Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

Returning to Pandora with incredible digital landscapes, a retrofitted villain, and a whole new biome and bestiary, Avatar: The Way of Water is a successful refresh of its predecessor. We embark on a new journey and we see an intensification of the themes of natural conservation versus Earthly imperialism; humans return with a vengeance and begin colonization in earnest.

The plot is once again well paced but perhaps less interesting. Jake's journey from human to Na'vi is jam-packed with satisfying narrative moments. The Way of Water comes up a little short on this front.

The visuals remain supreme, aided by the shift in the color palette provided by moving the story's locale. Doing justice to its name, the water sequences are gorgeous with an eclectic range of blues and bioluminescence. The gap between the original and this film allowed visual improvement on a number of fronts, but in particular our Na'vi look more vividly detailed than ever.

Another improvement is human technology; it has become more varied and more advanced to reflect the passage of time. It’s at its best in the whaling sequence midway through the movie, and in the final confrontation aboard the human ship.

We also see significant improvement in this rendition of the villain Miles Quaritch; his visual transformation was handled expertly, with his recombinant self being more compelling than his human counterpart in the first movie.

Unfortunately, the exploration of its themes is minimal. Its moral philosophy is extremely black and white, which can work well for movies like The Way of Water, but can get in the way of thematic nuance.

In an attempt to make our younger cast of characters sound sufficiently youthful, there is an excessive use of the words "bro" and "cuz". The reviewer found this alone to be distracting, but it's made worse by the fact that none of the second generation characters as written are as interesting as any of the first. The chasm further deepens, as the performances of the younger cast are very uneven in quality.

Faltering a bit with its new story and characters, and doing little with its thematic underpinnings, Avatar: The Way of Water manages to overcome its flaws and, much like its predecessor, deliver a visual experience that is unparalleled.