The first reviews of James Cameron’s ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ are here. For the most part, the critical reception to the film is highly positive, with particular praise going towards the visuals and action scenes. The screenplay and the long runtime, however, has been criticised. The production of the film, even more than the original, was on an absolute gargantuan scale. Whole new cameras and technologies had to be developed to film the underwater scenes (most of the film is set underwater). Cameron is not an impeccable filmmaker, but his ambition when it comes to films knows no bounds. And he usually has a strong vision to back up that ambition.
Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Stephen Lang, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Giovanni Ribisi, Dileep Rao, and Matt Gerald reprise their roles from the original film, and Sigourney Weaver returns in a different role. Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, Jemaine Clement, and Brendan Cowell join the franchise with this film.
Ahead of the film’s release, WION spoke to young actors Jack Champion and Trinity Bliss who are joining the franchise with this film. While Champion essays the role of Mile Socorror, a human teenager born at Hell’s Gate, the human base on Pandora in the original film, Bliss portrays Tuktirey, the eight-year-old Na’vi daughter of Jake Sully and Neytiri.
When asked how it felt joining this exciting cinematic universe with none other than Cameron, Trinity told WION, “As a young actor, just being on that set… my favourite part of the filming was filming. Just being on that set with that incredible cast and crew, the ‘Avatar family’. They were the best days of my life.”
“We were most excited about meeting Jim and knowing obviously that it was an Avatar movie. I just couldn’t wait to be one of the Na’vi,” added Campion. His character is adopted by Jake and Neytiri as a baby and they nurture him alongside their Na’vi children (one of them Trinity’s Tuktirey).
“Oh, also,” chimed in Trinity, “before I even watched Avatar, I was already a huge fan of Jim’s record-breaking Mariana Trench dive! And that was something I was thinking when I met Jim.”
Cameron has a reputation of being something of a brusque, but it comes out undeserved. Every single actor who has worked with him and spoken about it says he can indeed be passionate about getting what he wants and even a bit of a perfectionist, he always tries to be patient.
Campion said he was “very gentle and very caring” to them and “helped us understand where that character were, and why were they feeling this way.”
Trinity agreed, adding, “Especially when there were intense scenes some days, he would help us get into that zone, making sure we were feeling calm and ready. Jim is not just an outstanding director, but also an outstanding person.”
‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ releases on December 16.
