Avatar: The Way of Water

⭐ 8.0/10

(Originally written by Tim)

I watched the first one a week before I watched this, and honestly maybe not a great thing to do because these are the same movie. I actually really appreciated the first on rewatch, and it was hard not to dock points for them making trope for trope the same movie. His kids go through the arc he went through, there is another precious substance to be mined, and they even had the audacity to bring back the same villain, who is apparently indestructable. But you know what? Good for them. I had a great time at the theatre, and had my mind blown by the effects.

I found myself wondering how something like this gets made all movie long. The water effects combined with the blue people looks incredible, and they use it to the fullest, with incredible vistas and some exciting action scenes. I typically don't want to turn my brain off during a movie, but 30 minutes in when I realized that I was seeing the same movie I disengaged the critic and bent my soul to the way of the water.

I was reading about the delays during filming due to the demands of the tech, and the page said they took that time to work on the script, which made me laugh. Did that mean inserting "bro" and "cuz" into the lexicon? Regardless, I love how much time was spent on this movie, not rushing because a studio demands it but getting to the vision of its creator. I respect the time and the attention to detail, and I was reminded of Dune a bit at times, a movie I think is a 10/10 masterpiece of adaptation. It gives me hope that we can one day move on from the bland super hero cycle into fantasy movies that do what fantasy is meant to do - transport you to another world. Take me away James Cameron!