James Cameron’s film, considered the most seen of the year 2022 in France, is already broadcast, from this evening, on Canal +. Let yourself be carried away without hesitation…
By Victoria Gairin
© 20th Century Studios / 20th Century Studios
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ATvatar 2: the way of water arrives tonight on Canal+, only six months after its theatrical release. With its 13.4 million admissions, James Cameron’s extraordinary blockbuster, the most viewed of 2022, peaks at 16e rank of the most viewed films of all time in France.
We had waited thirteen years since the triumphant success of the first opus released in 2009. And when we win the record for box office receipts with more than 2.8 billion dollars internationally, it’s hard not to put the high bar for the rest of the adventures. It was therefore necessary to write the scripts for the next four episodes, decide on the destiny of each character and – this is James Cameron’s great specialty – create the tools capable of transforming the filmmaker’s wildest dreams into cinematographic reality.
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Should we have seen (or seen again) the first Avatar to savor The way of the water ? Fans, many of whom will be queuing in front of theaters equipped for 3D, have certainly already planned for it and done their catch-up session. For the others, here is something not to be completely dropped: in 2154, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is sent to the lush alien world of Pandora where the Na’vis live, creatures who defend their territory from predatory Earthlings interested in the ‘unobtanium, a precious mineral. Through technology, Jake can enter a Na’vi body created by men, and this “avatar” allows him to infiltrate the natives. But of course, nothing goes as planned. After being introduced to their culture and falling in love with one of their own, the beautiful Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), the soldier ends up turning his gun against his soulless leaders to defend the natives he had to destroy.
Ten years have passed, Jake and Neytiri have become parents. Once again attacked by humans, hunted down by the ruthless Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang) reincarnated in a Na’vi body, the couple and their four children are forced to leave home and forest, and explore new lands of Pandora. . This is how the family finds refuge with the aquatic people of the Metkayina and will strive to tame their customs.
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3 h 10 of wonder in apnea
If the first Avatar was a cinematic revolution as has been written a lot, what about this second opus? It’s a miracle of technology. Here, James Cameron pushes the limits of computer-generated images even further and offers the viewer an extraordinary 3 hour 10 minute journey under the waters of Pandora. We meet the totemic doubles of the Metkayina, the famous Tulkun, enormous whales 90 meters in length, whose pineal gland is coveted by Earthlings in search of immortality. Or Skimwings, giant flying fish used as war mounts.
We could talk for hours about this formidable bestiary which appears on the screen more real than nature and about this extraordinary snorkeling that Cameron offers us. What if this was the cinema of tomorrow? “An art that is ever more immersive, and therefore technological, but accompanied by very real human emotions and performances”, sums up the filmmaker. For this, he invented a performance capture adapted to underwater filming. More than five years of research and development have, in fact, been necessary to create new software and new processes and the result is astounding.
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But what about visionary themes, prophecies? In 2009, Avatar gave pride of place to ecology, feminism, the protection of first peoples, their knowledge and their resources. Behind the plastic and narrative success of the blockbuster, rumbled the anger of a director revolted by the state of the world, worried to see him run to his loss. If this second part continues to build the great myth dear to Cameron and to cross for that the world of yesterday – with in particular the primitive peoples – and that of tomorrow – in search of immortality and invested in the metaverse -, the philosophical reflection and anthropological, however, eventually run out of steam behind the wave of special effects.
The Metkayina people, who clearly borrow their characteristics from the Maori people, become the archetype of the “noble savage” and their relationship to water, to nature, to the sacred, is as fantasized and caricatural as the vision one had of it. Cook or a Diderot in their time. The sea is often bluer than blue, the village Metkayina looks like resorts in the Indian Ocean and the marine animals communicate their moods, yes it’s true, and we can obviously regret it. But there remains a breathtaking spectacle, 3 h 10 of wonder in apnea that Cameron – who is also a painter in his spare time – has thought of as a real tableau vivant. Where one is literally bewitched by the realism of diving and by so much beauty.