If you ever dared to “join” film Twitter (and by joining, I mean reading some of the spiciest takes nobody asked for from a person you have never heard of but you are reading because one of the people you follow RT’d it), you might have been tempted to disregard this film. That one specific film bubble might have led you to believe this film will crush and burn upon its opening because… well, the reasons were: “Nobody cares anymore, nobody liked the first Avatar, Pocahontas 2: Electric Boogaloo, this will make no money because the sequel took forever to make…” and the list goes on and on. And then the first trailer came out and shattered a record. Fast forward to pre-opening in cinemas, and the reviews were mostly positive, proving yet again a couple of general rules to live by. First, Twitter will never be the “real world”. Just because a certain group of like-minded individuals think and repeat the same things over and over again does not make them correct. Second, it is enlightening to step outside your echo chamber (and we all have built them for ourselves, myself included) because it can be eye-opening to what real people think, say or do. And third, you can have any opinion on James Cameron, but he still got it. And is one of the last true visionaries we have.

The main issue people had with the original Avatar (2009) was the story, respectively, how it lacked originality. And Cameron heard it, hired some decent screenwriters (Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver) and went back to Pandora to build on the previous film. The result was the same but different. Avatar: The Way of Water is a three-hour-long epic we don’t see anymore. The reason; we don’t see films like that anymore is simple – money. It’s well known this movie and its sequel (Avatar 3, 2024); had been shot simultaneously, but the scripts for both Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 have been completed too, meaning he had a plan, a blueprint (pun kind of intended) if you will, for all films before starting to shoot this one. Of course, that costs money, same with shooting two mostly CGI films back-to-back. But it was worth it.

There is a section in Avatar: The Way of Water where you could say, “nothing happens”. We, as audience members, are almost “chilling” and getting to know the oceans of Pandora. But that section was stunning and gave us something many big blockbusters can’t have the luxury of doing – developing many characters and setting them up for future films. I will admit I have always defended Cameron and Avatar, but even I was not sure whether we needed four more sequels. But experiencing this one in the cinema, yeah, I will return happily. As with the previous movie, you need to see it on the largest screen possible to appreciate it. I can only (yet again) regret the nearest IMAX is about three hour drive because I would love to see it in IMAX. I still might because if not something as beautiful as this film, what else?

Ever since the pandemic started, the movie industry has been trying desperately hard to figure out a way to get people back in the cinemas. And 2022 definitely was a year of films doing it correctly, from the “underdogs” (Everything Everywhere All At Once, 2022, my review here) to “I can’t believe this sequel is as good as it is” film like Top Gun: Maverick (2022, my review here). But leave it up to Cameron to come in and make almost 2 billion dollars (!!!) in under a month. And for me, the reason is simple, yet difficult – give people something so stunning and great they have no choice of staying home. Because no matter how big and awesome your home set-up is, Avatar: The Way of Water must be experienced in the cinema. I can imagine this film having some effect when it comes out on streaming or 4K, but as cheesy as it sounds, I don’t think you can watch this at home; you need to experience this film in the cinema.

I also need to mention that this film understands worldbuilding and sequel set-up very well. Because Avatar: The Way of Water isn’t anything revolutionary, at least story-wise. But they have managed to establish all the new characters and expand on the ones we knew from the original, so well it never felt like a “half movie” to me. In the past, I have watched films where it was almost painfully obvious they have so much story to tell but couldn’t layer it well enough into one film (looking at you, Alita: Battle Angel (2019, my review here)) it felt like a sequel baiting, like the director himself would say throughout the film: “There are so many cool things to see/learn about, but you need to pay more to see more.” And this film understood that in order to deliver a satisfying experience, it needs to work on its own. I thought it worked, as nothing big, story-wise, was left unresolved by the end of this film. Sure, we could see the journey of many characters is nowhere near over, but here is the thing – all these characters had the time on the screen for me to be invested in them and understand where they were coming from. No matter whether I agreed or disagreed with what they were doing, because the film utilised the runtime, it wasn’t about the “pretty colours/effects”; many characters were introduced, expanded upon and hinted at as being more important down the road. But it never felt cheap. I will buy the ticket for the third Avatar not because of a cliffhanger ending; I will buy it because I want to see where they will take certain characters and what else we will get to explore. Especially Kiri (played by Sigourney Weaver) and Spider (portrayed by Jack Champion); both seemed to be hinted at throughout this film for us to pay attention to them. Kiri because of her uniqueness (also, great work by Sigourney playing a teenager) and Spider because of his complex character I, at first, didn’t care for. But the further we have gotten, the more I could see how this could be the ultimate “not a good guy but not a bad guy either” type of character who, if the script is done right, might be the most intriguing character. That’s not to discredit the other actors, everyone from the kids to adult Avatars did well, but mainly it was these two characters; who intrigued me the most.

One more thing that’s worth mentioning is the 3D element. As mentioned above, I don’t have IMAX near me, so I went in and saw this movie in “just 3D”, and it still blew me away. Just like in the first film, the 3D never serves as a gimmick, but it gives everything depth and sucks you in. Since I wear glasses when watching screens, I was worried that I would have a headache for not wearing my glasses and going with the 3D ones instead, but no. And it never bothered me in those three hours.

Overall, Avatar: The Way of Water is a good reminder that you never bet against James Cameron. His tenacity in going to the deepest parts of this Earth “just” to film and study creatures and how they survive is admirable. This movie spends most of its runtime in water, and it never once bothered me; on the contrary, I loved my time spent in this world and will buy a ticket for the next Avatar. I guess that might answer the question many on film Twitter were asking – it’s not I “need” more Avatar films; I want more Avatar films. And that’s something; I didn’t think I would write, but here we go. Do yourself a favour and see this on the biggest screen possible; if you haven’t already.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke