, filming of number 2 begun in early 2017 and the film was finally released on December 26th 2022.

After waiting years to see the movie, I was sceptical that it would ever reach the heights of the first one, but I was not disappointed. The movie was a visual sensation, it even made the initial effects in the first one look sub-par. One major issue was that the film plot felt almost too similar to the first movie, which was slightly underwhelming as the movie in parts felt like a copy and paste.

However, there was enough new content and character building in this one to make it a spectacular movie overall, with you experiencing a range of emotions throughout. Since the movie took five years to produce and make, the younger actors quite literally grew up on screen. Jack Champion, the actor who played ‘Spider’ in the film did not have a replacement for his younger self to his older version on screen.

Champion played the character from the age of 14–17 which means we see real change throughout the movie, and not just a replacement actor for when the character ages up. Sigourney Weaver was also reincarnated in this film after her previous character grace died in the last movie. She came back as Kiri, the adopted daughter of Jake and Neytiri, she played this role fantastically, really embracing the mannerisms of her characters young age.

The movie as a whole was a cinematic masterpiece, the technology used to film and portray the actor’s true emotions in the scenes was second to none. The quality of the visual effects was mind blowing, the detail down to even the pores in the skin, the dew on the leaves of the trees & the shine from the water on their skin.

So far, the movie is well on track to being one of the highest grossing movies ever made, with it being the biggest ever opening Thursday release and so far, grossing $1.8 billion worldwide.

I think that the movie as a whole and the Avatar universe in general portrays a message of real-world problems that we as a species face today in our society. Exploiting the natural resources of our own home for the greed and wealth of others. Whilst in actual fact if we worked together as a people, more like the Navi’ then we could live in tandem with nature as so perfectly shown in this film and the previous one.

This sequel has made it all more exciting for the movies to follow, setting up the 3rd sequence to the franchise perfectly. With the next movie set to move in completely different direction, all I can say is that director, James Cameron, really does know how to build a billion-dollar blockbuster.

★★★★☆ - 4/5 Stars