Avatar Vs Avatar: The Way of Water: Which of The Two Blockbusters Is the Best?
Avatar: The Way of Water arrived at the cinema on December 16, and immediately ground millions upon millions of dollars in receipts, confirming itself as a huge success with the public. Beyond the box-office data, which foreshadows record earnings for the new Avatar, the film has also recorded an excellent rating among viewers, even net of a lower average review than its predecessor among experts and critics. After a week in theaters, after seeing (and seeing again) James Cameron’s second sci-fi blockbuster and after a careful comparison with the progenitor of the saga, who now has more than a decade behind him, the time has come, to sum up: which of the two Avatars is the best? And above all: what are the differences between the two films in the series?
Avatar Vs Avatar: The Way of Water: Surprise Effect vs. Backfire
Let’s start with a fact: Avatar: The Way of Water convinces (almost) all the critics to the end. Apart from some incredibly low “sensationalistic” evaluations, the new effort by James Cameron has made most experts agree (in our review of Avatar: The Way of Water). Even the 2009 Avatar was greatly appreciated by the press: indeed, according to the data, it seems that the first chapter of James Cameron’s franchise was appreciated on average more than the second, with a score of 83% on Metacritic, against 68 % of the sequel. This difference may depend on many reasons, some inherent in the development of Avatar 2 itself, which we will touch on shortly. But if there is one factor that makes Avatar superior to The Way of the Water, that’s the element of surprise. Needless to deny setting foot on Pandora for the first time was much more exciting than returning after more than ten years. On the other hand, the lack of a “wow” effect is a genetic problem of any sequel, so it’s impossible to blame it exclusively on Avatar 2: on the contrary, the entire production is committed to surpassing the spectacularity of the first Avatar, succeeding in full thanks to the new technologies employed by Avatar: The Way of Water. We will be back shortly.
Once the vision is finished and with a clear mind, another component that makes you nostalgic for James Cameron’s first sci-fi effort is certainly the plot. The first Avatar is much more cohesive than the second, which on the other hand suffers from one of the typical problems of multi-film franchises: as often happens, the intermediate chapters are the “emptiest” of the respective sagas, which tend to concentrate the bulk of the narrative turns in the initial and final productions. An even more felt problem for Avatar: The Way of Water, which has the difficult task of (re)giving life to a series with multiple sequels on the big screen, for which Cameron and Disney have plans for at least the next decade, with three films arriving between 2024 and 2028.
Although the first Avatar was not conceived as a standalone production either , the latter certainly benefited from the freedom of maneuver guaranteed by being the progenitor of a series in search of box-office success, and not the second episode of a pentalogy with a very heavy legacy on their shoulders: this allowed the screenwriters and director of the 2010 film to package a more lucid and linear product in narrative terms, without cutting elements to be reused in subsequent films and without any imposition by the producers which limited their creative freedom.
Avatar 2, on the other hand, pays the price for Disney’s business logic, with some narrative arcs only sketched and with a not-too-satisfying ending, which opens up to the future, but does so without major narrative jolts compared to the starting situation. An experience perhaps too “circular”, perhaps too bent on the logic of the world-building of the saga, perhaps even too confusing to be comparable with that of its predecessor.
Storytelling vs. Description
However, precisely the question of building the world of Pandora is also the greatest value of Avatar: The Way of Water. The second chapter of James Cameron’s saga is much less narrative and much more descriptive than the first. If this can be a problem for the story of the film, on the other hand, it allows for incredible visual solutions to be staged, thanks to the aforementioned technologies used by Disney and its partners for the film. In this way, Avatar 2 surpasses its predecessor in two crucial aspects, namely the purely technological and the artistic one of direction and photography. A decidedly no small feat, given the innovative scope of Avatar in 2010, which still holds its own against most modern sci-fi productions. Since the first trailers of Avatar: The Way of Water, on the other hand.
It was clear that the film’s CGI was a clear leap forward both from its predecessor and from any other film ever released in theaters. After watching it in theaters, we can only confirm it: Avatar 2 is a feast for the eyes, adopting solutions of enormous impact and great style, although perhaps not too innovative, and surpassing the very high bar set by the 2009 prequel. It is a coincidence that the bulk of Avatar 2’s takings derive from 3D projections: the one created by James Cameron is an experience designed for the big screen, to be seen at the cinema and admired first for its beauty and only then for its history. Along with Top Gun: Maverick, Avatar 2 will certainly have the “historic” merit of bringing millions of people back to the cinema after a prolonged absence caused by Covid-19.
Closely related to this aspect is also the second front in which Avatar 2 surpasses the original twelve years ago. We are talking about the spectator’s immersion in the film, which this time is even more marked than in the past: thanks to the evolution of 3D and IMAX technologies; credit to James Cameron’s maturation as a director; thanks to the hand of a production team that has worked tirelessly on the film for years. Surely, Pandora has never been as alive as in The Way of Water: The planet of the Na’vi emerges as a silent co-star of the film, with several scenes suggesting that the ecosystem’s “living organism” role will be explored more thoroughly in the future.
The beauty of the alien animal species, the Sea Peoples islands and the forests of the first act of the film are even more breathtaking than it was in 2010, while still making us feel “at home” as if returning after a long journey. Also excellent is the idea of showing, with intriguing sub-plots (some more successful than others, to be honest), different elements that do nothing but make the world of Avatar 2 more tangible, dedicating space to the relationships between the Na ‘vi of the forest and the Metkayina of the reef, or the story of the colossal Payakan and the relationship between his kind, the Tulkun, and the Metkayina themselves. The scenes set in the Tree of Souls are incredible, showing how the planet and those who live on it are connected, providing, in addition to an interesting narrative cue from which to start again for the next “pieces” of the pentalogy, also a powerful environmentalist message for Avatar 2.
Raising The Bar Once Again
But then, which of the two Avatars is better? Impossible to say: each of the two films has many strings to its bow. Surely, a lot also depends on the approach you have to the series directed by James Cameron: if Avatar: The Way of Water is your first vision, then you will be enchanted and you will love it madly. If you’ve already seen the 2009 film, however, Avatar 2 will be a welcome return and a CGI masterpiece, but it may not elicit the same emotions as the first installment of the series. One thing is certain, though: after two films of such high quality, anticipation for Avatar 3 is sky-high. There are all the sub-plots to be developed: after discovering Amrita, which inhibits the aging of human beings, and after the rescue of Quarritch by Spider, the paths that Cameron and his team could take are manifold. In short, between Avatar and The Way of Water, it is impossible to choose a “better” film than the other: it’s a tie. The question now is another: what will the rest of the franchise be like? Will he succeed in keeping to the same quality standards of the first two films or will the legacy that Jake Sully and his family carry on their shoulders prove too heavy?
