James Cameron definitely has a vision for his Avatar saga. After he blew me away, visually and sonically, with his first installment, I noticed the movie’s lack of originality in its story. Still, I was intrigued enough to see what else he had to bring to his Pandoran world. The second installment, for me, is a mix of more incredible visuals, but because the story has so much heavy lifting to do, bringing the audience up to speed several years later, I feel that Avatar: The Way of Water falls short of the first chapter. Thankfully, the third movie takes place right after the events of the previous film and delivers an impressive technological marvel while also keeping me somewhat invested in its characters’ affairs.
Since the tremendous events of the previous film, the Sully family has continued to live with the water people of Pandora, though their continued stay there poses a threat not only to the Sully family but also to the other members of the tribe. Quaritch (Stephen Lang) remains determined to carry out his mission to further conquer and pillage Pandora, carry out his revenge against Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), and gain custody of his son Spider (Jake Champion). Meanwhile, a violent tribe led by a Pandoran named Varang (Oona Chaplin) targets other tribes and sees an opportunity to dominate by manipulating Quaritch and the colonizers.
I honestly found this third installment more compelling and intriguing because it had less work to do while still moving the story forward. The movie develops the characters and story more effectively, and, of course, the visuals and sound are incredible.
I have no major complaints about the entire cast of the film, but the main standouts are Stephen Lang and Oona Chaplin, whose performances are delivered via motion capture. As usual, both Zoe Saldana and Sam Worthington are solid in their roles, and Sigourney Weaver’s turn as their young, adopted daughter Kiri is quite remarkable.
As expected, the film is a magical extravaganza of visual effects that looks incredible in 3D. So, of course, I must highly recommend that my readers watch this movie in a theater, in the best 3D format available to them. Part of me looks forward to watching what James Cameron has planned for his fourth movie, but there is also some trepidation, because, aside from the loose ends, we have to trust that he has more surprises in store.