#189 TH (12/29/22) - Avatar: The Way of Water

Saw it in 3D, words fail.  Need to see in IMAX. Just spectacular visuals. I didn't find anything about the story to be overly cliched, apart for the obvious 'anticolonial' vibe throughout which was perfectly on target. 

At one point I remember thinking that the whole 'now we must become sea people' - 'fish out of water' trope was a clever way to mirror with NaVi culture the passage that Jake went through alone in the first one.

In some ways the conflicts between the kids being bullied and trying to fit in, etc. was a bit reminiscent of ever kind of high school outsider drama (Karate Kid comes to mind), but maybe that is just the way kids are. At least it never tipped over into "Sullys stick together and everyone else is a caricatural monster of total psychopaths." The bully kids were just being kids.

The anti-whaling message was as powerful and effecting as I expected. 

The big surprise to me was that Quarich came back as a Navi, but how else would he have come back since he was plainly killed in the first one, and actually he is just the undying spirit of the capitalist/militarist/exploitationist colonialist.

For me, Spider was the break out star of this one and a great addition, although tying him to Quarich was I think perhaps unnecessary.  (Although I guess even that makes sense because the colonial invaders will leave lots of mixed 'half-breed' orphans behind when they go.)

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