Fans may have had to wait over a decade but at long last, James Cameron delivered the sequel Avatar: The Way of Water. Set in the alien world of Pandora, the new film sees the return of Sam Worthington as Jake Sully and Zoe Saldaña as Neytiri. And this time, they’re raising a family (which includes Avatar star Sigourney Weaver as one of their children now).
At the same time, The Way of Water also sees the Avatar debut of Titanic star Kate Winslet as pregnant warrior Ronal. And while there has been a lot of anticipation around the new film, does it live up to the hype? Would Cameron’s latest entry sway critics?
How Does Avatar: The Way Of The Water Compare To The Original?
Cameron is one filmmaker who knows what it’s like to achieve perfection, having written and directed one critical hit after another throughout his career.
And while the original Avatar wasn’t exactly the best film he ever made (that honor goes to The Terminator, based on critics’ ratings), the 2009 sci-fi film received a lot of praise for its breathtaking visuals and music score.
That said, Avatar also took some criticism on the storytelling front. Nonetheless, the movie did enough to earn a decent 82% rating on Rotten Tomatoes after 334 reviews.
More than a decade later, Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water earns a Certified Fresh rating after 357 reviews. However, it fails to outperform the original, eventually settling for a 78% rating.
Avatar: The Way Of The Water Receives Praise For Its Cinematic Landscape And Expansion Of Pandora…
Being a follow-up film, comparisons are inevitable. And visually, The Way of Water is hailed as another cinematic masterpiece. This time around too, Cameron provides a more in-depth look into Pandora.
As the San Diego Reader notes, the director “has built a new world from the remixed bits of this one, and he seems determined that we should not simply visit Pandora, we should live in it.”
Moreover, it’s also possible that the stunning visuals stole the show.
“The luminous and tactile CGI that breathes life into the film’s flora and fauna proves that Pandora, not Jake, is the hero of Avatar,” Williamette Week writes.
“Every blade of grass, every drop of water, is a gift not to be wasted.” Similarly, Common Sense Media has nothing but praise for the film’s “memorable world-building.”
But There May Be Too Much Going On, And Three Hours Can Feel Too Long
And while everyone practically agrees that the sequel is a visual delight, The Way of Water also has some shortcomings.
For instance, the consensus is that despite the evolved story of Jake and Neytiri, the new film could have still improved its storytelling.
That said, this is forgivable for some. “Plot-wise, this movie is treading water. But that’s fine, because the water’s lovely,” the London Evening Standard writes.
Similarly, Screen International notes that the movie offers “an extraordinary visual spectacle that can’t compare on the narrative side — although, to be fair, that’s a mighty high bar.”
Others are more insistent that the story couldn’t live up to the grandeur of the movie itself. “As a story, The Way of Water disappoints, even as its visuals overwhelm,”
Above the Line bluntly states. Similarly, The Daily Beast writes, “Creatively speaking, [it's] of a piece with its predecessor, a would-be epic of boundary-pushing digi-grandeur in service of Pocahontas-style us-vs-them mush.”
Meanwhile, ScreenCrush claims that the sequel “very much feels like a decade’s worth of accumulated ideas crammed into a single film.”
On the other hand, some also claim that there is just too much happening in the movie at any given time and that its three-hour runtime can feel too long. “
Future Avatar Movies Are Already In Production
Soon after the original Avatar reached $1 billion at the box office, Cameron himself confirmed that the sequel would come. Soon after, the director also revealed plans to make even more Avatar movies.
And back in 2019, Disney confirmed as much with the sequel originally set to be released in December 2021. The studio also revealed that it would be working on Avatar 3, Avatar 4, and Avatar 5.
And while The Way of the Water ended up getting delayed, it seems that the rest of the Avatar production slate will move along as scheduled since the scripts are all done.
Fans would also be happy to know that the third film is practically complete. In addition, they’ve also started work on the fourth film already.
“We shot 95% of movie 3. We have a little bit that we have to still pick up,” Avatar producer Jon Landau revealed. “And we shot the first act of movie 4.”
He also teased that each new installment will “take you to new biomes and new cultures.” Perhaps, that’s something that critics would appreciate.
