Avatar: The Way of Water
Release Date: 15th December 2022 - Australia
Production Companies
20th Century Studios
Lightstorm Entertainment
Distribution
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Australia
Genre: Sci-Fi
Rating: M
Runtime: 192 minutes
Budget: $460,000,000
Box Office Gross: $2,320,250,281 (Worldwide)
Plot Summary
Now living in Pandora,
Jake Sully has formed
a family with Neytiri
and is doing everything
to stay together. When a
familiar threat resurfaces,
Jake and his family
leave their home to keep
themselves safe and
explore a new region
where they settle in the
islands and learn new
ways. However, Jake
must defend his new
home with the help of
Neytiri and the army of
the Na'vi race from the
humans if they are to
finish where they had
previously started.
Cast
Sam Worthington - Jake Sully
Zoe Saldana - Neytiri
Sigourney Weaver - Kiri/
Dr. Grace Augustine
Stephen Lang - Colonel Miles Quatrich
Kate Winslet - Ronal
Cliff Curtis - Tonowari
Joel David Moore - Dr. Norm Spellman
C.C.H. Pounder - Mo'at
Edie Falco - General Ardmore
Brendan Cowell - Scoresby
Jemaine Clement - Dr. Garvin
Jamie Flatters - Neteyam
Britain Dalton - Lo'ak
Jack Champion - Spider
Bailey Bass - Tsireya
Filip Geljo - Aonung
Duane Evans Jr. - Roxto
Giovanni Ribisi - Parker Selfridge
Dileep Rao - Dr. Max Patel
Matt Gerald - Recom Lyle Wainfleet
Robert Okumu - Ta'unui Olecthan
Jennifer Stafford - Ta'unui Tsahik
Keston John - Tarsem
Kevin Dorman - Recom Mansk
Alicia Vela-Bailey - Recom
Sean Anthony Moran - Recom Fike
Andrew Arrabito - Recom Prager
Johnny Alexander - Recom Ja
Kim Do - Recom Zhang
Victor Lopez - Recom Lopez
Maria Walker - Recom Walker
Phil Brown - Stringer
Jocelyn Christian - Bio Lab Tech
Joel Tobeck - Neuroscientist
Chloe Coleman - Young Lo'ak
Moana Ete - Female Med-Tech
Phil Pendleton - Male Med-Tech
Jamie Landau - Metkayina Warrior
Jim Moore - Mako Sub #1 Pilot
Benjamin Hoetjes - Mako Sub #1 Gunner
Nikita Tu-Bryant - Mako
Sub #2 Pilot
Anthony Ahern - Mako
Sub #2 Gunner
Shane Rangi - Matador Co-Pilot
Rick Lucas - Kestrel Pilot
Tanya Drewery - Neurotech #1
Ava Diakhaby - Neurotech #2
Isaac Te Raina - Sea Dragon First Mate
Eric Farmer - Crabsuit Pilot
Philip Mtambo - Skel Trooper
Cruz Moir - Young Spider
Alex Lucas - Toddler Spider
Scarlett Fernandez - Young Kiri
Crew
Based on Characters/Story/
Screenplay/Producer/Editor/
Director - James Cameron
Story/Screenplay - Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver
Story - Josh Friedman and Shane Salerno
Associate Producer/First Assistant Director - Maria
Battle-Campbell
Associate Producer/UPM:
New Zealand - Brigitte Yorke
Executive Producer/Virtual
Second Unit Director/Visual
Effects Supervisor: Lightstorm - Richard Baneham
Executive Producer/Unit Production Manager -
David Valdes
Producer - Jon Landau
Casting Director - Margery Simkin
Creator: Na'vi Language - Paul R. Frommer
Creator of Na'vi Sign Language - CJ Jones
Dialect Coach - Carla Meyer
Movement & Performance Coach - JoAnn Fregalette Jansen
Production Designers - Dylan Cole and Ben Procter
Lead Creature Designer - Zachary Berger
Creature Designers - Ian Joyner and
Constantine Jerkis
Lead Character Designer - Joseph C. Pepe
Character Design Supervisor: Legacy Effects -
John Rosengrant
Key Character Designers: Legacy Effects -
Scott Patton, Glen Hanz, Simon Webber
and Jared Krichevsky
Supervising Art Directors - Luke Freeborn,
Aashrita Kamath and Kim Sinclair
Art Directors - Rudie Schaefer,
Stephen Christensen, Sarah Delucchi,
Steven Light-Orr, Simon Bright, Ben Milsom,
Alister Baxter, Rob Bavin, Andy McLaren,
Ken Turner and Andrew Chan
Concept Art Directors - Fausto De Martini,
Jonathan Bach and Steven Messing
Design Art Director: Weta Workshop - Stephen Crowe
Na'vi Costume Art Director & Supervisor -
Flo Foxworthy
Concept Artists - John Park, David Levy,
Saiful Haque, Jonathan Berube, Joseph Hiura,
Nick Gindraux, Annis Naeem and Daphne Yap
Concept Artists: Weta Workshop -
Jeremy Hanna, Rebekah Tisch, William Bennett,
Adam Anderson, Iona Brinch, Thomas Oates,
Greg Tozer Tahiwi Trenor-Hunt, Adam Middleton,
Yoojin Seong, Gus Hunter, Joshua Damian,
Ken Samonte, Qingyi Li, Vaughan Flanagan,
Jerome Morris, Russell Lu, Paul Tobin,
Leri Greer, Lindsey Crummett and
Andrew Baker
Creative Lead: Weta Workshop - Richard Taylor
Head of Manufacture: Weta Workshop -
Rob Gillies
Project Supervisors: Weta Workshop -
Joe Dunckley, Mona Peters, Jake Evill,
Brad Cunningham and Jack Taylor
Construction Supervisor - Neil Kirkland
Set Decorator - Vanessa Cole
Property Master - Brad Elliott
Head Armourer - Gunner Ashford
Costume Designer - Deborah L. Scott
Head Makeup & Hair - Sarah Rubano
Director of Photography - Russell Carpenter
2nd Unit and Additional Photography - Richard Bluck
Underwater Cinematographer - Peter Zuccarini
Second Unit Director/Stunt Coordinator -
Garrett Warren
Assistant Stunt Coordinator - Steve Brown
New Zealand Stunt Coordinator - Stuart Thorp
2nd Unit Stunt Coordinator - Steven John Brown
Performance Free Diver Instructor -
Kirk Krack
Supervising Dive Master - John Garvin
Spider Physical Fitness Coach - Josh Murillo
Live-Action Special Effects Supervisor -
Steve Ingram
Special Effects Supervisor: Performance
Capture - J.D. Schwalm
On Set Coordinator - Richard Schwalm
Special Effects Offset Coordinators -
Karl Chisholm and Darian Lumsden
Co-Supervisors: Legacy Effects - J. Alan Scott,
Lindsay MacGowan and Shane Mahan
Model Shop Supervisor: Legacy Effects -
Dave Merritt
Senior Visual Effects Supervisor - Joe Letteri
Senior Visual Effects Supervisor: Weta FX -
Eric Saindon
Visual Effects Supervisors: Weta FX -
R. Christopher White, Wayne Stables, Mark Gee,
Nick Epstein, Sergei Nevshupov, Ken McGaugh,
Stephen Unterfranz, Pavani Rao Boddapati
and Dan Cox
Visual Effects Supervisor: ILM - David Vickery
Head of FX: Weta FX - Jonathan Nixon
Associate Visual Effects Supervisors: Weta FX -
Sam Cole and Francois Sugny
Associate Visual Effects Supervisor: ILM - Jan Maroske
Visual Effects Producer - Walter Garcia
Visual Effects Producers: Weta FX -
Lena Scanlan and Nicky Muir
Visual Effects Producer: ILM - Led Briggs
VFX Production Manager: ILM - Rachel Cohen
Virtual Production Producer - Richard E. Hollander
Virtual Production Supervisor - Ryan Champaney
Virtual Production Supervisor: Weta FX -
Dejan Momcilovic
Senior Animation Supervisor: Weta FX -
Daniel Barrett
Animation Supervisors: Weta FX - Eric Reynolds,
Stephen Clee, Anneka Fris, Sidney Kombo,
Todd Labonte, Ignacio Bayardo Peńa and Nick Stein
Animation Supervisor: ILM - Kiel Figgins
Pre-Production Supervisor: Weta FX - Marco Revelant
CGI Supervisors: ILM - Steve Ellis,
Will Gallyot and Miguel Perez Senent
Facial Motion Supervisor: Weta FX - Stuart Adcock
Environmental Supervisors: Weta FX -
Dean Lewandowski and Motoki Mark Nishii
Head of Creatures: Weta FX - Gios Johnston
Sequence Supervisors - Steve Deane,
Andrew Moffett, AJ Briones, Ben Shupe,
Paolo Joel Ziemba and Mark Nelson
Supervising Stage Operator - Dan Fowler
Stage Operators - Buffy Bailey,
Jerry Zigounakis, Connor Gartland,
Ian Adams, Shéa W. C. Melville and
James Turner
Motion Edit Supervisor - Don De Castro
Simulcam Supervisor - Casey Schatz
Editors - David Brenner,
John Refoua and Stephen E. Rivkin
Additional Picture Editors - Jason Gaudio
and Ian Silverstein
Re-Recording Mixer/Supervising
Sound Editor & Sound Designer -
Christopher Boyes
Supervising Sound Editors - Dick Bernstein
and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
Sound Designers - Dave Whitehead
and Dave Chirastka
Production Mixers - Julian Howarth
and Tony Johnson
Re-Recording Mixers - Michael Hedges
and Gary Summers
Additional Re-Recording Mixer -
Alexis Feodoroff
Music - Simon Franglen
Original Avatar Themes - James Horner
Review
More than 12 years after the release of Avatar, it became the all-time highest-grossing film at the box office and revolutionised 3D movies. The whole world has eagerly awaited the prospect of the sequel THE WAY OF WATER, which is now in cinemas as they promised for a lifetime. However, the novelty of the original has worn off, but it didn't stop everyone from seeing the latest chapter before they can trash it or at least admire its visual splendour. Like its predecessor, THE WAY OF WATER got held in development longer than anyone had ever imagined. James Cameron has his hands full developing its concept while pushing the limits of mo-cap technology even further by shooting scenes underwater. It's been a long time since Cameron churned out anything fresh. Yes, this is the same former visual effects artist turned filmmaker who brought us the Terminator series (and nearly killed it), Aliens, The Abyss, True Lies and Titanic.
Despite the movie being three hours long and the plot isn't groundbreaking (an ongoing flaw of the original), the visuals blew me out of the water (no pun intended) with its technical achievements, even more so than the first instalment. Still, it is nice to revisit the alien world of Pandora after 13 years of experiencing it for the first time. We finally got to see more of it to the point where the world-building began, a common aspect in most sequels, and James Cameron has made sure of that promise to gain the audiences' expectations. Surprisingly, he had not leaned into that territory for almost 30 years when he directed Terminator 2. It proved that he was still at the top of his game. I was fascinated by the island and underwater settings, which fit right into the movie and helped that those landscapes are way more breathtaking than the rainforests of Pandora.
Sigourney Weaver looks young when portraying the adopted teenage daughter of Jake Sully, which seems like the oddest decision to cast her, given her age. But then again, it has all to do with the digital wizardry of performance capture and gives her finest acting compared to her stiff, awkward performance in the first Avatar movie. There's even a human character raised on Pandora, and other humans killed off in the original came back to life as Avatars.
I don't care what some people think of THE WAY OF WATER. It's one of the top movies of 2022 and is third only to The Batman and Top Gun: Maverick. It proves to be an immense visual experience that may stun them as it happened more than a decade ago with the first movie. Time will tell if the third instalment will happen along with the fourth and if the second will prove as successful as the first.
Star rating: (10/10) Best Movie Ever
