"Avatar: The Way of the Water" was supposed to be the next big hit, but for me, the three-hour twelve-minute film was underdeveloped in its storytelling and lackluster in its character development …. Don't get me wrong, the special effects were top-notch and the world of Pandora was as stunning as ever. However, the connection to characters in the first movie just did not carry over into this sequel. Jake Sully, the main character of the first movie transformed and created a bond with audiences and was built into an incredible character. Unfortunately, this second installment fails to give the beloved character any further development, depth or purposeful story; instead it offers only meaningless filler.
From the beginning, we learn that the Colonel, who was the ruthless villain from the first film, is back, this time in the body of an avatar. This is a minor plot point that could use some reworking. The Colonel, now with the memories of the original, realizes and acknowledges that he is not the same person but an avatar with the Colonel’s memories. Nevertheless, he persists in his pursuit of Jake Sully with a questionable and uninspired motivation, killing indiscriminately along the way. This plotline is inherently flawed, as the memories implanted in the avatar predate the Colonel's death, making his bloodlust and quest for vengeance feel hollow and pointless.
Throughout the film, the Sully clan remains largely unchanged, with a rushed portrayal of their growth in just the first few minutes of the movie, followed by shallow character development through the next three hours. Unfortunately, the movie fails to capture the same level of excitement and anticipation as the first "Avatar," which boasted outstanding storytelling and profound character development for our main character, Jake Sully.
This film also focuses on Jake Sully’s children, Neteyam, Lo'ak, Kiri, and Tuk. The two brothers looked nearly identical, and it took me about two hours to finally get them straight ... by that point, it was too late. The idea and appearance of this new family dynamic are beautiful, but it is a lot to be shoved into one film. With a whole slew of characters to keep track of, such as the kids of the Water People, important humans, the colonel and his new avatar buddies… there were a lot of characters and storylines to keep track of. The death of Jake’s son Lo’ak was not as heartbreaking as it could have been, as he was the child that had the least development, and honestly, I was not very stricken by his death. Tuk was always there getting the siblings in trouble, Neteyam was constantly an outcast and becoming friends with a whale, and Kiri was the special child. I will admit the symbolism of Kiri was unique, but the long captures of her exploring her abilities were rather long and unnecessary to the film.
One of the major questions and plot holes in the movie is the humans' motivation for being on Pandora. In the first film, the humans were mining the valuable metal, unobtanium, for their depleted world. In the sequel, however, the main goal of the Sky People seems to be killing whales and collecting brain fluid to achieve immortality on a planet they desire to escape. The new General of the Sky People instructs the Colonel to eliminate the Na'vi people so that humans can occupy Pandora. Instead of coexisting with the Na'vi, the humans opt to wipe them out, despite their inability to breathe on the planet without masks. This new plan is not explained adequately; will humans always wear masks? Make the whole planet indoors? Transfer all humans into avatar bodies? Despite realizing by the end of the first movie that the Na'vi were not the savages they once thought, the humans still show no change of heart.
In conclusion, the film's stunning CGI overshadowed its poorly written plot. Despite its visually captivating world, the story lacked depth and substance. With a 4.4 star rating on Google and 77% on Rotten Tomatoes, it's clear that the film's beauty has received much praise. However, without the substance to back it up, the final product falls short. In a world that values visual appeal, this movie delivers, but it ultimately lacks the significance to make it as truly memorable as the first movie was.