Avatar: The Way of Water - 4K Digital Review

Michael Scott

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Avatar: The Way of Water


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Movie: :3.5stars:
Video:
Audio:
Extras: : :2.5stars:
Final Score: :3.5stars:



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Movie

James Cameron is a man of many talents, and he has become a true power house of Hollywood cinema over the last 40 years or so. He’s always been a bit hit or miss, but his hits tend to absolutely ground breaking in the world of movies. However, no other film of his has been more puzzling to me than that of Avatar. Lauded as the single highest grossing film of all time at over 2.5 BILLION dollars (to be fair it was pushed that high by being re-released in cinemas a few years after it’s initial run), Avatar took the world by storm with it’s insane visuals, but really paper thin plot. Jokingly referred to as “Dancing with Fern Gully”, it was a glorious visually stunning film that had a plot line that was as rote and wafer thing as you could get. An indigenous people are being wiped out by the big bad humans, and it’s up to a lone human to stand in the gap and stand up for the humans trying to mine “Unobtainium” (yes, that was actually the name of the mineral in the film). Mustache twirling villains abounded, and everyone sang Kum Ba Ya around the fire after the baddies were defeated.

After the success of Avatar, James Cameron announced he was going to make Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 back to back some time in the future. As the years passed most of us actually figured that the sequel would be forgotten about, as James Cameron’s obsession with perfection would cause it to be shelved, or else forgotten about by the general populace by the time it actually came out. When Avatar: The Way of Water was announced last year as ACTUALLY coming to theaters, many were skeptical that there had been too much time passing for the general audiences to really care about. It HAD been 14 years since the original, and a pandemic had basically wiped out the theatrical movie attendance for the most part. Well, people were proven wrong when everyone and their literal mother went to go see Top Gun Maverick, and those same people turned Avatar: The Way of Water from a “heh, this MIGHT be a decent selling movie” to the 3rd highest grossing film of all time.

The plot for The Way of Water is pretty much as paper thin and rote as the original was. After the events of Avatar, marine soldier Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) fully accepted his Avatar body (a genetically engineered replica of the Na’vi people on the planet Pandora) and transferred his consciousness permanently from his crippled human form into that of his Avatar body. It’s been roughly 15 years or so since the humans were kicked off of Pandora, and the world has been at peace. His mate Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) have given birth to 3 children, as well as sort of “adopted” a couple of stragglers along the way (Spider, the biological son of Col Quaritch from the first film, and Kiri, the seemingly virgin birth of Sigourney Weaver’s avatar as well). However, that peace is coming to and end as Humanity has once more descended upon Pandora.

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With Earth pretty much becoming uninhabitable, the humans have decided to make Pandora their home, and that means pacifying the Na’vi people. Heading up the human marine contingent is a group of Avatar bodies who have had the memories and personalities the best and brightest soldiers that have ever landed on Pandora in the past. Which of course means that Col Quaritch is heading up that assignment. Instead of mechs and brute force, the Na’vi bodied marines now have the native advantage and are out for blood. Especially Quaritch who has a personal score to settle with the man who put him in an early grave 15 years ago. Now Jake and his family are forced to flee their native woods and take up sanctuary with a group of Na’vi sea faring folks far away in hopes of keeping the rest of his tribe safe.

If you came in expecting something deep and personal, then this isn’t the film for you. I’d directly compare it as exactly on par with the first, with many of the same beats (including the giant 45 minute final battle between the humans and the new Na’vi, a mysterious resource that the humans desperately want, and countless others), but at the same times adds some interesting narrative additions. The biggest stems from the fact that The Way of Water is not just a big action movie this go around. We had the romance between Jake and Neytiri in the first film, but mostly this was a giant white night savior saving the indigenous people from the humans story. A blending of Dancing with Wolves and Fern Gully for the most part. This time we get some fleshed out side stories revolving around Jake’s children and the focus on FAMILY above all else. Honestly, with how far away from traditional nuclear family values Hollywood has gone recently, it was incredibly refreshing to watch a story that focused so much on traditional family values and the struggles that come from raising children in the world. Jake Sully’s last lines about a father’s purpose being to protect his children when he’s putting his eldest to rest is so anti-Hollywood in many ways that I had to rewind the scene just to make sure I heard it correctly. Those particular side jaunts from the main “humans vs. Na’vi” plot framework were actually the most enjoyable of the entire film.

Downsides? It’s more of the same. At 3 hours and 12 minutes the film can drag on at times. Not to mention there are quite a few loose ends that never get wrapped up, but MOST LIKELY are going to be tied up with Avatar 3 next year (both sequels were filmed back to back). Questions such as “what exactly is Kiri?”, “why is she different?”, “Is Quaritch going to be the villain in the 3rd movie?”, etc etc etc.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence and intense action, partial nudity and some strong language




Video:
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I’m not going to give an official score rating (as usual) due to the fact that the digital copy I received was a streaming variant, and due to bandwidth differences across the nation the image quality can vary depending. BUUUUUUUUUUT, with that being said, this is a GORGEOUS 4K image from Fox/Disney. I was absolutely floored by the amount of colors and color saturation involved in the making of this film. This is just a lush and visually engorged film that thrives off of stunningly bright and vivid colors, various CGI water textures, and deep deep deeeeeeeep black levels. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a film that was this lovingly rendered EVER. It blows the 2009 Avatar away without even breaking a sweat, and you can tell that James Cameron was involved in EVERYTHING. I noticed that the HDR wasn’t the brightest use of HDR I’d ever seen, but it was well done, with deep deep inky black levels that clearly outpace the non HDR version, and the colors are just so deep and rich with the application that I can forgive the apparent lack of peak nits that many people are used to.








Audio:
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The Dolby Atmos track found in the stream is killer as well, and a well balanced track at that. Being that Disney took over 20th Century Fox I was worried that we were going to get the Atmouse tracks that Disney standard and newer Marvel movies have been subject to, but not the case here. The bass isn’t going to beat you into submission, but this is a very VERY balanced track, with tons of ambient and discrete sounds shifting all over the place. The sounds of the clicking voices of water animals underwater can echo around you, and the swooshing as the animals that the Na’vi ride burst out of the water with droplets of water falling around the listening position. Bass is still punchy and powerful though, especially during the final battle and the sounds of gunfire and explosions rocking the viewer back. I personally felt it could have used a litttttle more bass, but that could have been due to the compression that streaming Atmos tracks seem to have over disc based. Either way, it’s still an incredible sounding mix.







Extras: :2.5stars:
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• Inside Pandora's Box
• More from Pandora's Box
• Marketing Materials and Music Video
• Trailer















Final Score: :3.5stars:


Avatar: The Way of Water is going to appeal to the same people that loved Avatar back in 2009. It’s a stunning visual epic that will literally blow your mind with how beautiful it is. I didn’t go gaga over Avatar back in 2009, but I can guarantee you that I used that Blu-ray disc (and the 3D disc) to demo my 1080p projector back in the day. Many MANY demo nights used that disc. The same is going to be said for The Way of Water I predict. Narratively it’s a cheesy sci-fi action movie that doesn’t push any boundaries. Visually speaking it will awe and inspire you with the perfect blend of scoring, great action, and stunning visuals. I may be critical of the series because I find it bizarre that THIS franchise is the highest grossing films of all time with MUCH better quality movies being out there, but I can’t deny how much popcorn fun I have with the series. The sequel somehow managed to defy pretty much everyone’s fears about it coming too late, and after a pandemic, but it is most definitely a cultural phenomenon that makes for a fun family watch.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Kate Winslet, Stephen Lang
Directed by: James Cameron
Written by: James Cameron, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos
Subtitles: English
Studio: Disney/Fox
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 192 Minutes
Digital Release Date: March 28th, 2022






Recommendation: Fun Watch

 
Last edited:

mechman

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Looks like we agreed on this one! “Paper thin plot” - like tissue paper thin! Lol
 

tripplej

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Thanks for the review. We saw this in IMAX and the visuals were stunning. Yes, both movies (first and second) were as you say, paper thin, but I think people wanted to see the visuals more than the plot. :)

Good to have both movies for sure to see on the big screen at home. :)
 

Sonnie Parker

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Thanks for the review... sounds like it might at least be a good one visually for the big screen.

So is this Dolby Atmos on Amazon Prime... only way to get it right now?
 

Michael Scott

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atm digital is the only method.. but I didn't check to see if Amazon prime had the Atmos track. I got mine through Vudu/Movies Anywhere and it had it
 

Sonnie Parker

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I have a Vudu account too. I assume it will be about as good on one as the other, but I seem to remember Amazon does not do Atmos, although I think they finally started.
 

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I got it thru Amazon and it had Atmos.
 

mechman

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I got it thru Amazon and it had Atmos.
Scratch that - DD5.1. I believe it is on my Vudu account but I haven’t checked that one.

  • Amazon Prime Video 4k/HDR/Dolby 5.1 Purchase: $19.99 Amazon
  • Apple TV 4k/Dolby 4k/HDR/Atmos Purchase: $19.99
  • Google Play 4k/Dolby 5.1 Purchase: $19.99
  • Microsoft Movies & TV 4k/Dolby 5.1 Purchase: $19.99
  • Vudu TV 4K/HDR/Atmos Purchase: $19.99
 

mechman

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Vudu and Apple TV are both Dolby Vision and Atmos. Amazon is HDR and 5.1.

Don’t know about Google or Microsoft.
 
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