By Caitlin Hofen, Feature Editor
After 13 years of waiting, “Avatar: The Way of Water” premiered in December 2022. Fans of the franchise stormed the box office, with many viewers going back to see the movie multiple times.
The story begins 12 years after the events of the first movie.
The Na’vi are living peacefully after driving out the humans working for the Resources Development Administration (RDA).
Jake Sully is the leader of the Omaticaya clan and has four children: Neteyam, Lo’ak, Kiri and Tuk.
Much to the Na’vi’s dismay, the RDA returns to Pandora to prep it for colonization as Earth is dying.
Among the new arrivals are Na’vi avatars implanted with the memories of deceased human soldiers from the first mission to Pandora with Colonel Miles Quaritch’s avatar serving as their leader.
It is their mission to eliminate Jake and his clan.
One year later, Jake and his mate Neytiri decide to leave their forest home after their children have a kidnapping experience with Quaritch and seek refuge with the Metkayina reef people clan on Pandora’s eastern seaboard. Here, the Sullys learn a new way of life and start to adapt to surviving in water.
However, the conflict only begins as they grow accustomed to their new home.
I’ve seen mixed reviews about “Avatar: The Way of Water” with the biggest complaints being about the lengthy run time and unnecessary details in the plot.
Personally, the length of the film was perfect to me because it established the current time frame, solidified the Sullys in their new home and ended the story with enough loose ends to point toward another film.
For the plot, I agree there were some details that weren’t essential to the storyline, but those details make the story seem more real and as believable as a science fiction movie can be.
I enjoyed getting to see the different way of life the Metkayina live verses what was shown in the forest.
I’m a sucker for mythology and culture, so learning more about the Na’vi way of life was my favorite part.
What captured my attention the most were the stunning details they were able to produce using performance capture technology.
The cast was trained in free diving and actually acted underwater.
The use of such technology makes me excited to see the future films of the series and other movies that will move to use this technology.
I would like to watch the entire movie before all of the added effects.
I think it would be so interesting to watch the actors play these characters without having the environment of Pandora around them, relying entirely on their imaginations.
Overall, I really enjoyed this film. I am a longtime lover of the first film, and I think the second one continued the story beautifully.
I enjoyed getting to watch Jake and Neytiri as parents and related to the decisions they had to make for their family. The theme running through the film was “Sullys stick together,” as Jake leads his family into new territory and a new life.
I can’t say that I think this story was better than the first, but I do think the visual elements were.
I think the storyline for the second film is the perfect bridge between the original and the continuing story. I would recommend any sci-fi or fantasy lovers to watch this movie and learn a little bit more about the Na’vi.