Avatar 2: The Way of Water is the second part of the budding blockbuster franchise conceived by legendary filmmaker James Cameron. The film is one of, if not the most, expensive movie in history. Which means that it needs to make a whole lot of money at the global box office to justify the studio's investment.
In order to turn the film into a sure-fire hit, Cameron looked to his own filmmaking past as a certified hit-maker for inspiration. Avatar 2: The Way of Water features many plot points, themes, and visuals that harken back to other movies helmed by Cameron in the past. Let us take a look at all the ways the second Avatar film echoes past films by James Cameron.
Humans in Exo-Suits vs Aliens and Na'vi
When showing a battle between humans and aliens, many filmmakers try to make them roughly the same size to make it look like an even fight. Not so with James Cameron. In Avatar 2, humanity arrives on a distant planet Pandora, populated by a local sentient race known as the Na'vi. Soon the two species are locked in a battle over control of the planet.
The Na'vi are roughly twice as tall as humans, and much stronger and faster. The only way for human soldiers to keep up with the Na'vi in close combat is with the help of metal exo-suits. This plot point is a direct echo of something similar that James Cameron did in 1986's Aliens, where the lead heroine Ellen Ripley is able to take on the much larger Xenomorph race with the help of an exo-suit.
The Warrior Family Dynamic
In the days leading up to the release of Avatar: The Way of Water, James Cameron was quite vocal about making a blockbuster franchise that centers around a family instead of a lone hero. Thus, Avatar 2 introduces viewers to Jake Sully, the human-turned-Na'vi, his native wife Neytiri, and their many half-human, half-Na'vi children. When trouble comes calling, the entire family is forced to band together to put up a fight against the human invaders.
This idea of an entire family unit that includes children coming together to face danger was also seen in 1994's True Lies. There it was Arnold Schwarzenegger's main character Harry, a government agent living a double life as a boring suburban dad, whose wife and daughter are put in danger. In the end Harry, his wife Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), and daughter Dana have to fight a group of terrorists to save their home, and a very similar dynamic can be seen in the climax of Avatar 2.
Older Man and His Plucky Young Sidekick
Terminator 2: Judgment Day is generally seen as the crown jewel of the Terminator franchise, and one of the greatest sequels ever made. Despite having a plot that is very similar to the original Terminator, the sequel feels much more emotional. This is mainly due to the central relationship between the T-800 robot and his teenage charge, John Connor. Despite being technically unable to feel emotions, the T-800 gradually learns to become more human and perhaps even comes to love John as a son.
Something similar happens in Avatar 2. Colonel Miles Quaritch, the main villain who died in the previous movie, is brought back to life in the body of a Na'vi. Quaritch discovers his human teenage son named Spider, who has grown up with the Na'vi. Although he hates Quaritch, Spider is forced to go along with his resurrected father. The two end up bonding in unexpected ways as they journey together. In the end Quaritch reveals that he has indeed come to love Spider like a father, while the latter reluctantly saves Quaritch's life despite still outwardly hating him.
The Sinking Ship and Avatar's Underwater Action
Before the original Avatar became the highest-grossing movie of all time, that position was held by another James Cameron movie, 1997's Titanic. The famous romantic period drama features a dramatic climax in which the largest ship in the world hits an iceberg and sinks to the bottom of the ocean.
Similarly, the climax of Avatar: The Way of Water takes place in the oceans of Pandora between Jake Sully's army and Quaritch and his men. In the ensuing battle, the ship holding Quaritch's forces gets badly damaged and sinks into the water. Here you also get a number of sequences that echo The Abyss, another 1989 movie by Cameron where a group of SEAL team operatives are trapped underwater.
Much like in Titanic and The Abyss, Avatar 2 features haunting shots of the main characters being trapped in enclosed spaces that are rapidly filling with water. The 'ticking clock' prospect of drowning heightens the tension greatly in the climax of all three movies, echoing a real-life anxiety for many divers and deep sea explorers whose community James Cameron is a part of.