Revisiting Avatar was a great experience. I had watched it as a child so faintly remembered it. I couldn’t make much sense out of it back then. I just enjoyed the spectacle and knew that it had a long duration. I had liked it for its uniqueness. Now, after being smitten by The Way of Water and as a fan of Avatar, I revisited it. It was long due yaar. Couldn’t catch it in the theater when it had re-released. After that didn’t get a chance to watch it in the theater. So, brought the theater to my house. Watched it on Hotstar twice. Hotstar has the theatrical version of the film. Watched the Collector’s Extended Cut once. So as per James Cameron, the theatrical version of the film is the director’s cut. The extended cut is for the fans with some additional deleted scenes and an increased duration of nearly 3 hours. It is a part of the Avatar: Extended Collector’s Edition, a special edition release of Avatar in Blu-ray and DVD format. After watching it I just have to say that I have fallen in love with Avatar even more. If you have liked the theatrical cut then you are going to surely enjoy the extended cut. I would recommend you to watch it to get a deeper understanding of the characters and the world of the film. It is totally worth it. It gives it a different kind of a flow. It makes a lot of things clearer. The character arcs become clearer. The relationship between Jake and Dr. Grace is better developed. You won’t mind the duration. Although some parts I felt were rightly edited from the theatrical cut. All of it looks fine from a detailing point of view. I think I am going to keep coming back to this. I would love to watch the extended cut on the big screen in IMAX. Watching it in 3D would be the cherry on the cake.

It all felt very familiar. It helped me understand The Way of Water and connect to it, way better. Connecting both the films, looking at the larger picture was fun. Both the films are well connected. It is said that the earliest filmmakers were magicians, James Cameron just goes on to prove it right. A masterpiece like Avatar is made once in a decade. It has a perfect blend of sci-fi and breathtaking action. The conflict looks familiar. The themes look familiar. The man v/s nature conflict, the man v/s native inhabitants conflict. To add on to it, the man v/s man conflict. The destructive and exploitative nature of man. Nature worship done by the native inhabitants or the Na’vi as they are called. The native inhabitants coexisting in harmony with nature. The bond between the native inhabitants and the animals. The dualities; good humans, bad humans. The theme of environmental consciousness.

James Cameron has addressed the real-world problems through Pandora that looks similar to the Earth from the exterior in this epic, fantasy, sci-fi spectacle. When I understood this, I was like Wow! This is pure genius. I didn’t quite get why Pandora was looking like Earth from the exterior in The Way of Water until I watched Avatar which has a similar exterior shot of landing on Pandora from outer space. Then I put in a bit of research to know if Pandora is supposed to look similar to Earth. I read upon it. I could decipher it’s meaning after looking at it from the film’s context and also as to what visually differentiates Pandora from the Earth. One very obvious difference is that Pandora is the moon of a planet whereas Earth is the planet.

I feel through Avatar, James Cameron is taking us back to the basics. When life was less complicated. When people lived in clans. People lived in harmony with the nature and wildlife. They were hunters, warriors. They worshipped nature. There was a sense of community. There is an emphasis on how connected we are to Mother Earth and to all the gifts this planet has provided us with; we are connected to the nature, to the wildlife, to each other and to everything else that exists on the planet. This is portrayed through the Na’vi. There is a message about conservation of nature and wildlife. Humans after having destroyed the Earth and exploited its natural resources are looking to do the same on Pandora. Humans are shown as the antagonists which they are for Mother Earth in reality through Pandora. Pandora can be looked as Earth before man’s greed, man’s evolution took over that led him to ruthlessly exploit Earth for his ever increasing needs and demands ultimately ruining the planet. “See the world we come from. There’s no green there. They killed their Mother. And they’re gonna do the same here”.

Humans are creating a war like situation with the Na’vi to mine all the unobtanium that is under the ground. “They bulldozed a sacred site on purpose to trigger a response. Just fabricating this war to get what they want”. “This is how it’s done. When people are sitting on the shit you want, you make them your enemy. Then you’re justified in taking it”. This is literally what America has been doing all the time like the war for oil.

Nature and the ways of the nature are perfect it is humans who have spoiled it. At the same time there are the forest clans comprising of the Na’vi who value the nature and their surroundings. They fight against the humans to protect their land. There is a message to unite and fight to protect the Earth from further damage. To stand up against the humans exploiting the resources and destroying our planet in the name of development. If we don’t do it to save our planet nobody will. It gives us a call to go back to being in harmony with nature. To coexist with nature instead of being in a constant conflict with it. Nature has its violent ways of giving it back and when it does it spells doom for humans. No human can stand against the wrath of the nature. The film has a very futuristic approach and warns us for what is yet to come. This can also be related to the recent human expeditions to Mars. Man trying to find life on Mars. Man studying the possibilities of making Mars habitable for humans. The various missions to Mars. The SpaceX Mars program is a set of projects through which the aerospace company SpaceX hopes to facilitate the colonization of Mars. As per the vision of Elon Musk there will be a time when humans can stay on Mars. Doesn’t all of this sound familiar? Isn’t there a mention of a company, a corporate structure in Avatar that is funding the humans and providing them with the resources for their mission on Pandora. That’s James Cameron for you who has already made a film about it back in 2009 and he has taken it further in The Way of Water (2022). It begins with the mining of unobtanium in Avatar, continuing to making Pandora habitable for humans in The Way of Water.

In Avatar: The Way of Water, they have maintained the same blueprint or the framework of Avatar. Similarities can be seen between the style and the visual storytelling; in the scenes, the incidents, similar scenes are taking place but with a different set of characters; in the action; in the motifs; in the subtexts; in the exploration of the worlds; in the opening shots of the films; in the use of background music; in the way the title of the film is presented after the closing shot; the use of songs during the end credits; the women characters are strong, fierce and powerful; both the films have Jake Sully’s voice as the narrator. Some visuals and dialogue are repeated to set-up the story and to give us a sense of the timeline like the selected few who are trusted, staying back in Pandora and the aliens being sent back to their dying planet (Earth). Avatar builds a strong foundation as we can see in The Way of Water and for the sequels that are going to release in future. Even Avatar has a very iconic closing shot. James Cameron has a penchant for making the closing shots iconic. There is a very interesting pattern of recurring shots in both the films where the camera zooms in from its initial position. It feels as if the director is taking you closer to the action after establishing it. It is a noteworthy element of the visual style.

I loved the character of Dr. Grace. I even like Miles Quaritch as the antagonist. The relationship between Jake and Neytiri is the highlight. Show me a better love story than this. “I see you”. I think this dialogue is iconic in itself. It is my favourite dialogue because of the context with which it is said is very beautiful. It is a line that is said in different contexts with different subtexts that’s the beauty of it. This one simple line has many variations and meanings according to the situation in which it is said. It means, I look into you. It starts with Neyitri saying it to her father, then Jake saying it to the animal he just hunted. Neytiri saying it to Jake. Both Neytiri and Jake saying it to each other. They again say it to each other when Neytiri saves the real Jake Sully who had fallen out of the link. It is continued in The Way of Water when Jake and Neytiri say the line to Tonowari and Ronal. Then, Ronal and the Tulkun, her spirit sister say it to each other. Tsireya says it to Lo’ak. Finally, Jake says the same line to his son Lo’ak. It is a simple yet meaningful line. “All energy is only borrowed and one day you have to give it back”. This line is said by Neytiri to Jake as he narrates it. It is used in context to death at the funeral of a Na’vi in the forest in Avatar. The same line is repeated by Jake in his narration during the funeral of his son Neteyam in The Way of Water. “You’re not in Kansas anymore. You are on Pandora, ladies and gentlemen”, is used in Avatar to introduce Miles Quaritch’s character. Beginning with the same line, “You’re not in Kansas anymore. We are going to Pandora”, a similar dialogue is used to establish Quaritch’s avatar in The Way of Water. The repetition of dialogue in The Way of Water serves as a significant connection between the films. A very intelligent way of connecting the characters and the motifs without spoon feeding the audience. You instantly associate with the dialogue and identify with the characters and the situation. It is also used to establish the recurring behavioural patterns of the characters like when Jake says to Norm, “There’s no plan”, before getting into the link with his avatar in the lab before riding the Toruk. In The Way of Water, he says a similar line to Neytiri, “I got no plan, but I can protect this family that I can do”, when he is telling her about leaving the forest to save his family and to protect his people. The dialogues of Avatar are brilliantly written.

The sound design and background music is bloody awesome. I love the theme music of the film. The sound mixing is perfect. It has a very immersive audio. Every element of audio is felt along with the visuals. The editing and the cinematography of the film is fabulous. Cutting into space and time is finely done. I love the visual storytelling and the edit pattern. The cinematography is insane. The production design is brilliant. The Vfx of both the films is out of the world. The performances are fabulous. They take the film to a different level altogether.

Avatar is my favourite film. In fact, both the parts. I would highly recommend it.