A Look Back at “Avatar: The Way of Water”

With the opening of the highly anticipated “Avatar: Fire & Ash” coming upon us (actually opens this Friday with some early showings on Thursday at some theaters and at the Dietrich), I began revisiting the world of Pandora. For the last edition, I checked out the 2009 installment and for this review, I took another look at the 2022 sequel “Avatar: The Way of Water” - the first time I have seen this since I initially reviewed it for the Examiner!

In “The Way of Water,” Jake Sully and Neytiri have formed a family and are doing everything to stay together. However, they must leave their home and explore the regions of Pandora.

When an old threat resurfaces, Jake must fight a difficult war against the humans.

Just like the ground-breaking first film, “Avatar: The Way of Water” is a visually spectacular film that delivers some of the most amazing visual effects I have ever seen. In fact, the visuals in this film are probably better than the first film! This film also shows us more of the world of Pandora and the underwater environments that we see throughout the film are so astounding and the details are remarkable.

I really enjoyed seeing the characters exploring some of the regions of Pandora and every time the underwater sequences are on screen (and there are quite a few of them), I am just certainly in awe with how real those sequences actually look. The level of detail and realism draws us into Pandora’s marine ecosystem, creating a strong sense of wonder - just like when we were first introduced to the world of Pandora in the 2009 film.

While the stunning visual effects have been heavily praised and is one of the major highlights of this film, it’s the central focus on Jake and Neytiri’s family - including their struggles, protective instincts and finding a new home - that serve as the film’s emotional core. The family subplot can resonate deeply with viewers as a universal story about love, belonging and sacrifice.

“Avatar: The Way of Water” also delivers quite a few emotional moments including the death of a character and the reaction we get from Neytiri during that scene is incredibly moving. The action-packed final act is truly the biggest highlight that includes the sinking of a vessel and all of the intense fight sequences that we see. And, of course, the previously mentioned underwater sequences are exceptionally memorable.

“The Way of Water” is widely lauded as a visual and technical masterpiece by many critics, while some critics found the film’s overall story to be simple and predictable. While the runtime can be really lengthy, its success lies in its ability to transport audiences to a breathtakingly beautiful world and evoke a sense of wonder.

“Avatar: Fire & Ash” opens in theaters everywhere and at the Dietrich Theater on Dec. 18th and my review for the upcoming third installment is planned for the Dec. 31st edition!

• According to James Cameron, Kate Winslet performed all of her underwater stunts herself.

• Kate Winslet broke Tom Cruise's underwater filming record from Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015) of six minutes with a record of seven minutes and 15 seconds.

• Not only did James Cameron shoot two full Avatar sequels at once, but he also waited to start filming until all the scripts for Avatar 2, Avatar 3, Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 were complete. He told Collider that his model was similar to what Sir Peter Jackson did with "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. He explained, "They took that chance to launch on all three of those films, but he had the books mapped out, so he could always show the actors what they needed to know about their character arc. So I felt I had to do the same thing. I had to play this as if the books already existed. So the only way for us to do that was to write all the scripts and let the actors read all the scripts and see where their characters were going and what it all meant. Not that that's actable in the moment, but I think it's something that the actors could work into their preparation for their characters."

• The Metkayina clan is known to be inspired by the Maori people of Earth, with Maori actors from the cast of the Avatar sequels working with James Cameron to incorporate elements of indigenous New Zealand cultures into the clan's customs and traditions. Notably, Cliff Curtis and James Cameron worked together to adapt a traditional haka dance into a Na'vi-inspired dance for the clan to perform, incorporating tail and ear movement. The tattoos of the clan also resemble traditional Maori tattoos in placement and style.

• The Avatar sequels will cost collectively over $1 billion.