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Take the plunge: Avatar's underwater scenes are immersive and extraordinary

Justin Chang

Filmmaker James Cameron returns to the world of the Na'vi people in Avatar: The Way of Water. 20th Century Films hide caption

Filmmaker James Cameron returns to the world of the Na'vi people in Avatar: The Way of Water.

I wouldn't call Avatar: The Way of Water one of the year's best movies, but it's undoubtedly one of the best movie-going experiences I've had in a while. I had more or less the same reaction to James Cameron's first Avatar in 2009.

It told a thin but trippy Dances with Wolves -ian story about the colonizers v. the colonized, but the world building was spectacular: It was thrilling to visit the faraway moon called Pandora, with its immersive, digitally created jungle landscapes. It was thrilling, too, to root for the towering blue-skinned Na'vi people, brought to life through Cameron's pioneering use of performance-capture technology, which translates actors' movements and facial expressions into computer-generated imagery.

And so it's great to return to Pandora, although since many years have passed since the events of the first movie, there is some clunky exposition to get through. Sam Worthington again plays Jake Sully, a former human now reborn as a Na'vi man, and Zoe Saldaña returns as the fierce warrior princess Neytiri. They have four Na'vi children, including an adopted teenage daughter, Kiri. She's played, through the magic of performance capture, by the decidedly not-teenage Sigourney Weaver . And Weaver, as you might recall, played a human scientist who was killed in the first Avatar .

How the older and younger Weaver characters are connected is one of the new movie's mysteries, but it's clear that Kiri is a child of unique gifts. In one scene, she tells Jake that she feels acutely in tune with Eywa, the powerful deity who maintains balance among all living things on Pandora, saying, "I hear her heartbeat. She's so close. She's just ... there. Like a word about to be spoken."

For some viewers, a little of this Mother Earth stuff will go a long way, though I've always found Cameron's cornball sincerity hard to resist. He may push the technological envelope, but he's an earnest, old-fashioned storyteller at heart. For all its visual sophistication and its three-hour-plus running time, Avatar: The Way of Water tells a simple, straightforward story about a family in danger.

The villain here is once again Jake's archenemy, Col. Miles Quaritch, played by a ferocious Stephen Lang. You might recall that he died in the first Avatar , but Cameron's science-fiction conceit is elastic enough to get over that hurdle. And this time, Quaritch himself has been resurrected as a Na'vi, making him even more fearsome and powerful. He has a score to settle, and so Jake and Neytiri take their kids and flee to the sea, where they hide out among a group of Na'vi beach dwellers.

The movie's second act is basically a charming riff on Swiss Family Robinson , as Jake and Neytiri receive a wary welcome from the community leaders, one of them played by a glaring Kate Winslet . The family is forced to adapt to an entirely new way of life. That means becoming much better swimmers and learning to communicate with the local wildlife, including a giant talking whale-like creature called a Tulkun.

It may sound silly, but this is where the movie soars to life. Cameron knows a thing or two about underwater peril, as his movies Titanic and The Abyss bear out. He's also an accomplished diver, and here, he plunges you into the watery depths and surrounds you with the most surreal-looking alien fish specimens you've ever seen.

In these moments, I didn't feel like I was watching a movie so much as floating in one. In addition to the 3D, which I do recommend, Cameron has tried to heighten the level of detail by shooting at an unusually fast 48 frames per second. It looks a little too smooth at times, especially on dry land, but the effect is stunning underwater. I almost wished the movie would never leave the ocean floor, that it could just sustain this Jacques-Cousteau-on-mushrooms vibe for three hours.

'Avatar': Big-Picture Visions, Stirringly Realized

But that's not the Cameron way. He sometimes breaks his own spell by cutting away to Quaritch, which often feels jarring and not that interesting. And as superb as Cameron's eye is, his dialogue remains as tin-eared as ever. But everything does come together in the movie's action-heavy final act, which features extraordinarily well-orchestrated set-pieces both above and below water.

Quaritch is joined by some deadly human fighters too, and Avatar: The Way of Water encourages us — successfully — to root against humanity for all the destruction it's unleashed on the world. We've seen that before, including in the first Avatar , but it speaks to Cameron's real achievement, which is to bring us into total identification with these computer-generated Na'vi characters. I don't know if that will be enough to sustain the Avatar series over three upcoming sequels, but I'm already looking forward to another trip to this alien moon. Until then, Pandora, so long, and thanks for all the fish.

By Richard Brody

Fifteen years separated “The Godfather Part II” from “Part III,” and the years showed. The series’ director, Francis Ford Coppola , enriched the latter film with both the life experience (much of it painful) and the experience of his work on other, often daring and distinctive films with which he filled the intervening span of time. By contrast, James Cameron , who delivered the original “ Avatar ” in 2009, has delivered its sequel, “ Avatar: The Way of Water ,” thirteen years later, in which time he has directed no other feature films—and, though he doubtless has lived, the sole experience that the new movie suggests is a vacation on an island resort so remote that few outside visitors have found it. For all its sententious grandiosity and metaphorical politics, “The Way of Water” is a regimented and formalized excursion to an exclusive natural paradise that its select guests fight tooth and nail to keep for themselves. The movie’s bland aesthetics and banal emotions turn it into the Club Med of effects-driven extravaganzas.

The action begins about a decade after the end of the first installment: the American-born Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) has cast his lot with the extraterrestrial Na’vis, having kept his blue Na’vi form, taken up residence with them on the lush moon of Pandora, and married the Na’vi seer Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), with whom he has had several children. The couple’s foster son, Spider (Jack Champion), a full-blooded human, is the biological child of Jake’s archenemy, Colonel Miles Quaritch, who was killed in the earlier film. Now Miles has returned, sort of, in the form of a Na’vi whose mind is infused with the late colonel’s memories. (He’s still a colonel and still played by Stephen Lang.) Miles and his platoon of Na’vified humans launch a raid to capture Jake, who, with his family, fights back and gets away—all but Spider, whom Miles captures. The Sully clan flees the forests of Pandora and reaches a remote island, where most of the movie’s action takes place.

The island is the home of the Metkayina, the so-called reef people, who—befitting their nearly amphibian lives—have a greenish cast to contrast with Na’vi blue; they also have flipper-like arms and tails. They are an insular people, who have remained undisturbed by “sky people”—humans. The Metkayina queen, Ronal (Kate Winslet), is wary of the newcomers, fearing that the arrival of Na’vis seeking refuge from the marauders will make the islands a target, but the king, Tonowari (Cliff Curtis), welcomes the Sullys nonetheless. Unsurprisingly, the foreordained incursion takes place. An expedition of predatory human scientists arrive on a quest to harvest the precious bodily fluid—the sequel’s version of unobtainium—of giant sea creatures that are sacred to the Metkayina. The invading scientists join the colonel and his troops in the hunt for Jake, resulting in a colossal sequence that combines the two adversaries’ long-awaited hand-to-hand showdown with “ Titanic ”-style catastrophe.

The interstellar military conflict is the mainspring of the story, and a link in what is intended to be an ongoing series. (The next installment is scheduled for release in 2024.) But it’s the oceanic setting of the Metkayina that provides the sequel with its essence. Cameron’s display of the enticements and wonders of the Metkayina way of life is at once the dramatic and the moral center of the movie. The Sullys find welcoming refuge in the island community, but they also must undergo initiations, ones that are centered on the children and teen-agers of both the Sullys and the Metkayina ruling family. This comes complete with the macho posturing that’s inseparable from the cinematic land of Cameronia. Two boys, a Na’vi and a Metkayina, fight after one demands, “I need you to respect my sister”; afterward, Jake, getting a glimpse at his bruised and bloodied son, is delighted to learn that the other boy got the worst of it. Later, when, during combat, trouble befalls one of the Na’vi children, it’s Neytiri, not Jake, who loses control, and Jake who gives her the old locker-room pep talk about bucking up and keeping focus on the battle at hand. The film is filled with Jake’s mantras, one of which goes, “A father protects; it’s what gives him meaning.”

What a mother does, beside fighting under a father’s command, is still in doubt. Despite the martial exploits of Neytiri, a sharpshooter with a bow and arrow, and of Ronal, who goes into battle while very pregnant, the superficial badassery is merely a gestural feminism that does little to counteract the patriarchal order of the Sullys and their allies. Jake’s statement of paternal purpose is emblematic of the thudding dialogue; compared to this, the average Marvel film evokes an Algonquin Round Table of wit and vigor. But there’s more to the screenplay of “The Way of Water” than its dialogue; the script (by Cameron, Rick Jaffa, and Amanda Silver) is nonetheless constructed in an unusual way, and this is by far the most interesting thing about the movie. The screenplay builds the action anecdotally, with a variety of sidebars and digressions that don’t develop characters or evoke psychology but, rather, emphasize what the movie is selling as its strong point—its visual enticements and the technical innovations that make them possible.

The extended scenes of the Sullys getting acquainted with the life aquatic are largely decorative, to display the water-world that Cameron has devised, as when the young members of the family learn to ride the bird-fish that serve as the Metkayina’s mode of conveyance; when one of them dives to retrieve a shell from the deep; and when the Sullys’ adopted Na’vi daughter, Kiri (played, surprisingly, by Sigourney Weaver, both because she’s playing a teen-ager and because it’s a different role from the one she played in the 2009 film), discovers a passionate connection to the underwater realm, a function of her separate heritage. The watery light and its undulations are attractions in themselves, but the spotlight is on the flora and fauna with which Cameron populates the sea—most prominently, luminescent ones, such as anemone-like fish that light the way for deep-sea swimmers who have a spiritual connection to them, and tendril-like plants that grow from the seafloor and serve as a final resting place for deceased reef people.

Putting the movie’s design in the forefront does “The Way of Water” no favors. Cameron’s aesthetic vision is reminiscent, above all, of electric giftwares in a nineteen-eighties shopping mall, with their wavery seascapes expanded and detailed and dramatized, with the kitschy color schemes and glowing settings trading homey disposability for an overblown triumphalist grandeur. It was a big surprise to learn, after seeing the film, that its aquatic settings aren’t entirely C.G.I. conjurings—much of the film was shot underwater, for which the cast underwent rigorous training. (To prepare, Winslet held her breath for over seven minutes; to film, a deep-sea cameraman worked with a custom-made hundred-and-eighty-pound rig.) For all the difficulty and complexity of underwater filming, however, the movie is undistinguished by its cinematographic compositions, which merely record the action and dispense the design.

Yet Cameron’s frictionless, unchallenging aesthetic is more than decorative; it embodies a world view, and it’s one with the insubstantiality of the movie’s heroes, Na’vi and Metkayina alike. They, too, are works of design—and are similarly stylized to the point of uniform banality. Both are elongated like taffy to the slenderized proportions of Barbies and Kens, and they have all the diversity of shapes and sizes seen in swimsuit issues of generations past. The characters’ computer-imposed uniformity pushes the movie out of Uncanny Valley but into a more disturbing realm, one featuring an underlying, drone-like inner homogeneity. The near-absence of characters’ substance and inner lives isn’t a bug but a feature of both “Avatar” films, and, with the expanded array of characters in “The Way of Water,” that psychological uniformity is pushed into the foreground, along with the visual styles. On Cameron’s Edenic Pandora, neither the blues nor the greens have any culture but cult, religion, collective ritual. Though endowed with great skill in crafts, athletics, and martial arts, they don’t have anything to offer themselves or one another in the way of non-martial arts; they don’t print or record, sculpt or draw, and they have no audiovisual realm like the one of the movie itself. The main distinctions of character involve family affinity (as in Jake’s second mantra, “Sullys stick together”) and the dictates of biological inheritance (as in the differences imposed on Spider and Kiri by their different origins).

Cameron’s new island realm is a land without creativity, without personalized ideas, inspirations, imaginings, desires. His aesthetic of such unbroken unanimity is the apotheosis of throwaway commercialism, in which mystery and wonder are replaced by an infinitely reproducible formula, with visual pleasures microdosed. Cameron fetishizes this hermetic world without culture because, with his cast and crew under his command, he can create it with no extra knowledge, experience, or curiosity needed—no ideas or ideologies to puncture or pressure the bubble of sheer technical prowess or criticize his own self-satisfied and self-sufficient sensibility from within. He has crafted his own perfect cinematic permanent vacation, a world apart, from which, undisturbed by thoughts of the world at large, he can sell an exclusive trip to an island paradise where he’s the king. ♦

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By Justin Chang

By Susan B. Glasser

'Avatar: The Way of Water' review: Visually splendid, narratively hollow

Perhaps it’s unfair to James Cameron that we—the humans that we are—get used to beautiful things quickly. Where our mouths were agape for the entirety of the first film—as we vicariously lived in the beautiful Pandora and its painstakingly designed ecosystem—it’s hard to feel the same wonder, as Cameron leads us further into Pandora. Perhaps it doesn’t help that many new creatures simply feel like underwater equivalents of those we encountered on land in the first film.

Hey, here’s the underwater Ikran. This, must be the underwater ‘hometree’. Oh, this underwater sequence in which the kid, Lo’ak, is being hunted, must be the equivalent of his father, Jake, running from a thanator in the first film.

I could go on and on—just like the sequel does with these repetitions. A filmmaker of James Cameron’s stature is no doubt aware of these echoes—and this includes even the film’s final shot—and surely, these are by design. All those Cameron dialogues from Avatar make a comeback too. “You are not in Kansas anymore.” “Outstanding!” “One life ends, another begins.”

Again, I could go on and on, but the real question is, what thematic purpose does all this repetition serve? What big, overarching narrative function is fulfilled by the idea of these echoes?

In fact, after a while, even all the great action feels so stretched and lacking in real narrative tension that I began to draw parallels with other films in the auteur’s career.

The villain is singleminded in his desire to track down and murder his adversary. Terminator? While the climactic battle is going on, many important characters are in a sinking ship and are potentially drowning to death.

You know what film it reminds you of. In a film that’s comfortably longer than three hours, I sought more narrative pleasures, more emotional conflicts and arcs—especially from a film that hits the ground running.

And for that reason, perhaps the best part of the film is its beginning when Cameron so quickly, so gracefully shows us what Pandora has been like in peace. The Sullies stick together. New avatars are introduced, new Na’vi characters that are echoes of their older ones… Stephen Lang and Sigourney Weaver—who were both so important in the first film—return in new versions (as Na’vi Quarritch and young Kiri respectively), and they are both, once again, compelling.

There’s some hint of action at the very beginning—and you see even then that Jake Sully and company are not reliant on Eywa as much as they are on guns and ammo. Jake isn’t gazing in wonder at Pandoran life anymore; he’s now a guerrilla leader training foot soldiers, including his own sons, to fight back against humans.

The dreaminess and peace of Pandora—such a rush in the first film—are replaced with war and resistance. We spend a good hour before the oceans usher in the wonders of Pandora once again. And the spectacle is glorious to behold and the oceanic creatures are tremendously lifelike—aided by the sparkling sheen of bioluminescence. As something akin to a 3D animated documentary on imagined sea life, these portions are pretty great—especially in IMAX, where the detailing is astounding. Often, it’s easy to forget that it’s all VFX… it’s easy to forget that these aren’t Na’vi actors, shooting live-action.

It’s that good—and yet, where the experiential pleasures outweighed narrative deficiencies in the first film, here, perhaps on account of familiarity with this world—or perhaps on account of any eye-popping new ideas for Pandoran fauna—I was left craving a better story, something more dramatic, something more insightful, something that would contain more inner meaning.

ALSO READ | 'Avatar: The Way of Water' first impressions: Mesmerising visuals gloss over more than a few frays

Diving deep into Pandora is all fine, but why don’t we also dive deep into Jake Sully, Neytiri and Quarritch?

“I got your children! Haha! Come, and get some!” feels like a letdown. There are some emotional themes—even if they don’t quite deliver the satisfaction of being fleshed out. There are outcasts and the bond between them. Just like Payakan, the outcast tulkun eager to return to their family, Jake’s second son, Lo’ak, too longs to be recognised by his own.

Much like Lo’ak’s relationship with his father, Jake, is rather broken, so is Spider’s relationship with avatar Quarritch. In fact, avatar Quarritch is easily the most fascinating character in this film. In Avatar: The Way of Water, however, despite all the running time, these interpersonal emotional spaces don’t feel remote as explored as the Pandoran sealife.

Still, there are portions in the film that show what James Cameron can do at his best. How he can break you with his portrayal of tragedy, and how he can piece you back together with a euphoric moment of retaliation. I doubt I would have believed anyone telling me that a whale-like creature attacking a ship would give me perhaps one of the rapturous cinematic moments of the year.

ALSO READ | The Na’vi next gen is here: A talk with actors Jamie Flatters and Bailey Bass

And yet, Cameron manages that—even without the late James Horner, whose absence is dearly felt in this sequel and whose score for the first film enters and exits this film in spurts. Cameron continues to argue for the environment, and for the preservation of ecological balance, and these are important conversations to have in times of revolting plunder and self-defeating exploitation.

There’s definite utility in imploring our kind to see the beauty of life around us, in encouraging our kind to live in harmony with animal and plant life. It’s admirable—and touching even—that the legendary James Cameron seems to have trained his singular focus on this message and dedicated the remaining years of his film career to the Avatar universe.

Perhaps Jake Sully saying, “This is where we make our stand!” could well be Cameron saying the same with his films. And hey, perhaps this second film—as weak as the storytelling is—is just the ace filmmaker setting things up for something more sweeping in future films. The lack of narrative pleasures in this sequel depresses you, but Cameron’s craft wizardry makes you hope and yearn.

Film: Avatar: The Way of Water Director: James Cameron Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet Rating: 3/5

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Avatar: The Way of Water

Jake Sully lives with his newfound family formed on the extrasolar moon Pandora. Once a familiar threat returns to finish what was previously started, Jake must work with Neytiri and the arm... Read all Jake Sully lives with his newfound family formed on the extrasolar moon Pandora. Once a familiar threat returns to finish what was previously started, Jake must work with Neytiri and the army of the Na'vi race to protect their home. Jake Sully lives with his newfound family formed on the extrasolar moon Pandora. Once a familiar threat returns to finish what was previously started, Jake must work with Neytiri and the army of the Na'vi race to protect their home.

• James Cameron
• Amanda Silver
• Sam Worthington
• Zoe Saldana
• Sigourney Weaver
• 3.3K User reviews
• 387 Critic reviews
• 67 Metascore
• 75 wins & 150 nominations total

• (as Zoe Saldaña)

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• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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• Trivia According to James Cameron , Kate Winslet performed all of her underwater stunts herself.
• Goofs During the fight when Jack and Neytiri rescued their children, they kill 4 soldiers from a party of 6. Yet at the extraction scene, all 6 soldiers are present.

Tsireya : [to Lo'ak] The way of water has no beginning and no end. Our hearts beat in the womb of the world. The sea is your home, before your birth and after your death. The sea gives and the sea takes. Water connects all things: life to death, darkness to light.

• Crazy credits The first half of the end credits highlight Pandoran sea creatures.
• Alternate versions Like its predecessor, which is present 1.78 : 1 aspect ratio, this film presents 1.85:1 aspect ratio for home video releases, although there can be no widescreen versions of this film as James Cameron intended to watch the full format.
• Connections Featured in AniMat's Crazy Cartoon Cast: Watching the Weird Way of Water (2022)
• Soundtracks Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength) Performed by The Weeknd Lyrics and Melody by The Weeknd (as Abel "The Weekend" Tesfaye) Music by Simon Franglen and Swedish House Mafia Produced by Simon Franglen and Swedish House Mafia The Weeknd Performs Courtesy of XO/Republic Records

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• December 16, 2022 (United States)
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• Stone Street Studios, Wellington, New Zealand
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• Lightstorm Entertainment
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• $350,000,000 (estimated)
• $684,075,767
• $134,100,226
• Dec 18, 2022
• $2,320,250,281

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• Runtime 3 hours 12 minutes
• Dolby Atmos
• IMAX 6-Track
• Dolby Surround 7.1

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• Avatar 2 Movie Review: James Cameron's Audiences Dive Deeper Into Mesmerising Pandora With Each Passing Minute

Avatar 2 Movie Review: James Cameron's audiences dive deeper into mesmerising Pandora with each passing minute

Avatar 2 review: james cameron's sci-fi film is visually arresting. the story centered around the sully family and the values the na'vis stand for makes it a deeply emotional and moving watch..

• Movie Name: Avatar 2
• Critics Rating: 4 / 5
• Release Date: DEC 16, 2022
• Director: James Cameron
• Genre: Sci-fi, Action

Avatar 2 Movie Review: The events have been set in motion for James Cameron's Avatar universe to enthrall the audience. With Avatar: The Way of Water, the filmmaker has not only presented himself as someone who is directing content with the distant future in mind but also bringing to light the pressing themes of the current times. Even though the Avatar sequel is visually arresting and leaves no stone unturned in catching attention with each passing second, the emotional quotient in the movie has been turned up, making it an even more splendid watch, one that will leave you with conflicted thoughts and feelings.

In the Avatar sequel, the battle in Pandora is over but the war seems to have just begun. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) have expanded their family after defeating the 'Sky People', led by Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang). Now, he returns as a Na'vi and seeks revenge. What follows next is Jake's fight for his family's survival as they look for refuge in other parts of the planet and learn the 'way of the water'.

Avatar starts off by throwing you right in between the beautiful forests on Pandora. It does take time for the viewers to acquaint their eyes with the psychedelic colours bursting forth from every corner of the screen but once settled in, you keep getting drawn into the Avatar universe. The first hour sets the narrative in motion and the visuals revisit the first film, but it is well-balanced with fast pacing and good progression. Different characters are introduced and their motives are made clear. Once Cameron gets over with this drill, the real magic begins underwater. 

Read:  Govinda Naam Mera Movie Review: Vicky Kaushal's murder mystery is peppered with quirks, thrills and suspense

What is seen on screen next is better experienced that described. Be assured that every praise will be in the superlative form when Avatar 2's underwater sequences will be discussed. With each breath, you dive deeper into the mesmerising world that Cameron is in total control of. Each frame is intricately designed and detailed. The efforts of the VFX team and the vision of the director power this true cinematic achievement. The visual tone is a departure from the first Avatar and presents a totally unique experience, one unseen, unimagined and inexpressible. The terrific views of Pandora will leave you spellbound as the background score keeps on building up feelings of child-like wonder. That is the power of Avatar: The Way of Water.

In the final act, the action is not on as big a scale as Avatar, but still enthralling and well-executed. After the conclusion, one will come to appreciate this restraint on Cameron's behalf. The makers are setting up an immense scale for the future and where this franchise can go is anyone's guess. 

Read:  Blurr Movie Review: Taapsee Pannu's thriller relies on technical aspects and intriguing storyline

Avatar will leave you thinking. The film progresses on similar themes- exploration, exploitation and futility of war (Jake Sully points this out appropriately when he says 'killing, no matter how justified, brings more killing') - but adds more layers and depth. Visual achievement aside, Avatar makes you believe in humanity. That is and will drive its immense popularity across generations.   

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'Avatar: The Way of Water' movie review and box office collection LIVE updates: James Cameron's film collects Rs 40 crore; fails to beat opening collection of Avengers Endgame

The wait is finally over! The much-awaited sequel of the 2009 film, 'Avatar' has hit the theatres today. The film is releasing in several Indian regional languages like never before and so is it released across the globe on over 52000 screens. The original 'Avatar' enchanted audiences with pioneering 3D technology that brought to life the lush moon Pandora and its blue, 9-foot-tall Na'vi people. The 2009 movie remains the highest-grossing film in history with $2.9 billion in global ticket sales. While 'Avatar: The Way of Water' has reportedly received mixed reviews from early reviews from western critics, we’ll have to wait and watch how it will impress the Indian audiences. Follow ETimes Live Blog for all the updates related to the film and more. Read Less

Avatar: The Way Of Water could turn into a 200-crore blockbuster, predict trade experts- Exclusive

Meet the real actors of 'Avatar 2'

Akshay Kumar is super impressed with 'Avatar 2:The Way Of Water'

Watched #AvatarTheWayOfWater last night and Oh boy!!MAGNIFICENT is the word. Am still spellbound. Want to bow down… https://t.co/1m3dYrVGgk — Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) 1671016522000

There is good news for all Avatar fanatics. There will be three more sequels are being planned. They are currently in the writing stage.

Avatar: The Way Of Water box office collection Day 1: James Cameron's film collects Rs 40 crore; fails to beat opening collection of Avengers Endgame

Dhanush watches 'Avatar: The Way Of Water' in Chennai, check out to know with whom he enjoyed the film

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'Avatar: The Way of Water' rings up $17 Million at US box office on opening night

Avatar: The Way Of Water box office collection Day 1: James Cameron's film set for a huge first day; creates history in South circuit

Avatar:The Way Of Water looking at a huge first day which could go upto Rs 45 crore nett mark. The film has shattered all records for Hollywood films down South including Avengers Endgame.

Kate Winslet reveals why she said yes to 'Avatar 2' when James Cameron told her she will have to stay a lot under water!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kate Winslet (@kate.winslet.official)

Fans go gaga over 'Avatar: The Way Of Water', the film creates a huge Euphoria especially in the Telugu states - Watch video

Block Buster #Avatar Visual Wonder #AvatarTheWayOfWater #Avatar Effect 😀 Telugu States https://t.co/Zw92ILbuYj — 𝙎𝙎𝙈𝘽 𝙁𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙆𝙎 𝙁𝘾 (@ssmb_freaks) 1671182829000

Actor Prakash Raj watches 'Avatar: Way Of Water' with his son, says 'what an experience!'

Family time #Avatar watching with our son…. Wowwwwwe. What an experience https://t.co/7pKioe3AuJ — Prakash Raj (@prakashraaj) 1671182279000

Teaser of 'Kartik Aaryan's 'Shehzada' is attached with 'Avatar: The Way Of Water'

Dhanush showers love on James Cameron for 'Avatar'

@JimCameron I LOVE YOU ! I SEE YOU 🙏🙏🙏 #Avatar — Dhanush (@dhanushkraja) 1671179024000

‘Avatar: The Way Of Water’ early estimate day 1: James Cameron’s sci-fi film to makes a splash at Indian box office with Rs 40 crore haul

REVEALED: Here's how 'Avatar: The Way Of Water' director James Cameron shot all underwater scenes

RGV heaps praise on Avatar 2

Just bathed in AVATAR 2 ..It will be a crime to call it a film because It’s an experience of a life time ..SPECTACU… https://t.co/IZHTzrbTFX — Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) 1671178756000

I just saw #AvatarTheWayOfWater and wow. I expected it to be a visual spectacle, but I didn’t expect it to be so emotionally resonant. Its nuanced characters, rich world building, and fulfilling story make this far better than its predecessor.Also the fight scenes are BRUTAL.

@stephcozza on Twitter

‘Avatar 2’ leaked online: James Cameron’s film available for free download on torrent and piracy sites

Now streaming on:

Watching "Avatar," I felt sort of the same as when I saw "Star Wars" in 1977. That was another movie I walked into with uncertain expectations. James Cameron 's film has been the subject of relentlessly dubious advance buzz, just as his " Titanic " was. Once again, he has silenced the doubters by simply delivering an extraordinary film. There is still at least one man in Hollywood who knows how to spend $250 million, or was it $300 million, wisely.

"Avatar" is not simply a sensational entertainment, although it is that. It's a technical breakthrough. It has a flat-out Green and anti-war message. It is predestined to launch a cult. It contains such visual detailing that it would reward repeating viewings. It invents a new language, Na'vi, as "Lord of the Rings" did, although mercifully I doubt this one can be spoken by humans, even teenage humans. It creates new movie stars. It is an Event, one of those films you feel you must see to keep up with the conversation.

The story, set in the year 2154, involves a mission by U. S. Armed Forces to an earth-sized moon in orbit around a massive star. This new world, Pandora, is a rich source of a mineral Earth desperately needs. Pandora represents not even a remote threat to Earth, but we nevertheless send in ex-military mercenaries to attack and conquer them. Gung-ho warriors employ machine guns and pilot armored hover ships on bombing runs. You are free to find this an allegory about contemporary politics. Cameron obviously does.

Pandora harbors a planetary forest inhabited peacefully by the Na'vi, a blue-skinned, golden-eyed race of slender giants, each one perhaps 12 feet tall. The atmosphere is not breathable by humans, and the landscape makes us pygmies. To venture out of our landing craft, we use avatars--Na'vi lookalikes grown organically and mind-controlled by humans who remain wired up in a trance-like state on the ship. While acting as avatars, they see, fear, taste and feel like Na'vi, and have all the same physical adeptness.

This last quality is liberating for the hero, Jake Sully ( Sam Worthington ), who is a paraplegic. He's been recruited because he's a genetic match for a dead identical twin, who an expensive avatar was created for. In avatar state he can walk again, and as his payment for this duty he will be given a very expensive operation to restore movement to his legs. In theory he's in no danger, because if his avatar is destroyed, his human form remains untouched. In theory.

On Pandora, Jake begins as a good soldier and then goes native after his life is saved by the lithe and brave Neytiri ( Zoe Saldana ). He finds it is indeed true, as the aggressive Col. Miles Quaritch ( Stephen Lang ) briefed them, that nearly every species of life here wants him for lunch. (Avatars are not be made of Na'vi flesh, but try explaining that to a charging 30-ton rhino with a snout like a hammerhead shark).

The Na'vi survive on this planet by knowing it well, living in harmony with nature, and being wise about the creatures they share with. In this and countless other ways they resemble Native Americans. Like them, they tame another species to carry them around--not horses, but graceful flying dragon-like creatures. The scene involving Jake capturing and taming one of these great beasts is one of the film's greats sequences.

Like "Star Wars" and "LOTR," "Avatar" employs a new generation of special effects. Cameron said it would, and many doubted him. It does. Pandora is very largely CGI. The Na'vi are embodied through motion capture techniques, convincingly. They look like specific, persuasive individuals, yet sidestep the eerie Uncanny Valley effect. And Cameron and his artists succeed at the difficult challenge of making Neytiri a blue-skinned giantess with golden eyes and a long, supple tail, and yet--I'll be damned. Sexy.

At 163 minutes, the film doesn't feel too long. It contains so much. The human stories. The Na'vi stories, for the Na'vi are also developed as individuals. The complexity of the planet, which harbors a global secret. The ultimate warfare, with Jake joining the resistance against his former comrades. Small graceful details like a floating creature that looks like a cross between a blowing dandelion seed and a drifting jellyfish, and embodies goodness. Or astonishing floating cloud-islands.

I've complained that many recent films abandon story telling in their third acts and go for wall-to-wall action. Cameron essentially does that here, but has invested well in establishing his characters so that it matters what they do in battle and how they do it. There are issues at stake greater than simply which side wins.

Cameron promised he'd unveil the next generation of 3-D in "Avatar." I'm a notorious skeptic about this process, a needless distraction from the perfect realism of movies in 2-D. Cameron's iteration is the best I've seen -- and more importantly, one of the most carefully-employed. The film never uses 3-D simply because it has it, and doesn't promiscuously violate the fourth wall. He also seems quite aware of 3-D's weakness for dimming the picture, and even with a film set largely in interiors and a rain forest, there's sufficient light. I saw the film in 3-D on a good screen at the AMC River East and was impressed. I might be awesome in True IMAX. Good luck in getting a ticket before February.

It takes a hell of a lot of nerve for a man to stand up at the Oscarcast and proclaim himself King of the World. James Cameron just got re-elected.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

Avatar (2009)

Rated PG-13 for intense epic battle sequences and warfare, sensuality, language and some smoking

162 minutes

Sam Worthington as Jake Sully

Zoe Saldana as Neytiri

Sigourney Weaver as Grace

Stephen Lang as Col. Miles Quaritch

Michelle Rodriguez as Trudy Chacon

Giovanni Ribisi as Parker Selfridge

Joel David Moore as Norm Spellman

CCH Pounder as Moat

Wes Studi as Eytukan

Laz Alonso as Tsu'tey

Dileep Rao as Dr. Max Patel

Matt Gerald as Corporal Lyle Wainfleet

Written and directed by

• James Cameron

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Avatar 2: I paid Rs 2500 to watch The Way of Water. But is the James Cameron spectacle really worth it?

Updated Dec 19, 2022, 22:43 IST

James Cameron's Avatar: The Way of Water is a visual spectacle, a familial story, a cinematic extravaganza. But is it really worth a watch?

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Avatar: Release Date, Trailer, Songs, Cast

• Release Date 18 December 2009
• Language English
• Dubbed In Hindi, Tamil, Telugu
• Genre Sci-Fi
• Duration 2h 42min
• Cast Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Sigourney Weaver, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, Dileep Rao, CCH Pounder, Wes Studi, Laz Alonso
• Director James Cameron
• Writer James Cameron
• Cinematography Mauro Fiore
• Music James Horner
• Producer James Cameron, Jon Landau
• Production 20th Century Fox, Lightstorm Entertainment, Dune Entertainment, Ingenious Film Partners
• Certificate 13+

About Avatar Movie (2009)

From Academy Award winning director James Cameron comes Avatar, the story of an ex-Marine who finds himself thrust into hostilities on an alien planet filled with exotic life forms. As an Avatar, a human mind in an alien body, he finds himself torn between two worlds, in a desperate fight for his own survival and that of the indigenous people.

Avatar Movie Cast, Release Date, Trailer, Songs and Ratings

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Avatar most pirated movie ever

• James Cameron's 3-D blockbuster Avatar is the most pirated movie in Hollywood history, according to a study released by TorrentFreak.
• The film has been downloaded some 21 million times since it was released in 2009.
• Cameron once touted 3D filmmaking as the entertainment industry's best hope for combating piracy, but the 3D spectacle doesn't seem to have helped his film escape the wrath of torrent sites, said The Hollywood Reporter.
• Avatar's 21 million downloads beat out 19 million downloads apiece for The Dark Knight and Transformers.
• Leonardo DiCaprio starrer Inception and Todd Phillips' Hangover came fourth and fifth respectively in the most pirated list.
• Star Trek, Kick-Ass, The Departed, The Incredible Hulk, and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End round off the top ten.
• All of the films on the TorrentFreak's all-time list of "most pirated movies" did quite well at the box office.

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