Avatar: The Way of Water
2022
***
Director: James Cameron
Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Jemaine Clement, Jamie Flatters, Britain Dalton, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss
The sky people return to colonise Pandora and capture Jake Sully, the leader of the rebellion. To protect his family and the Omaticaya clan, Jake, Neytiri, and their four children flee their home and seek refuge with the Metkayina reef people. After Avatar became the highest grossing film of all time in 2010, James Cameron announced plans for four sequels. It took 13 years to release the first one. The film's visuals are once again immaculate. The motion capture technology is amazing and there isn't one shot above or under water that looks fake. However, it is astounding that it took five people to outline and three people to script a story, which just retreads the original film and pretty much resets at the end, again. The bad guys who died in the original return as human/Na'vi hybrids, and somehow two of the dead characters have left offspring. Instead of the rain forest, this time we spend the second act exploring the beauty of the underwater world and hunting for amrita, a rare and expensive anti-aging agent, which has taken the role of unobtanium. The gripping final hour, with callbacks to Titanic, is a great reminder that Cameron is still one of the finest action directors in the business. An Academy Award winner for best visual effects.
