So I’ve seen Avatar the Way of Water. I cycled in the cold for James Cameron,
and damn it I would do it again! You make Terminator 2 and you have a free pass to
make whatever weird blue alien sex movie you want and I will be there. [You're mine.]
The film was good; it’s nice to see a big blockbuster on screen with CGI
as polished and well lit and well conceived as it is in Avatar. A
welcome change to the gluttony of rushed and patchwork blockbusters
the audience has become all too accustomed to. Unfortunately story always comes first,
which is what once again holds back this franchise from being something truly incredible.
When the film started and we saw the Navi hit the human supply train I thought great;
this whole movie is going to be about Sully leading the Navi against the humans using
guerilla warfare! I hope the rest of the movie is this relentless…
… Only about 30 minutes later I realized the movie was actually going to be about the Sully
family in hiding and learning to vibe with the water tribe. Not necessarily a bad thing but
it meant the majority of the middle third was devoted to watching the cast go whale
watching. As stunning as the effects were I kinda wanted to see more of the conflict with
the Navi and the humans returning after more than a decade since their defeat. It adds some
new ideas to the mythos but this is largely more of the same; not quite the expansive
sequel that flips the original on its head like Cameron’s work with Aliens and Terminator 2.
The water tribe were interesting but I didn’t feel especially invested in
Sully and co trying to learn their ways and adapt. Plus the high school bully
angle with the kids was pretty tired and tropey. [Hey look guys that avatar
nerrrrrrd doesn’t have a tail adapted for swimming! Lets all point and laugh! Ha ha!]
Things pick up again in the third act with a truly stunning extended
set piece on the water. Cameron is the master of action cinema
and he’s upped his game in terms of the spectacle from the first movie tenfold.
Cameron said that one of his main criticisms of the marvel movies is that everyone speaks like
they’re in college, and I think that’s a really valid criticism - after 4 phases of homogenized
gags, witticisms and rebuttals the characters do all start to sound roughly the same.
Contrast that with the way Jake and Neytiri act in The Way of Water compared to the previous
installment. They have a much more weathered and measured temperament since they have become
parents. There’s some jokes in the movie but the humor doesn't really come from them; much like
any real parent they’re cautious, observant and protective. The Jake Sully in Avatar,
without a flock to care for, was headstrong and impulsive and didnt have a whole lot of
self preservation. It’s nice to see characters evolve like this and the 13 year wait dictates
that we need to see this kind of growth in our characters to make it worthwhile.
The rest of the plot feels like the avatar sequel that would have followed after a quick two year
turn around. 2011’s Avatar the Way of Water is a side quest sequel where they go whale
watching and meet the water tribe - it doesn’t feel like the empire strikes back sequel that
really pushes everything forward in a huge way. Nothing really changes for the world of Pandora,
nor do the humans make any great strides in taking over the planet. This movie kind of reminds me of
Incredibles 2; it took years for the sequel to get made, and the movie ended up being decent,
but it didn’t feel like the filmmakers cracked a story worthy of such a long wait.
Overall I think this movie is still a really fun ride and the effects are absolutely jaw dropping,
but the first movie is a more complete and satisfying experience. Whilst Sully’s arc
in Avatar is obvious from the first moment he sets down on Pandora, I buy into it and I buy
into his love story with Neytiri more than I do their Way of Water arc. The humans making a bid
for the world tree and the “unobtanium” beneath it is a concise third act; the moby dickheads in the
sequel hunting Jake Sully and stealing anti-aging serum don’t quite form as strong a motive.
It also leads me to the conclusion that, yes, I do want more Avatar movies;
more than I ever thought I did. But I don’t think I need them with Jake Sully.
I’m not suggesting I want a million Avatar spin offs, concurrent projects or a cinematic universe.
God knows we have enough of them. I’m fine with getting them years apart each time, making each
installment feel like an event in the way that Star Wars once did before it was annualized.
The only thing I want to change in terms of the output are the stories being told.
Cameron has created a rich sci fi world that could
be looked at through numerous perspectives and locations.
I think the blueprint for the Avatar world should be something closer to the Narnia
series. In each book we explore the world of Narnia with a different cast of characters and
a different perspective; sometimes it’s from the viewpoint of a Narnia native,
sometimes it's from the viewpoint of an alien visitor. Sure, sometimes characters return
or crossover ala The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe to Prince Caspian,
but overall the books feel like they cover every nook and cranny Narnia has to offer.
I think this template could perfectly translate to Pandora; we could get stories about humans
visiting for various purposes good and bad, we could get stories from the perspectives of the
Navi - we could travel 1000 years into the future of this world or go 1000 years into the past.
Cameron has created a sandbox that both he can play within; the effects are there
and they are stunning, now let’s take the stories in truly interesting directions.
Case in point the best thing about the movie is the resurrected Colonel
Quatrich and his recombinants. Avatar saw Stephen Lang’s human
villain conclusively die at the hands of Neytiri after a one on one with Jake Sully.
Through the power of eerie future tech, Quaritch was able to create a
hard drive back up of his brain before the final battle, and now in Avatar 2
the humans have used that copy to create a revived Quaritch in the form of an avatar.
This Quaritch is infinitely more interesting and
ironically, infinitely more human and three dimensional than his previous incarnation.
You feel empathy for his bizarre situation; it’s unsettling to be shown a face you
recognise as yourself telling you that you were slain. Unlike Sully,
who chose to leave his human visage behind, Quatrich has been forced into an avatar body
with a new mission. His allegiance to the cause haven’t faltered, but it’s clear he’s finding it
hard to contend with his own oblivion and the fact that somehow, he is still here.
The recombinants discover the site of human Quaritch’s final stand;
you can see the distress on his face as he comes to realize that he was killed
by two arrows fired at his heart, and he finds his own skull unceremoniously
decaying amongst the vegetation he had risked his life to destroy.
This culminates in the most metal part of the whole movie - wherein Avatar Quaritch
crushes human Quaritch’s skull. There’s an existential terror to being alive but
also not really being the same person - as copy who exists that never got
to experience his end - how much is he still the original quatrich? This whole
thread feels like the most James Cameron thing in the whole movie.
When Quaritch’s human son, the Navi allegiant “Spider”,
is held hostage by Neytiri the colonel says “We’re not even the same species”
A fantastic line full of interesting contradictions because Spider thinks he’s
a navi and Quaritch thinks he’s a human - both are wrong but also right in their assumptions.
Quaritch does have something of a heart after all, as he cannot bring himself to let his own
son die. This is more texture to the character than he was ever given in the first movie.
My point is that the Colonel Quaritch avatar doppleganger is easily the best
part of the movie, and could lead a narrative all by himself. In fact,
I think I would have rather seen that movie; something entirely from his maligned perspective.
You could have done this sequel from his perspective entirely and had him finally
cross paths with Sully at the end - making the original movie’s protagonist the antagonist of
the story. Imagine if we had spent as much time with Quaritch to care about him like we cared
about a supposed villain like Jamie Lannister - and then we got reunited with the first
movie’s protagonist except we don’t want either party to perish because of what we’ve learned.
I’m not saying I dislike Jake Sully and Neytiri’s plot - I just don’t
think theres enough mileage for 5 movies - the world is what is giving the mileage and
Avatar 2 has proven that different perspectives and storylines in the
Pandora world can be really interesting if given the proper time to develop.
Producer Jon Landau said that the plan for Avatar 5 is for Neytiri to visit Earth and
I’m interested in that, but imagine if we didn't see her or her family for the next
two movies. We had unique stories set in different times and got new details to the
pandora world we never thought possible. And then the trailer for avatar 5 drops
and we see Neytiri step down on a vista of earth - a broken, torn down world
depleted of its fossil fuels and resources., a dead husk that this navi will now explore.
I think we’d be way more excited to see these characters in a sequel story but there's other
ways to build up to that. I don't think the sully clan have the chops for a multi-part epic,
but the navi, pandora, its creatures, the human race desperately struggling to survive in space,
and the whole concept of being an avatar are ripe for more narratives.
Make each one a closed off story that we feel satisfied by watching in isolation.
Make it so that people watch every Avatar movie not because it's leading to some big
team up event but because each story is so enthralling its unmissable cinema.