The Movie Room

Avatar: The Way of Water 2022, directed by James Cameron

Rating: 9/10

When I saw the first Avatar in theaters, the visuals were extremely impressive, but the plot was extremely predictable and I remember hearing people badmouth it in school pretty much right after and then continuing on for so long that I did not expect to love the sequel. What a pleasant surprise!

Sam Worthington as Jake Sully in Avatar was a fine, if bland, protagonist who was nowhere near as fascinating as the world Cameron built around him, but his use in this film I really like. I love his introducing us back into this world and the way that he says the language has become second nature to him that everyone might as well be speaking English and the accompanying fade-out of the subtitles and fade-in of English language track. Then after this world-building, Jake fades into the background and the movie then centers around his children and their friends and each one of them has such fascinating arcs. There are many of these youthful leads and supporting characters, but some examples are Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) with her story about trying to connect with her birth mother (Sigourney Weaver) and discovering the mystery of how she was born, Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) who has a great plot about bonding with an outcast whale, and Spider (Jack Champion) is consistently engaging as he navigates life as a human child who was unable to return to Earth. Jake Sully is still a large presence in this film, but he is much more entertaining as a proud dad and strong leader figure who operates on the sidelines and navigates the new position he finds himself in instead of in the previous film’s action figure roleplaying. I’m so happy he’s still here, but I’m even happier that the main focus of the film is on the younger generation; this allows the film to be more engaging and allows Worthington a better role.

And of course it looks even more amazing than the first one, especially in the underwater scenes that took all those years between films to perfect. This is one of the movies that I splurged on the physical copy because I wanted the 4K experience—I was worried that this movie would not play as well at home as it did in an IMAX theater, but the 4K edition I got is ridiculously gorgeous. Not only is this maybe the most gorgeous looking video in my collection, but the physical packaging is also beautiful and extremely satisfying in a tactile manner. I don’t think any of my other boxes are the same exact material, and as soon as my copy arrived I was shocked and so happy that I spent the extra money. It may not be my favorite movie in my collection, but the physical container and the visual experience are maybe the best. As I start to get more and more 4K discs, there are some that I feel I could have just gotten DVD or blu-ray instead, but this one really and truly was worth the extra cost and justified the expense of a 4K player.

Avatar: The Way of Water justifies the long gap between it and the first Avatar with ridiculously impressive visuals, and also somehow managed to add in an extremely compelling story with fascinating and complex characters, which the first film was lacking to a degree. The 4K edition of this film is a shining jewel in my collection for multiple reasons.