Movie Review: Avatar: The Way of Water
January 6, 2023
(trailer)
Avatar: The Way of Water, starring Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldaña, follows the Sully family (Jake, Neytiri, and their kids) and the battles they fight for survival. The movie is a sequel to Avatar, released in 2009, and hit theaters globally on December 16, 2022.
The film takes place about a decade following the first movie on the exoplanetary moon, Pandora. It illustrates a more blue and beautiful Pandora. The story tells of Jake (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri’s (Zoe Saldaña) family’s fight for survival. When a past threat returns, they flee to the Pandoran oceans and must fight to protect their world and each other. Throughout the over three-hour film, the family experiences battle, death, and other tragedies.
When the sky-people return, the Sully family is forced to flee to the water tribes and learn the ways of the inhabitants. The underwater scenes feel like a whole new world. The Metkayina tribe and the Sully family go from foes to friends as they learn the language of the sea and how to exist with the other creatures.
James Cameron crushed expectations for the long-awaited film. The visuals and sound effects greatly surpass those in the first movie. Cameron used advanced 3D technology to create a high frame rate of forty-eight frames per second, setting a new expectation for visual stimulation. From that standpoint, I was completely blown away.
It was a flawless continuation of the first movie showing a natural progression in the characters’ lives. Themes of love, family, and ecocide are woven throughout, leaving viewers craving more.
The movie is captivating and heartbreaking, leaving many, including myself, in tears by the end. The film is by far the best 3D movie ever created for theaters, and I highly recommend it for an experience that will take your breath away.
8/10
