Avatar: The Way of Water finally had its world premiere in London, where members of the press got a chance to see James Cameron’s first film in 13 years less than two weeks before everyone else. The early responses to the film have been overwhelmingly positive. The Way of Water opens in the U.S. on Dec. 16 and continues the story of the Na’vi introduced in the original 2009 film.
The new film is set over a decade after Avatar and finds Jake Sully’s family in trouble. Sam Worthington is back as Jake Sully, with Zoe Saldana as Neytiri. Sigourney Weaver, who played Dr. Grace Augustine in Avatar, returned as Kiri, Jake and Neytiri’s adopted daughter.
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Kate Winslet, who previously worked with Cameron on Titanic, joined the franchise as Ronal. She is a free diver of the Metkayina and married to Tonowari, played by Fear the Walking Dead star Cliff Curtis. Edie Falco plays General Frances Ardmore, a commander for the Resources Development Administration, while Jemaine Clement plays a marine biologist. Giovanni Ribisi and Stephen Lang are also back in action.
‘A better, more complex story than the first’
Cameron has been working on his Avatar sequels since the moment the 2009 film hit theaters. The filmmaker is known for pushing the absolute limits of special effects technology and has done so again. This time, he challenged artists to develop new motion capture technology for underwater sequences. Audiences were shown a short scene of how this works when Disney re-released Avatar in theaters in September.
‘Better than 1st? Easily’
The original Avatar ran 162 minutes, and the new film runs even longer. It clocks in at 192 minutes. In July, Cameron told Empire he did not want to hear complaints about the running time, considering many people are fine with bingeing television shows in one sitting. “I can almost write this part of the review. ‘The agonizingly long three-hour movie…’ It’s like, give me a f—ing break. I’ve watched my kids sit and do five one-hour episodes in a row,” he said.
‘Overwhelmed by both its technical mastery and unexpectedly intimate emotional scope’
Avatar became a global phenomenon and still holds the record as the highest-grossing film of all time worldwide. Since its original release, it has raked in over $2.9 billion. It also won Oscars for Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, and Best Art Direction, and was nominated for Best Picture. Based on these early responses, The Way of Water should be a big hit as well.
‘A staggering achievement’
Filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro managed to see it long before the premiere in London and gave the film a rave review.
‘One stunning frame after the next’
“As an Avatar stan, I had high hopes for [Avatar: The Way of Water] and for me it totally delivers. Sure it’s a little long, but worth it for the gorgeous visuals, wonderful new characters. A total thrill,” PEOPLE’s Kara Warner wrote.
‘This movie sure is pretty to look at’
“Unsurprisingly, [Avatar: The Way of Water] is a visual masterpiece with rich use of 3D and breathtaking vistas. It does suffer from a thin story and too many characters to juggle, yet James Cameron pulls it together for an extraordinary final act full of emotion and thrilling action,” Digital Spy‘s Ian Sandwell wrote.
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