Genre: Sci-Fi, Adventure, Action, Fantasy
Directed by James Cameron
Produced by James Cameron, Jon Landau
Written by James Cameron, Josh Friedman
Based on Characters by James Cameron
Story by James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Edie Falco & Jemaine Clement.
Cinematography: Russell Carpenter
Edited by Stephen E. Rivkin, David Brenner, John Refoua, James Cameron
Music by Simon Franglen
Production companies: Lightstorm Entertainment, TSG Entertainment
Distributed by: 20th Century Studios
The plot: Jake Sully and Ney’tiri have formed a family and are doing everything to stay together. However, they must leave their home and explore the regions of Pandora. When an ancient threat resurfaces, Jake must fight a difficult war against the humans.
I was so looking forward to this sequel.
Avatar the Way of Water movie was great.
Pros: I’m impressed how well it managed to focus on the new kids’ characters without sacrificing the main cast from the first film, including also expanding the world of avatars a lot further. The visual effects looked amazing. The film spent an amount of time underwater. Every action sequence was so well put together. I enjoyed this film being about revenge after what happened in the previous movie and it was worth the wait. Don’t have too many expectations before seeing this sequel.
Cons: Sometimes I couldn’t tell who was speaking to who? Through their motion catcher performance. Javier Socorro being the adopted son to colonel miles was a waste of a storyline and we don’t want to spend any time in the forest that much.
The Casts:
- Sam Worthington as Jake Sully, a former human who fell in love with Neytiri and befriended the Na’vi after becoming a member of the Avatar Program, eventually taking their side in their conflict with humans and leading them to victory. He left his human body to permanently become one of the Na’vi.
- Zoe Saldaña as Neytiri, daughter of the previous clan chief, future Tsahìk of the clan, and Jake’s mate.
- Sigourney Weaver as Kiri, Jake and Neytiri’s adopted teenage daughter. Weaver originally appeared in the first film as Dr. Grace Augustine, a human who takes the side of the Na’vi and dies during the conflict. Although both Weaver and Cameron confirmed that she would return in the sequels, she stated in 2014 that she would not play the same character. Like most of the cast, she learned free-diving for the film and filmed scenes underwater.
- Stephen Lang as Colonel Miles Quaritch, a human who led the security forces of the RDA, the human organization colonizing Pandora, in their conflict with the Na’vi. After being killed by Neytiri in the events of the first film, he has been resurrected by the RDA as a Recombinant, described as “avatars embedded with the memories of human[s]”, and seeks to finish what he started, including getting his revenge on Jake. Cameron stated in 2010 that Lang would return in the first three sequels, stating, “I’m not going to say exactly how we’re bringing him back, but it’s a science fiction story, after all. His character will evolve into really unexpected places across the arc of our new three-film saga.” He later stated that Quaritch would act as the main antagonist once again, in all four sequels.
- Kate Winslet as Ronal, a free diver of the Metkayina and Tonowari’s wife. Winslet called Ronal “a pivotal character in the ongoing story” but also “relatively small comparative to the lengthy shoot” since shooting all her scenes only took a month. It marks her first time working with performance capture, and motion capture altogether. She, like most of the cast, also had to learn free diving for the film; while filming an underwater scene, she held her breath for over seven minutes, a new record for any film scene shot underwater.
- Cliff Curtis as Tonowari, the leader of the reef people clan of Metkayina and Ronal’s husband.
- Giovanni Ribisi as Parker Selfridge, the former corporate administrator for the RDA mining operation.
- Edie Falco as General Frances Ardmore, the commander in charge of the RDA’s interests.
- Brendan Cowell as Captain Mick Scoresby, the head of a private sector marine hunting vessel on the planet of Pandora.
- Jemaine Clement as Dr. Ian Garvin, a marine biologist.
- CCH Pounder as Mo’at, the Omaticaya’s spiritual leader and Neytiri’s mother.
- Jamie Flatters as Neteyam, Jake and Neytiri’s first son and oldest child.
- Britain Dalton as Lo’ak, Jake and Neytiri’s second son.
- Chloe Coleman as young Lo’ak.
- Trinity Jo-Li Bliss as Tuktirey (“Tuk”), Jake and Neytiri’s eight-year-old daughter and their youngest child.
- Bailey Bass as Tsireya (“Reya”), a graceful and strong free-diver of the Metkayina and Tonowari and Ronal’s daughter.
- Filip Geljo as Aonung, a young male hunter and free-diver of the Metkayina and Tonowari and Ronal’s son.
- Duane Evans Jr. as Rotxo, a young male hunter and free-diver of the Metkayina.
- CJ Jones[40] as an unnamed Metkayina interpreter.
- Jack Champion as Miles “Spider” Socorro, a teenager born in Hell’s Gate (the human base on Pandora in the first film) who was rescued and adopted by Jake and Neytiri and “prefers his time in the Pandoran rainforest”.
- Joel David Moore as Dr. Norm Spellman, a former member of the Avatar Program who chose to side with the Na’vi in the first film.
- Dileep Rao as Dr. Max Patel, a scientist who worked in the Avatar Program and came to support Jake’s rebellion against the RDA in the first film.
- Matt Gerald as Corporal Lyle Wainfleet, a mercenary for the RDA in their war against the Na’vi who was previously killed by a hammerhead titanothere and was revived as a Recombinant. Gerald was announced to reprise his role in August 2017.
- Alicia Vela-Bailey as Zdinarsk, a Recombinant and member of the 1st Recom Squadron. Vela-Baily previously portrayed Ikeyni, the leader of the Na’Vi Ikran Clan, in the original Avatar. She is also featured as a stunt performer in both films.
I highly recommend this sequel to anyone who saw the first film.
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars
Ryan Balkwill:
Resident film reviewer,
Level Best Art Cafe.