Avatar: The Way of WaterJames Cameron appears to be the luckiest man on earth. Maybe he found a monkey paw or a Djinn trapped in a lamp, or maybe he spent all his past lives amassing Titanic loads of Karma to be used all in one lifetime. Whatever it is, he seems to be making the best of it.

Cameron’s career is the stuff of legends, he lives on a giant ponderosa in New Zealand where all his many kids run about and explore. His spiritualism and regard for nature have some critics comparing his works to that of Hayao Miyazaki. And then there is his engineering side, and his exploration side, and his films while being critical and financial blockbusters, all also push the boundaries of the art of filmmaking in ways no other does, his latest opus Avatar: The Way of Water is no exception.

This is not a review of the movie or a bio of Cameron. This is merely notes on Avatar: The Way of Water that seem to have gone unnoticed or documented by other writers and reviewers.

One of the many surprising things about the long-awaited Avatar sequel is that at the core it is a wide-eyed children’s adventure tale. Similar to Huck Finn or the early Harry Potter stories, Avatar 2 is driven by the energy of the kids and their innate need to explore their world and challenge the truth and integrity of the adults that are raising them. Only when things get too serious do they finally reach out to the adults. As per Cameron, the next movies in the Avatar series will star the kids as Jake and Neytirie will age out of their leading roles.

So as the kids age and mature it would be expected that the challenges and adventures will do the same. And in the next films, they will likely be required to resolve these issues on their own – with their parents taking on more of a role as observers (if they survive at all).

And in this way, as with most of Cameron’s movies, his scripts and art imitate his life. Cameron moved his four kids from LA to New Zealand where he gave them walkie-talkies and lets them run and explore their new backyard of thousands of acres of forest and farm. Any issues, they can just radio back to him. Cameron’s move with his family is essentially the story of Avatar 2.

A hidden story – or at least a story beat that is not much discussed and yet will become a major plot element of the next film, or films, is that of Nyterie and Spider.

It is never made clear why Nyterie is uncomfortable around Spider but it is easy enough to guess it is that of the boy’s lineage. By the end of the film, it is also clear that, though Spider considers Jake and the kids his brood – he is definitely more than cautious around Nyterie. And for good cause. The last reel of the film is when we see Nyterie in full rage and yes it is frightening.

What else we see in the last reel is Cameron’s ingenious interplay between 24fps and the infamous 48fps.

The 48fps is shockingly clear and by way of other filmmakers’ work, Cameron declared it taxing the viewer. He did seem to believe that 48fps works well in action scenes and began work on how to shift the projection back and forth between 24fps and 48fps. The problem is projectors do not accommodate this. His workaround – screen in 48fps but double every frame which makes it read as 24fps. During an action sequence, he eliminated the double frames and allowed the film to show its true 48fps colors. Taste and mileage may vary per viewer on how well this works – or if 48fps works at all.

The shift is noticeable and exciting. The noted clarity resonates with Cameron’s clean, easy-to-follow action. Michael Mann should take note. His game play structured action sequences would be well served with a shift to 48fps at the pull of the first trigger. Some might not notice the fps change at all. Any reader familiar with the quick, sharp, adrenalized moment-of-clarity during physical activity should likely recognize the shift and appreciate it.

Avatar: The Way of Water is a film that dwarfs all other massive Hollywood tentpole films. It feels like a different animal altogether. From script structure to all the areas of pre-production through to post, the film feels thoughtful and considerate – as if there is purpose to all of it. And that is a direct reflection of Cameron’s genius. Avatar 3 (which has already been filmed and is in post as of this writing) cannot hit theaters soon enough.