Avatar: The Way of Water will soon make its way to streaming after its award season and theatrical run. While it didn’t win Best Picture at the 95th Academy Awards, it did manage to earn over $2.3 billion at the box office, and placed itself as the third highest-grossed film in the box office, coming in just under Avengers: Endgame by only $4 million.
But just because this film received so much acclaim from both audiences and critics alike, as well as the fact it was able to break even with its $350-450 million dollar budget, there are still some things that people criticized about this Avatar sequel.
5. Repeated story beats
If you recall, what was the first plot of the 2009 Avatar movie? Jake Sully enters Pandora in the hopes of convincing the Na’vi to move somewhere so the RDA could mine the Hometree for unobtainium, a highly sought-after resource. This led to Sully switching sides and helping the Na’vi defend their land from the invaders. Now, what is the plot of the 2022 Avatar movie? The RDA is back and plans to harvest the Tulkun’s brain matter for its anti-aging properties. Meanwhile, the RDA is after Sully due to his constantly fighting the invading humans.
It’s technically the same story, except the sequel is in water. Both have our characters learning something from the other Na’vi clans, not to mention the return of Miles Quaritch meant that the training sequences that we saw in the first movie were somewhat repeated with Quaritch and his son, Spider (aka Miles Socorro).
4. Sigourney Weaver plays a teenager
One thing that shocked viewers is the number of actors and actresses returning to the Avatar sequel, but their characters were killed off in the first movie. What’s even more shocking is the character that Sigourney Weaver plays in The Way of Water. Kiri is a teenage girl who has a strong spiritual connection with Eywa, the Na’vi’s God. But here’s the thing, Weaver is in her 70s, and rather than casting someone new in the industry who may sound like Weaver, it was insisted that she should return and play this teenage version of herself. For some, this was fine. But for others, it was weird.
3. Poor execution of conveying serious themes
Avatar The Way of Water has so much going on that it makes following the film a bit difficult. It being busy makes sense since James Cameron wants to tell a story about what happens to Sully and his family post-Assault on the Tree of Souls and death, as well as the return of the RDA. However, due to his wanting to show audiences the struggles that the Na’vi faced from the invaders, Quaritch having a father-and-son moment with Spider, the consequences of harpoon fishing, and Sully moving away to protect his family and having to learn a new culture, it conveyed these serious themes poorly compared to the first film.
Back in 2009, people got to learn about the Na’vi culture through Sully’s perspective, which led to viewers rooting for them. But in the sequel, it felt like we need to feel bad about these people but we don’t exactly know why. It just continuously shouts out “humans bad, Na’vi good,” without giving a decent explanation as to why.
2. Cultural appropriation
The Beige Index pointed out how just because a film features “blue native people” doesn’t mean that the actors are POC. It claimed that the film had few people of color in its cast list. In addition to the question of who plays these native characters, some people accused the film of cultural appropriation, despite James Cameron trying to be accurate or take influence from indigenous cultures for this film. Avatar 2 also hired a cultural consultant to ensure that everything was appropriate. Unfortunately for Cameron, since the film came out, influencers with native backgrounds have called for a boycott.
1. It’s three hours long
It’s one thing to watch a film in the movie theater for three hours. But it’s another if you’re going to do the same thing at your own home. While many people joked about rushing to the toilets or looked up guides on when it’s safe to leave, Cameron ensured that these important moments are spread out so people could buy more tickets and rewatch the sequel over and over. Fortunately, you’re watching Avatar: The Way of Water at home, meaning you’re able to pause it if you have to go. However, do you even have three hours to spare to watch a film at home?
Just because there are some issues with Avatar: The Way of Water, this doesn’t mean it’s a completely terrible movie. If it was, then it shouldn’t receive so much praise and money at the box office. But just because it’s successful doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its flaws. In the end, it’s up to you if you want to rewatch the Avatar sequel in the comfort of your own home.