Written By: Sophia Caruso, Malia Douglas, Staff Writer
AVATAR: A long awaited and well received sequel to an infamous movie.
Avatar: The Way of the Water has been long awaited due to the thirteen year gap between the original movie’s release and its sequel. Of course, there has been a lot of buzz around whether or not the second movie would live up to the first one. As we all know, sequels almost always disappoint compared to the original film; knowing this information, there has been a lot of pressure on the release of the second movie. SPOILERS AHEAD!
Overview: Avatar: The Way of the Water was released in theaters on December 16, 2022, and starts with Jake Sully, the leading protagonist from the original film, narrating to update the audience on the events that occurred from the time of its debut in 2009. The original movie ended off with the tree of souls being destroyed. In the time between the first movie and now, Ney’tiri, Jakes wife and Jake formed a family of 6 with 3 of their own kids (Neteyam, Lo’ak, and Tuk) and 1 adopted child (Kiri), who miraculously gestated inside of Dr.Augustine’s avatar body after her death. After a fight with the humans, Jake decides to move his family away from the Omatikaya people (their forest tribe) to protect them from the avatar body of Colonel Quaritch. Jake and his family are accepted into a water tribe called the Metkayina, far away from the Omatikaya. They have trouble adapting to the new tribe at first and seem to be causing mischief for the Metkayina. Then, after somewhat assimilating into the culture of the Metkayina, the humans military led by Colonel Quaritch attack nearby villages to find Jake Sully because the Colonel has a personal vendetta against him for “betraying him” (killing his human form in the first movie). Eventually the Colonel finds him and holds his children hostage in order to draw him out. The big battle starts when Jake is lured out by the Colonel, and the Tulkun, a huge aquatic animal sees that Jake’s second child, Lo’ak, is in trouble and comes to the rescue. Then, in all the confusion, the children are rescued and taken back away from the human military but Jake’s first born, Neteyam, dies. Ney’tiri goes on a wild killing spree while the Colonel and Jake are locked in hand to hand combat. It is shown that Jake defeats the Colonel but Spider, the human Colonel’s son who is assimilated into Navi culture, drags him out of the water, where the Colonel proceeds to fly away on his banshee. Although Spider knew his father was horrible towards his Navi friends he couldn’t watch as his father died. In the last scene, Jake, Ney’tiri, Lo’ak, Kiri, Tuk, and Spider are pictured sharing a warm embrace to remind us of the family’s strength and resilience during the entire film.
Theories: Kiri, daughter of Grace Augustine’s father, is Eywa (the tree of life). This theory can be backed up by the fact that Kiri can be seen in the second movie holding her breath for a long amount of time when she was never previously adapted in the water. She can also be seen in the movie controlling the sacred wood sprites in the water with her hand while not touching them. This was abnormal because the water tribe Tsahik, Ronal is amused by Kiri being able to control the marine animals. Additionally, when Kiri attaches to the underwater Eywa, she sees her mother before she is suddenly pulled out of the vision by what we can only assume is Eywa’s way of concealing her child from Pandora’s inhabitants. Is this a form of protection?
Criticism: During the last fighting scene, the water tribe disappears leaving the Sullys to fight the government’s ships and soldiers by themselves. They are never shown to be fleeing battle, so where did they go? It is also seen to present a “white savior” narrative showcasing stereotypes about native people which the director, James Cameron, said has influenced the tribes. On a positive note the movie has been rated fairly high getting a 77% on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 7.9 on IMDb. Though there are a few plot jumps the movie is so visually pleasing that audiences don’t mind. The CGI of the characters combined with the acting makes for a great film.
Avatar 3: Avatar 1 is based around the forest, Avatar 2 is based around the water , so assuming this pattern continues the next one might be based around some sort of fire Navi. Unlike the last thirteen years spent wondering, there is already a release date of the third movie of December 20, 2024. The official movie name has not been released but a leaked possible name is “The Seed Bearer.” Most fans are very excited and are eagerly awaiting the next film. Let’s hope the next sequel is even better!