Avatar: The Way of Water – a film review

Some nations do not like weapons very much. But if necessary, they know how to master it skillfully.

The heroes of James Cameron’s world from the time of the first movie gave life to new generations, formed personalities, and received new film production technologies. Like the heroes of the outside world, who waited for a new film for 13 years and during this time gave new lives, formed personalities and experienced together with their countries the emergence of new technologies, revolution and war.

There is a lot of war in Avatar. And Cameron did everything to make it perceived as inorganically as possible against the background of paradisiacal nature, fantastic beasts and good-natured inhabitants of Pandora.

A real artist has a trait – without thinking, they resonate with the historical events of the time in which they had to live. When thinking about his film 13 years ago, James Cameron could have been thinking about anything, but certainly not about the great war of Russia against Ukraine. But sitting in the hall of the Kyiv cinema, which only thanks to selfless defenders escaped enemy rockets, and being unable to devote yourself to the end of the film due to the expectation that at any moment the siren may wail and you will have to leave the hall, you can’t think about anything else, but only about how the settlements engulfed in fire and the mothers, maddened by the losses, resonate with what is happening right now outside the walls of the cinema.

“It’s the orcs!” shouts someone in the hall, and you immediately understand that they are not fictional characters, but real ones who came to your land to kill, rob and bring misfortune. And now, amidst the chaos of an unequal battle, you look for the notorious Zs on the screen, which, of course, are not there, but the inscription “OORDA” on board the ship gives you at least some satisfaction.

And after that, you completely accept the association of the ship, which goes picturesquely under water, with the most famous warship of 2022 with invincible pleasure.

And the most famous movie scenes of 2022, without a doubt, will be James Cameron’s depiction of the underwater world. There is a lot of water in Avatar. Cameron loves water, and in his mastery of portraying this element, of course, he cannot compete with the figure of Jacques-Yves Cousteau, if only because of the difference in vocation, but this is the first name that comes to mind when observing Cameron’s relationship with ocean.

In anticipation of the premiere, the director talked a lot about underwater and surface filming, about the state-of-the-art technology of shooting both above and below water – no expectations of how James Cameron will portray the aquatic world turned out to be exaggerated. The director’s flight of fantasy in the supply of water and the depths of the ocean increased the film’s running time to 3.2 hours, but in this case, anything but complaints is appropriate. And thanks to IMAX 3D 48FPS – complete immersion takes place.

New locations give new characters. Na’vi, the forest people, now have the neighbours – the oceanic Metkains.

The Na’vi are forced to flee a war waged against them by “sky people” with the latest military technology and weaponry, which in the end is epically reduced to a pile of scrap.

“You will bring your war here!” the leader of the Metkains shouts in despair, perhaps not understanding that the enemy will not stop at the Na’vi, but in the end he gives in and gives his brothers shelter and everything that is needed in such cases. Well, we know.

Leaving the cinema in a gloomy but unbreakable city, armed with a flashlight, you get home as fast as you can to make it to the curfew. The film and the characters are still holding you back, surprising you with their unexpected relevance and resonance with the events taking place in your country. All the laws of life and the genre prove that the invader will always be defeated. And even if peaceful people do not like weapons – if necessary, they know how to skillfully wield them.