Seeing Avatar 2 My Way

Yesterday, my husband and I traveled over an hour to see AVATAR 2: THE WAY OF WATER in 3D. The color, sound, and special effects were as wonderful as we had hoped. The action was so exciting that my husband’s hand is squishy today from being squeezed so hard. I loved the underwater sequences and the new creatures, some of whom were suspiciously reminiscent of ones we’d seen before. Would I recommend seeing the movie? Sure. It’s fun; just leave your critical thinking at home. We’re riding a money-making train. (Here comes the nit-picking…)

At the end of AVATAR the first, I believed in Jake Sully and his dedication to leading the Na’vi clans into the future. I loved the respect given to an indigenous population and their spiritual connections with nature. Since then, I think Jake Sully had a mid-life crisis. He seems to have shrunken to become an insecure suburban dad. The leader of the Sea People makes him look vaguely neurotic. Of course, Sully has considerable motivation to want to hide with his family. The corporation that once was ready to do anything for their precious mineral unobtanium is now willing to spend any amount of money or manpower to kill all the Sullys, assuming that will end their problems with the indigenous. You’d think Sully’s disappearance would serve their ends perfectly, but no. He and family must die—wherever they are.

Meanwhile, Sully is no longer concerned with leading or saving the Forest People. As convenient as that choice is for relocating the action, I found it disturbing. (Would President Zelensky of Ukraine secretly remove himself and his family to Hawaii?) The Forest clan—including the extended family of Neytiri–and the human friends who helped win the last war—are left to their own devices before the fire-spewing machinery of the bulldozers, while villainous humans begin creating a new Earth on Pandora unopposed (at least until AVATAR 3—and the two more sequels scheduled to arrive thereafter). Supposedly, the same corporation that was hot to mine unobtanium is suddenly hot to harvest an anti-aging elixir from the ocean. Anything for a buck.

Which brings me to what I call Puzzling People. My credulity can stretch far enough for me to accept that the bad guy Colonel Miles Quaritch left a vial of his memories and DNA so an avatar could be constructed of him—apparently because he’s the only one who won’t stop until he kills everyone in the Sully family. But where did the adopted Sully Na’vi children come from when the only parent identified for each was quite dead by the end of the last movie? Was a whole lot of cheating going on that we didn’t know about?

The underlying theme of AVATAR 2 seems to involve listening to your children and sticking together as immediate family—blood kin and others—through thick and thin. I assume that was the reason the youngest is exposed to mortal danger so often. Putting a child in jeopardy is an old and often maligned as unworthy means of escalating dramatic tension.

As I said, see AVATAR 2 for the excitement and special effects. Ignore the assumptions that puzzle you. If you don’t ask too many questions until later, you’ll have a great time.