By Madelyn Hutchison
After nearly fourteen years of waiting, James Cameron released the sequel to one of his most popular movies “Avatar” on Dec. 16, 2022.
“Avatar: The Way of the Water” takes place almost immediately after the events of the first movie, viewers may want to re-watch the first one before going and seeing the new movie in theaters.
Jake Sully (played by Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) are shown with a growing family, with a total of four children, as well as a human child nick-named “Spider” that they sort-of adopted due to the fact that the baby was too young to be sent back to earth by himself. Together, they all appear to have a happy life.
(Some spoilers ahead). That is, until the humans, or “Sky People” as they are known by the Na’vi, decide to come back to Pandora in order to make a home for themselves there. Pandora would then become the new Earth, as the Earth that they knew was dying. In doing so, the army had been sent to “maintain the hostiles” while they built themselves cities. When an unexpected enemy seems to come back from the dead, Jake and his family must leave the forest, in hopes to protect their clan.
They are then put under the protection of one of the Eastern Sea tribes, and begin to learn their ways in hopes that this will be their new home. Here, the story mostly fol- lows Jake and Neytiri’s sec- ond son, Lo’ak, who struggles to find himself and live up to his father’s crushing expectations. Forever being second to his older brother Neteyum, Lo’a is often the one who is blamed for most of the things that happen in the movie.
Lo’ak spends quite a bit of time alone as an outcast from the group. In turn, he finds himself befriend- ing, and what the Na’vi call “soul bonding,” with a whale like creature known as a “Tulkun” whose name was Payakan. Payakan was also an outcast, and as the Tulkun were herd-like animals, felt very lonely. The Sky People manage to catch up with them, and so Jake must put his life, as well as the lives of many others on the line as they fight for their loved ones, their lives, and the Na’vi culture.
“Avatar: The Way of the Water,” much like the first movie, tells this story while in the beautiful bioluminescent world of Pandora. As the audience you get to see how the Na’vi we were used to in the first movie are different from those of the Eastern Sea tribes.
For example, the Eastern Sea tribes have thicker arms and tails to glide through the water, and while hold- ing their breaths for an extremely long period of time, they also communicate through Na’vi sign language.
As the wonderful world of Pandora continues to build and expand, I am interested to see what the future holds for this series, as the third installment has already been announced to release in 2024.
By Alexis Johnson
The characters met in 2009, Jake Sully and Neytiri have now formed a family. However due to external forces, their calm and tranquil life only lasts so long.
The new hit was over three hours long–even longer than “Avengers: End-game.” Directed by James Cameron. The filmmaker mentioned he’s already filmed the next movie and plans on making a 4th, and even 5th in the ongoing series.
Additionally, “Avatar: The Way of Water” made one billion dollars in just 14 days, making it the 7th largest grossing film of all time–which definitely pays off of the five years it took to film alone.
This movie was exceptional. Going into the theater and hearing people’s opinions beforehand made most people doubtful of the outcome. However, after watching the movie, it’s truly a masterpiece. James Cameron is known for going all out for his films; with “Titanic” and even “The Terminator,” but this was something exceptional.
The CGI and editing transports you into a new world even more detailed than before.
The CGI and editing transports you into a new world even more detailed than before.
The characters are all complex and interesting and help develop the story more. The plot was paced well and progressed in an unpredictable yet sensible way.
While in the theater audience members shed their tears once the movie ended, and were shocked that three hours had even passed.