I probably have a similar history with James Cameron’s Avatar to that of most people. I saw it once when it came out and loved the visuals and music. However, I wasn’t won over by the movie’s paper-thin characters and paint-by-numbers story of colonialism and love overcoming the odds. There were some interesting ideas, but I was unimpressed with the execution. If Avatar wasn’t such a box-office juggernaut and Cameron didn’t eventually announce a barrage of sequels, I would have forgotten about this movie. When those sequels were announced, I was surprised and assumed they would be about the same. Let’s dive in.
The Way of Water picks up years after the first film; Jake (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) now have a brood of precocious kids striving to live up...