“Avatar: The Way of Water” – how blue can you really be?

The future begins in the past. 13 years ago, James Cameron promised nothing short of a cinema revolution. With “Avatar” he presented a blockbuster whose gigantic world of images blew all the imagination. In terms of content, however, it was a simple film about the confrontation of human settlers with blue, nature-loving aliens on the planet Pandora. Above all, the unbridled flora and imaginative fabulous fauna were remembered.

First of all, the success proved Cameron right: “Avatar” was nominated for nine Oscars, won three and became the most financially successful film of all time with box office earnings of approximately $2.8 billion. But the mass effect of pop culture didn’t really materialize in subsequent years. Less than the established “Star Wars” franchise or Marvel’s newly established superheroes, “Avatar” was overrated by fan sentiment.

The Pocahontas story was too generic, the characters too slick, and exhausted themselves in stereotypes like the tough scientist (Sigourney Weaver), the tough good soldier (Michelle Rodriguez), or the tough bad colonel (Stephen Lang). The hero Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), the paralyzed ex-marine, who first slips into a strange body – a so-called avatar – to later become an alien body and soul, has not become an icon like Luke Skywalker.

However, in 2009, “Avatar” made 3D technology, which had already flared up in other decades of cinema history, suitable for cinemas in the new millennium. The operators rescheduled, soon followed by a flurry of other films such as Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” or Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit” trilogy. However, the initial enthusiasm for objects sticking out of the screen or shooting at the viewer quickly faded. For a long time, nothing came into the cinema worth putting on the 3D glasses for. And in normal 2D “Avatar” today looks like a fairly outdated computer game on the home screen.

In 2022, the sequel “Avatar: The Way of Water” will again mess with the somewhat annoying plastic frame, which James Cameron would have preferred to do away with altogether. For a while, the director had an ambition to achieve a three-dimensional effect without any eye attachment, so far in vain. But still you quickly forget everything around you: the second “Avatar” looks downright overwhelming and sets new standards in terms of technology. The depth of field and the high level of detail in particular are impressive, you are immediately in the middle of the turmoil, back on Pandora. A few years have passed since then – just like in reality.

13 years is a long production time, but after the dry spell of the pandemic, “The Way of Water” seems to come at just the right time. The film is longed for as a new wake-up call for cinemas, perhaps more from cinema operators than viewers. Even if the judgment of the Swiss authorities on the keyword cinema crisis is rather differentiated, golden times look different. A guaranteed success just because of the brand is no longer self-evident. A possible failure of the second “Avatar” at the box office can have serious consequences both for the future of the saga and for the cinema landscape itself.

The executive 20th Century Studios now belongs to the Disney group, which itself is currently in a difficult situation. At the presentation of the quarterly figures in November, Disney had to estimate a loss of about $ 1.5 billion for its streaming services. How the flagship “Star Wars” will continue in the cinema is open. The two flagship productions “Lightyear” and “Strange World” flopped catastrophically. Former CEO Bob Iger recently retired. Now it is entirely in the hands of the public whether they want to embark on the journey to Pandora again after all this time.

On Pandora, Jake Sully and the chief’s daughter, Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), have started a family and are living a simple bliss in nature with their four children. But the Skymen, as the native Na’vi call the Earthlings, return, this time intent on colonizing the entire planet. Part of the forest falls victim to a conflagration, a brutal settlement arises, built by crawling robot beetles.

The first half hour of “The Way of The Water” relies entirely on the spirit of the first part, which also returns in the form of a revenge and revenge story. Just looking at the cast list is amazing: Sigourney Weaver? Her character, Doctor Grace Augustine, was dead, as was Colonel Miles Quaritch.

But Cameron trusts the cast of his mega success and uses a trick to get them both back. Weaver now embodies the younger self of herself, Kiri, the scientist’s 14-year-old daughter, adopted by Jake and Neytiri. And the soldier with the distinctive forehead scar, who in the first part only wanted to exploit the entire avatarism for his ultra-militaristic goals, has now risen again in the oversized Na’vi body and plots revenge against Jake.

It’s not just through these two reimagined returnees that identity is established as one of the central issues of conflict in “The Way of Water.” The dark blue Na’vi, who were portrayed as human counterparts in the predecessor, now appear half human themselves. They mostly speak English to each other – the boys like normal American teenagers (“Yo, Bro!”) – and use human technology.

But there are other Na’vi tribes on Pandora. About the water clan Metkayina, where the Sully family must take refuge. With its fins and prejudices, the tribe becomes that new “original” from whose way of life one can learn. And the family does this in pleasant detail, devoid of any narrative economy.

And here’s where James Cameron’s film begins to slide, slowly sinking into narrative depths – until it comes to a complete halt. While you still marvel at the impressive, even sensational underwater images and would like to swim with the passing schools of fish, jellyfish or marine mammals such as the cetacean Tulkun, you realize that the director and deep-sea diver has forgotten to tell the story, as if intoxicated by his vision.

You don’t really need a story anymore, then you can at least enjoy yourself in the images, which turn the cinema into a shiny aquarium. But Cameron, who made a name for himself as a specialist for great action sequels with “Aliens” and “Terminator 2”, delivered a huge flop with his showdown. Without giving too much away: “The Way of Water” eventually turns into an endless cycle of kidnapped, lost and rescued children. At one point, even the youngest daughter Tuk realizes in surprise that she is tied up again.

All the junk is accompanied by empty, semi-esoteric phrases like: “Water connects everything, life and death, light and darkness.” Or: “The way of the water is the beginning and the end”. Unlike the H2O, the movie’s 190 minutes almost never ends. Any approach to serious questions about identity politics or environmental issues is plastered with phrases.

“Avatar: The Way of Water” aims to be many things at once: intimate family drama, revenge story, ultimate reaching for the stars. And with a budget of more than $200 million, it aims to raise awareness of the importance of preserving the natural. According to James Cameron, the film would have to be the third or fourth highest-grossing film in history to not be considered a flop. Similar megalomaniac projects died out or became forgotten in film history. In the worst case, the future is over before it has even begun.

Avatar: The Way of Water hits theaters on December 14.