Banners: Lightstorm Entertainment, TSG Entertainment
Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldanha, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Joel Moore
Music: Simon Franglen
Cinematography: Russell Carpenter
Director: James Cameron
Producers: James Cameron, Jon Landau
Release date: Dec 16, 2022
The year 2009 saw a revolution of sorts when James Cameron came up with the film ‘Avatar’ and it took the audience into a new world of entertainment. Since then, many have been eagerly waiting for the sequel to arrive and it has finally come. Well, is it really matching the expectations or has it surpassed, let us see
Story
After the big war in the first part, Jake Sully (Sam) is living a rather peaceful life with his wife Neytiri (Zoe) and his kids Neteyam, Loak, Tuk, adopted daughter Kiri and a boy named Spider who is the son of Jake’s arch enemy Col. Miles Quaritch (Stephen). Things change when Miles is back with his team albeit in the avatar of Na’Vi and his mission is only one, kill Jake Sully. However, Sully wants to stay away from conflict and he decides to take refuge with his family in Metkayina, the island inhabited by sea people. But the people of Metkayina find it hard to accept Sully as he is a forest man. Is Jake and his family successful in establishing a bond with Metkayina? Is Miles successful in chasing down Jake? All this forms the rest of the story.
Performances
Sam Worthington gave a good performance and his expressions were apt as per the situation. Zoe Saldanha had a graceful presence and gave out the right emotions in intense scenes. Stephen Lang as the cold blooded soldier was good. Kate Winslet was nice, Sigourney Weaver had a blink and miss appearance, Cliff Curtis was neat. The actors who did the kids' roles were quite impressive and cute. The others did their bit as required.
Crew
At a content level, the story is very simple and a one-liner but it is the world created by the director which makes the difference. So, full marks go to the animation and graphics team, the art department which created the various creatures, nature, flora and fauna. The VFX team did an outstanding job and there was zero error in the presentation. Cinematography was excellent. Pace could have been better. The screenplay could have been tighter. The background score, sound design are apt for a 3D experience.
Hits
Visuals
Climax fight
Technical Values
Misses
Very slow narrative
Second half
Too much runtime
Not enough emotional peaks
Deeper Look
When ‘Avatar’ was released, the audience was transported into a world nobody could dream of, it was a world created by James Cameron. There is no doubt he is a master storyteller and good with churning out emotions using simple storylines. However, when a franchisee model is planned, it is important to keep the proceedings very engaging as each part is released. For some reason, ‘Avatar-The Way Of Water’ could not maintain that momentum. A large amount of focus was on the technical aspects but if only James sat at the editing table and chopped a few bits, the output would have been yet another masterpiece. The film takes off on the right note by connecting the dots with the first part and fifteen minutes later, the speed picks up. The interval bang didn’t have anything special and things started going a bit downhill during the second half. At one point, boredom does set in due to the lack of progress in the story. Of course, the climax fight was brilliant but instead of leaving the audience at a high, the story takes yet another melodramatic turn and that too with its own sweet time.
As such, there is always an Indian touch Cameron gives for his stories and here again, he stresses upon the importance of family, the philosophy of the sea, the brutality of human beings upon Nature and Wildlife. Perhaps that could also be a reason why the runtime is so long as he had to establish every element properly.
Also, given the technical and visual brilliance, one should watch the film in the right setup i.e a big screen theatre with the right sound system like Dolby Atmos 5.1 or else it would be hard to experience the true magic created by Cameron. Overall, the film would get a lot of appreciation from a technical and creative standpoint but not much from a content perspective. As for the audience the kids might enjoy a few scenes but not in totality. The ‘Avatar’ fans however will relish it on the whole.
Vox Verdict
Experience this ‘Water’ once for sure!
