Avatar: The Way of Water Makes Best of the Year List

I remember well the time when the first Avatar was released in 2009. The theaters were packed! You had to wait a long time to buy a ticket. A real event. So much so that the film became the highest-grossing film of all time. For a long time, there was talk of a possible sequel. The first of them – we will have three more – opens this Thursday in Brazilian theaters. And I can say that I liked the sequel more than the original.

Starting with the story. A short flashback to what has happened since the end of the first Avatar shows that over ten years have passed. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) lives peacefully with his family and tribe. He and Ney’tiri (Zoe Saldana) have formed a family comprising three sons, and an adopted daughter. However, the return of humans and Colonel Miles (now as Avatar) causes them to leave the forest. The family has to leave in search of a new home in another region of Pandora. They arrive in a coastal community, Metkayina, where the Na’vi have very different customs. Only the threat of Miles (Stephen Lang) will haunt Jake until the end of time. And Jake and Ney’tiri will have to do anything to stay together and take care of their family and their tribe.

What did I think of the movie?

Just like the first one, the film is visually sensational. I also saw it with the 3D glasses. This gives it an even more unusual depth. And I thought the story flowed more naturally. There is no need to explain what Pandora is, how Avatars work. The idea of the script is to follow this family, who fight with all their might to stay together and save those they love. And we already know that when James Cameron decides to make a sequel, he makes it even grander, and soap operatic. There is more sentimentality (I love it), the characters are more defined

It soon becomes clear that James Cameron’s (again director and co-writer) other strong concern is ecology. Every time a scene of human destruction takes place, it’s like it’s even hard to breathe. James Cameron is a director who knows how to “end” you, lol. And when marine animals enter the story, especially a very sweet species of whale, you’ll be completely sold. The chase scenes for these animals made me cry at a certain point in the film.

But the film also has its lighter side with the adventures of Jake and Ney’tiri’s children. It will make you smile, and also love the sweet moments of each of them just being silly teenagers. This does not prevent conflict in some of them either, trying to discover their path and their place in the family. Everything works.

There are also the interesting characters of the Metkayina tribe. The two leads are lived by Cliff Curtis and Kate Winslet. I confess that I didn’t recognize her – she looked like a character from Moana, lol. Jokes aside, she also has a sensational scene, which moves.

E no final…

In addition to engaging characters, it has great action sequences. With the right to an explosion, sinking boat (impossible not to remember Titanic). And still persecutions, shortness of breath and bright animal saviors (impossible not to remember The Secret of the Abyss), lol. In other words, it’s a movie! It will make you have fun, get emotional, get tense. And still marveling at the look of each scene. So much so that you won’t even feel the 3:20 pass. Truth! It is on the list of the best of the year.