Best Pictures #127: 2025 Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee: One Battle After Another

by A.J. 

Best Pictures #127: 2025 Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

One Battle After Another

“Do the revolution, baby. Go do it.”

At first glance One Battle After Another can seem like an intimidating film. Certain images and plot points seem like they have been ripped from the headlines and reflect current news coverage almost too strongly. The plot is serious but the main character is out of his depth to a comedic but frightening degree. There is also the lengthy runtime of 2hours 42 minutes. Yet, from the first shot to the last, master filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson has crafted a thoroughly engrossing and captivating one of a kind film. This is an action movie, a satire, a thriller, a family drama, a comedy, a chase movie. It received an impressive 13 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Director, and Actor for Leonardo DiCaprio, and is indeed a most Oscar worthy movie. 

The runtime is long but need not be intimidating. The first 30 minutes breeze by like the first 10 minutes of most other movies. This is all the more impressive since so much information is clearly and cleanly delivered without feeling rushed. This steady pace continues throughout the rest of the movie. The Best Editing nomination for Andy Jurgensen is certainly deserved. The shifts in tone may sound jarring–one scene will be serious and tense, another will be slapstick comedy–but they are never abrupt or take you out of the experience. No scene or character feels out of place because this was meant to be a strange movie. 

Plotwise and character-wise there is a lot to unpack, but nothing is ever hard to follow. From what I understand, Anderson’s screenplay is only loosely based on the Thomas Pynchon novel Vineland, about a group of Nixon-era radicals dealing with living in the Reagan-era. Anderson moves the story to a time resembling the present day, even when the story jumps forward 16 years; it’s worth noting that no specific year is ever given. In the world of this movie, the military seems to be the police or the police have been so militarized that there is no difference. The branch of the military that the villain, Col. Stephen J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn, in one of his best performances), belongs to is never stated. He uses all the resources at his disposal, including unnecessary immigrant raids and inciting a riot, to pursue a personal vendetta against the main characters and secure a place in the secret right-wing white supremacist cabal that runs the country and calls themselves the Christmas Adventurers Club. They greet each other by saying “Hail Saint Nick.” Again, this movie is meant to be strange.

Lockjaw’s vendetta stems from his hate and desire for a member of the revolutionary group The French 75 named Perfidia Beverly Hills (Supporting Actress nominee Teyana Taylor in an extremely memorable but brief performance). After she disappears, Lockjaw then pursues her romantic partner, who now goes by Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio) and spends his days getting stoned and watching old movies, and Perfidia’s now teenage daughter, Willa (Chase Infiniti), who thinks her dad’s talk about secret codes and surveillance is just paranoia. Lockjaw swoops in, Willa goes on the run, and Bob has to spring back into action, but the springs are 50 years old and very rusty.  

Leonardo DiCaprio is great at playing a dad, especially the type that thinks they are the “cool dad.” One of the funniest scenes of any movie from last year is Bob grilling Willa’s friends who stop by to take her to the school dance; the way he calls one of them “homie” is comedic gold. I think the one quick moment that best encapsulates his character is when he greets a group of Hispanics not with hello but with a very earnest, “Viva Zapata.” Maybe the biggest hurdle Bob faces is remembering the password to get the location of the rendezvous point from the annoying and obdurate revolutionary hotline operator.  His main ally, and in many ways the secret hero of the movie, is Sensei Sergio (Benicio Del Toro), whose unshakable calmness is a much needed counterpoint to Bob’s franticness and is very funny in its own way. 

For some viewers and critics this movie is too political, for others it is not political enough. There are no didactic scenes or speeches. Anderson’s screenplay makes no attempt to solve the issues and political situations that force the characters into their positions. Such an attempt would be reductive to the real world issues the movie mirrors and come across as foolish, no matter how sincere. The core of the story is a parent trying to protect their child. The main theme, which again is never stated, is that the good fight is never done. These are the things that will give One Battle After Another a lasting resonance beyond the current time.  

The look of the movie is absolutely fantastic with Oscar nominated cinematography by Michael Bauman. Two sequences in particular stand out. The first is the nighttime run across rooftops of Bob and a group of Hispanic teenagers as they are lit by fiery chaos below. The second is the climactic car chase over the sharp hills of a lonely stretch of desert road. This is one of the best photographed scenes of action in years (maybe only Top Gun: Maverick comes close in comparison). 

With Hard Eight and Punch Drunk Love being the (still superb) exceptions, Paul Thomas Anderson always finds a way to give his movies a sprawling epic feel. No matter the story or the setting, his films do not unfold the way you might expect. Also, no matter the story or setting, he finds humor in the most unlikely scenarios, which goes a long way to making his films approachable and entertaining. I’m not sure where I would rank One Battle After Another in Anderson’s filmography, but among the movies of 2025 it ranks at the top. 

One Battle After Another is available to stream on HBOmax.

Nominees: Adam Somner, Sara Murphy, Paul Thomas Anderson, producers Director: Paul Thomas Anderson Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, Chase Infiniti Production Companies: Warner Bros. Pictures, Ghoulardi Film Company Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures Release Date: September 26th, 2025 Total Nominations: 13, including Best Picture Other Nominations: Actor-Leonardo DiCaprio; Director-Paul Thomas Anderson; Supporting Actor-Benicio Del Toro; Supporting Actor-Sean Penn; Supporting Actress-Teyana Taylor; Adapted Screenplay-Paul Thomas Anderson; Cinematography-Michael Bauman; Production Design Florencia Martin (production designer), Anthony Carlino (set decorator); Editing-Andy Jurgensen; Original Score-Jonny Greenwood; Sound-José Antonio García, Christopher Scarabosio, Tony Villaflor; Casting-Cassandra Kulukundis

Best Pictures #110: 2024 (97th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee: Dune: Part Two

 by A.J.

Best Pictures #110: 2024 (97th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

Dune: Part Two

“Power over spice is power over all.”

Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part One (2021) was an incredible box office hit, pop culture phenomenon, and big winner at the Academy Awards, winning 6 of its 10 nominations at the 94th Awards. Dune: Part Two, the continuation of Frank Herbert's epic science fiction fantasy novel, was also a major box office hit though this installment earned a total of only 5 Oscar nominations (Picture, Cinematography, Production Design, Sound, and Visual Effects). I must admit that I was not caught up in the mania for Dune: Part One; it is without a doubt a technical achievement but I found it too serious to be any fun or have a sense of adventure–unlike David Lynch's maligned turned cult classic 1984 version, which is campy and strange and entertaining. I am happy to report however that Dune: Part Two does have a sense of adventure and entertainment in addition to its sense of grandeur and importance.

Perhaps I found this chapter of the new Dune saga more entertaining than Part One because I was already familiar with Villeneuve’s version of the world and characters of the desert planet, Arrakis, also called Dune. Or, perhaps it is because things like world building and the exposition of an intricate plot were the burden of Part One. With all of that out of the way, Dune: Part Two feels by contrast more focused and less esoteric. There is little talk of the mystical and powerful "spice", a thing so coveted and necessary for this interplanetary society that it is the crux of the entire plot. I would even go so far as to guess that someone who is entirely unfamiliar with the Frank Herbert novel, David Lynch version, or even Villeneuve’s Dune: Part One could watch this movie and not feel lost at all. Dune: Part Two is the story of an oppressed native people fighting colonial invaders and a young outsider who may or may not be–but almost certainly is–their prophesied messiah. The exotic sounding names and creatures and costumes are all just window dressing, which is how science fiction fantasy should be.

The cast of Part One returns with Timothée Chalamet playing Paul Atreides and Rebecca Ferguson as his mother, Lady Jessica, who is part of the mystical religious order the Bene Gesserit. There is no “previously on" or recap but the plot threads are easy to pick up. Paul and Lady Jessica have survived a betrayal and massacre of their entire royal house by the evil Harkonnens, who now control Dune. Paul and Lady Jessica are only welcomed, to a degree, into the society of the native Fremen because one of their leaders, Stilgar (Javier Bardem) believes Paul to be the messiah who will liberate Arrakis and turn the desert world into a green paradise. His daughter and Paul's love interest, Chani (Zendaya) is more than skeptical of the prophecy but she starts to have feelings for Paul. Their moments alone together–her teaching him to walk without rhythm, which still seems to have a rhythm, or her not believing Paul about the idea of swimming–are nice character building and emotional respites. Paul comes to believe that he is the messiah and whether or not this is because of a generations old plan by the Bene Gesserit becomes less important as Paul delivers on the promises of the messiah.

At many points in Dune: Part One I could barely see what was happening even though I had all the lights off in my house and the brightness settings on my TV turned all the way up. With Part Two I had no such problems–I did turn off all the lights in my house but this gave the movie a more theatrical feel instead of being a visual necessity. Perhaps this is because most of the action takes place in the desert daytime outdoors though even scenes in underground caves were also clear. Paul triumphantly riding the gigantic desert sandworm is an impressive sight though it is unclear how he makes it stop. The most visually stunning sequence however belongs to the world of the villains, a world that is not so much black and white as it is devoid of color. Baron Harkonnen's (Stellan Skarsgård) favorite and sadistic nephew Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler) slaughters drugged fighters in a massive coliseum but one of them, an Atreides prisoner, puts up a real fight, to the blood thirsty delight of Feyd-Rautha. It is impressive that a scene so devoid of color can be so eye-catching. 

Other new cast members include Christopher Walken as the galactic emperor who set the betrayal of the Atreides family in motion and his daughter, Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh), who functions as an audience stand-in, getting filled in on information about the main plot. The increasing severity of Florence Pugh’s headdresses and face coverings throughout the movie cannot go without notice and feels like a joke by the costume designers. Both Walken and Pugh have little to do other than lend their screen presence, though hearing Walken talk sci-fi Dune speak in his unique voice is unintentionally funny 

In the novel Paul gets to be a bit annoying; he has all the bravado and swagger of a regular teenage boy multiplied by his privileged upbringing and discovery that he is the messiah. Thankfully, as played by Chalamet, Paul is a young man who harbors doubts about himself and his abilities. We know that the prophecy of the messiah was created by the Bene Gesserit to control the Freman; Lady Jessica knows this, Paul knows this, Chani knows it instinctually. Yet Paul and Lady Jessica rebel against their religious and political order and make the prophecy come true, so do they not fulfill the prophecy? Can people believe something enough to make it reality? These are surely questions that Frank Herbert meant to stir with his novel. They were absent or muddled in Dune: Part One but are here in Dune: Part Two adding an extra thematic layer that does not distract from the adventure. 

Though Dune: Part Two concludes the story of Frank Herbert’s Dune, it is actually the middle part of an intended trilogy (to be concluded with Dune Messiah, based on the second Dune novel, in 2026). As far as middle film installments of recent trilogies go, this one is pretty good. It ends with a feeling of “onto the next adventure!” instead of “come back next year for the ending.”

Nominees: Mary Parent, Cale Boyter, Tanya Lapointe and Denis Villeneuve, Producers

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Screenplay: Denis Villeneuve and Jon Spaihts; based on the novel by Frank Herbert

Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler

Production Companies: Legendary Pictures

Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures

Release Date: March 1, 2024 (United States)

Total Nominations: 5, including Best Picture

Other Nominations: Cinematography-Greig Fraser; Production Design-Shane Vieau (set decorator), Patrice Vermette (production designer); Sound-Gareth John, Richard King, Ron Bartlett, Doug Hemphill; Visual Effects-Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Rhys Salcombe, Gerd Nefzer

Best Pictures #93: 2022 (95th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee: Everything Everywhere All At Once

by A.J.

Best Pictures #93: 2022 (95th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

Everything Everywhere All At Once 

“You’ve been feeling it too, haven’t you? Something is off. Your clothes never wear as well the next day, your hair never falls in quite the same way…”

Everything Everywhere All At Once is a wild, weird, zany, outlandish, and thoroughly entertaining film. Its premise feels original but, more importantly, it lives up to the promise of its fun title. Part sci-fi, martial arts movie, action, comedy, family drama, and mid life crisis movie, co-writers and directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (known together as The Daniels) crammed everything they could into their movie, and then squeezed in some more. The combination of over the type action, absurd sights, and a great cast led by Michelle Yeoh make Everything Everywhere All At Once one of the most memorable movies in years. 

Michelle Yeoh plays Evelyn Wang, a woman dealing with the drudgery of running a laundromat, overly friendly customers, unfriendly customers, the growing gulf between her and her daughter, Joy (Stepahnie Hsu), who wants to include her girlfriend Becky in their Chinese New Year celebration, though this would not be taken well by Gong Gong (James Hong), Evelyn’s ailing father who has come from China to live with them. She also finds out that her well meaning but floundering husband, Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), has just filed for divorce, and has to deal with a confusing tax audit by a grumpy IRS agent (Jaime Lee Curtis). As if this wasn’t enough to handle, it turns out the fate of every possible universe rests with her. 

In order to learn the skills she needs to fight the ultimate chaotic evil force out to destroy the multiverse, called Jobu Tupaki, Evelyn first has to learn how to “verse jump,” that is, to temporarily jump into a different version of herself from a different universe, pick up a special skill and jump back. If you have some trouble keeping track of which version of which character is where or the inner workings of the Alpha-verse and their technology, you’ll be in good company because it takes a while for Evelyn to accept and figure it all out herself. This might be the best thing about Evelyn as written by the Daniels and performed by Yeoh. She is a normal woman who has normal incredulous reactions to the outlandish and extraordinary things happening around her. In addition to believably handling all of the martial arts and action scenes, Yeoh handles the emotional scenes with the same expertise. A lot of the comedy comes from Evelyn’s confusion and attempts to explain everything to her versions of Waymond and Joy. 

The rest of the cast also does an excellent job playing the different versions of themselves and it is easy to keep track of who is which version just from the performances. Ke Huy Quan as average Waymond is so mild mannered he puts Clark Kent to shame, but he brims with self-assurance as the successful businessman version of Waymond, and he is a believable fighter as Waymond from the Alpha-verse. Stephanie Hsu is great as average Joy, dealing with heavy internal conflict about her mother, but she really gets to shine as the multiverse villain Jobu Tupaki, who has been driven beyond madness into sinister nihilism by experiencing all possible universes simultaneously.  

Perhaps the most important factor to the movie’s success and memorability is its willingness to be silly. Very, very silly indeed. There’s a universe where people literally have gigantic hot dogs for fingers; Evelyn misremembers Ratatouille and creates a universe with a cooking raccoon, voiced, briefly but perfectly, by Randy Newman. There is a universe where she trains to fight with only her pinky finger. In one of the less outlandish universes Evelyn is an action movie star not unlike Michelle Yeoh. Evelyn wants to just stay in this universe instead of fighting an all powerful cosmic being (who wouldn't?). Of course, this embrace of the silly leads to some good comedy. All of this multiverse madness is so broad and random that there is bound to find something that matches your particular comedic taste. The action and fights are well choreographed and exciting. They seem spontaneous and frantic, which is what makes them so fun.

All of this incredible and ridiculous action is not mindless or self-serving. It expresses and reinforces the conflicts that average Evelyn is facing in her normal life. Almost all of the action takes place inside the IRS building, a budgetary convenience turned thematic point. Evelyn’s journey from believing that her daughter is possessed by some evil force to realizing that Jobu Tupaki really is just Joy is the most important thing about her journey through a real multiverse of madness. Beyond the visual and conceptual spectacle, Evelyn’s emotional journey, as portrayed by Yeoh, her relationship with Joy and Waymond, and her reflection on her life choices are what will give Everything Everywhere All At Once a lasting resonance.

Nominees: Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, Jonathan Wang, producers

Director: Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert

Screenplay: Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert

Cast: Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, James Hong, Jamie Lee Curtis

Production Companies: IAC Films, Gozie AGBO, Year of the Rat, Ley Line Entertainment

Distributor: A24

Release Date: March 25th, 2022

Total Nominations: 11, including Best Picture

Other Nominations: Actress-Michelle Yeoh; Director-Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert; Supporting Actress-Stephanie Hsu; Supporting Actress-Jamie Lee Curtis; Supporting Actor-Ke Huy Quan; Original Screenplay-Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert; Costume Design-Shirley Kurata; Editing-Paul Rogers; Original Score-Son Lux; Original Song-Ryan Lott, David Byrne, Mitski for "This Is a Life"

Best Pictures #91: 2022 (95th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee: Top Gun: Maverick

by A.J.

Best Pictures #91: 2022 (95th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

Top Gun: Maverick

“You’ve been called back to Top Gun.”

I was skeptical, more than skeptical actually, about a sequel to Top Gun thirty-six years later. Even though I enjoy the original very much, and am a big Tom Cruise fan, I was flat out dismissive after seeing the trailer. I was wrong. Very, very wrong. Top Gun: Maverick, a sequel that no one asked for, is not just a fantastic, entertaining summer action movie, it is a masterfully crafted, exciting, and fun movie that every big budget action movie should strive to be like. If it was released in the 1980’s or 90’s this might be just another action movie, but in 2022, Tom Cruise, as star and producer, and director Joseph Kosinski have created a dazzling technical achievement, a thrilling entertainment, and something truly special. 

After his program testing experimental supersonic jets is shut down in favor of a drone program, Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell is called back to the Navy’s elite pilot training program known as Top Gun. However, Maverick won’t just be teaching young pilots, he will be training them for an almost impossible mission deep in enemy territory. Like the first Top Gun movie, the “enemy” is never specified or seen up close. Like the first Top Gun, this film can be seen as patriotic Navy propaganda or an elaborate recruitment video. However, like the first movie, Top Gun: Maverick is neither political nor mindless. It is a thrill ride with enough sense to allow room for characters to grow and even emotions to build. 

This older version of Maverick is a more mature character, deeply informed by the tragedy in his past, the death of his best friend and F-14 Tomcat partner, Goose (played by Anthony Edwards in Top Gun). Maverick is concerned with the safety of his students, but not his own. It is interesting to note that in Top Gun, characters are referred to almost exclusively by their call signs. Before watching the sequel I could not have guessed Maverick's real name. In Top Gun: Maverick, he is called Pete more than a few times. In the training scenes and in the air, Tom Cruise shows us Maverick. In the scenes on the ground, in scenes showing concern and vulnerability, Cruise lets us see Pete Mitchell. I’m a huge fan of Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible movies, but this movie's Oscar nominated screenplay allows for character driven acting that we haven’t seen from Cruise in a while. 

Jennifer Connolly plays Penny, a divorced mother and owner of a bar in Fighterown, USA, the location in San Diego of the Top Gun training facility. She is also an old flame of Maverick. They reconnect in a pretty amusing scene of him violating her bar policy and having to pay for everyone’s drinks. But there are other scenes where Connolly gets to play a mature character, not just a trophy. These more intimate scenes I enjoyed as much as the rest of the movie. 

The other important relationship for Maverick is with Bradley Bradshaw, callsign Rooster, who is Goose’s son and also a Top Gun pilot. I’ve been no fan of Miles Teller, but he does a fine job as Rooster, the cautious flyer with a chip on his shoulder. Maverick pulled strings to set back Rooster’s career as a Navy pilot to keep him safe. Now, Maverick must decide on sending Rooster on a mission with slim chance for survival. Visually, Teller is essentially cosplaying Anthony Edwards as Goose; his entrance is played on the right side of parody. Character-wise Teller and the screenplay avoid the pitfalls of this kind of character; he never comes across as whiny or over burdened, nor is he simply a rehash of Goose. I would have liked more time with the other new pilots (Hangman played by Glen Powell and Phoenix played by Monica Barbaro) but, as is, they are all the movie needs. 

Maverick’s biggest supporter, and the reason he still has a Navy career, is his old rival turned friend, Tom “Iceman” Kazansky (Val Kilmer), now an admiral and commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Iceman is suffering from throat cancer, similar to what Kilmer experienced recently in real life, so he and Maverick communicate via text messages. Kilmer has only one scene where he and Cruise meet face to face and it, like so much of the movie, avoids pitfalls even though it plays out how you might expect. It is a wonderful and emotional character focused scene. 

Top Gun: Maverick received 6 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay, Original Song for “Hold My Hand” by Lady Gaga and Bloodpop, Visual Effects, Sound, and Editing. Curiously absent is a nomination for the outstanding cinematography by Claudio Miranda. It is not just that there are great landscapes captured from the air by zooming jets. New techniques were developed to mount the IMAX quality cameras to the jets and Miranda worked with Sony to develop cameras that would fit inside the F-18s. This thrilling point of view footage combined with the excellent and rightfully nominated sound design really make you feel like you are in the jets, flying at supersonic speeds, trying not to blackout as the jets and pilots are pushed to their limits. Cruise made it well known that this movie used real jets and real G-forces and not only did I feel that in the theater, I even felt it watching at home on my regular TV with a regular sound set up. The cinematography and sound and editing and visual effects do more than just create thrills; they effectively convey the danger facing the pilots, which enhances the drama, which in turn adds another layer of substance. 

The references to the first Top Gun are more than just pandering winks and nods. Miles Teller plays “Great Balls of Fire” on a bar piano just like Anthony Edwards did in Top Gun, but this segues to a flashback to the first movie that builds drama while also functioning as exposition. The ending feels contrived but action movies, like horror movies, don’t have to be realistic, they just have to be good and Top Gun: Maverick is the best of the best. 

Nominees: Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, David Ellison, Jerry Bruckheimer, producers

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Screenplay: Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie; story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks; based on characters created by Jim Cash & Jack Epps Jr.

Cast: Tom Cruise, Jennifer Connolly, Miles Teller, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Val Kilmer

Production Companies: Paramount Pictures, Skydance, TC Productions, Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films

Distributor: Paramount Pictures

Release Date: May 27th, 2022

Total Nominations: 6, including Best Picture

Other Nominations: Adapted Screenplay-Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, Christopher McQuarrie, Peter Craig, Justin Marks; Editing-Eddie Hamilton; Original Song-Lady Gaga, BloodPop for "Hold My Hand"; Sound-Mark Weingarten, James Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor; Visual Effects-Ryan Tudhope, Seth Hill, Bryan Litson, Scott R. Fisher

Best Pictures #85: 2022 (95th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee: Avatar: The Way of Water

 by A.J.

Best Pictures #85: 2022 (95th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

Avatar: The Way of Water

“The way of water has no beginning and no end.”

Thirteen years after the release of the record-breaking mega-hit blockbuster Avatar, the long-delayed sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, finally made its way to theaters, also becoming a mega-hit. I was no fan of the first Avatar—its admittedly dazzling and impressive visuals were not enough to overcome a mediocre, derivative script and stiff acting from its lead, Sam Worthington—so I was, at best, indifferent about a sequel. Upon this visit to the alien moon of Pandora, the visuals and special effects are still dazzling but somewhat less impressive because we’ve been here before and know that the visual effects goals of writer-director James Cameron are achievable. However, I was much more caught up in the story and events in the Way of Water. For most of, but certainly not all, of its 3-hour 12-minute runtime I was well entertained. 

Sam Worthington returns as the ex-marine Jake Sully, who left his human body permanently for his Na’vi avatar in the first movie. Years have passed and Jake Sully and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) now have children of various ages and find their home and lives again threatened by invading militaristic humans. Jake and Neytiri have also adopted the young teen-ish daughter of Sigourney Weaver’s character from the first movie, who died. How she came to have a Na’vi daughter is glossed over and forgotten. However, Weaver brings a believable youthful energy to her performance of an adolescent character. Stephen Lang as Quaritch, the villain from the first movie, who died, also returns as a Na’vi clone/hybrid and the “how” and “why" of this are glossed over and forgotten as well. In the first movie the peaceful, nature bonded Na’vi were being driven from their homes so humans could mine a precious mineral. Here, Quaritch and his band of human-Na’vi hybrid soldiers are unleashed simply to seek and destroy Jake Sully in the hopes that this will put down a larger Na’vi insurgency (but this too is glossed over and forgotten). 

If Avatar was James Cameron’s allegory for the plight of Native Americans against Westward Expansion, then The Way of Water is Cameron’s allegory for Vietnam—scenes of the human-Na’vi soldiers harassing natives and burning villages could be taken from any number of Vietnam war movies. This connection is interesting but does not do much to enhance the story’s substance.  

It is not until Jake and Neytiri seek refuge with the seafaring Metkayina Na’vi of Pandora’s coastline and the focus moves decidedly to the kids and their attempts to learn, adapt, and fit in with the teenage/adolescent Metkayina Na’vi that the Way of Water really hits its stride. Indeed, for most of the movie the adult Na’vi are more supporting players. Perhaps the most memorable sights and scenes from this Avatar sequel are the intelligent whale-like Tulkun that the sea-Na’vi share a deep bond with. One of the teen Sully boys forms a bond with an outsider whale that ends up being pretty meaningful.

The action scenes are exciting and thrilling, especially the climax, that is until it drags on and on. At a certain point it felt like things were going wrong just for the sake of making the movie longer. Too many scenes take far too long to revel in the majesty of the natural beauty of Pandora, which is more time for me to think: of course this looks spectacular, it was painstakingly made over years in a computer. As good as this movie is and as much of an improvement over the first film in terms of story, it never really earns its over 3-hour runtime. 

Nominees: James Cameron, Jon Landau, producers

Director: James Cameron

Screenplay: James Cameron & Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver; story by James Cameron, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Josh Friedman, Shane Salerno

Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang

Production Companies: Lightstorm Entertainment, TSG Entertainment

Distributor: 20th Century Studios

Release Date: December 16th, 2022

Total Nominations: 4, including Best Picture

Other Nominations: Production Design-Dylan Cole, Ben Procter, Vanessa Cole; Visual Effects-Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, Daniel Barrett; Sound-Julian Howarth, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Dick Bernstein, Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Michael Hedges