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James Cameron wants you to believe. He wants you to believe that aliens are killing machines, humanity can defeat time-traveling cyborgs, and a film can transport you to a significant historical disaster. In many ways, the planet of Pandora in " Avatar " has become his most ambitious manner of sharing this belief in the power of cinema. Can you leave everything in your life behind and experience a film in a way that's become increasingly difficult in an era of so much distraction? As technology has advanced, Cameron has pushed the limits of his power of belief even further, playing with 3D, High Frame Rate, and other toys that weren't available when he started his career. But one of the many things that is so fascinating about "Avatar: The Way of Water" is how that belief manifests itself in themes he's explored so often before. This wildly entertaining film isn't a retread of "Avatar," but a film in which fans can pick out thematic and even visual elements of " Titanic ," " Aliens ," "The Abyss," and "The Terminator" films. It's as if Cameron has moved to Pandora forever and brought everything he cares about. (He's also clearly never leaving.) Cameron invites viewers into this fully realized world with so many striking images and phenomenally rendered action scenes that everything else fades away.

Maybe not right away. "Avatar: The Way of Water" struggles to find its footing at first, throwing viewers back into the world of Pandora in a narratively clunky way. One can tell that Cameron really cares most about the world-building mid-section of this film, which is one of his greatest accomplishments, so he rushes through some of the set-ups to get to the good stuff. Before then, we catch up with Jake Sully ( Sam Worthington ), a human who is now a full-time Na'vi and partners with Neytiri ( Zoe Saldana ), with whom he has started a family. They have two sons—Neteyam ( Jamie Flatters ) and Lo'ak ( Britain Dalton )—and a daughter named Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), and they are guardians of Kiri ( Sigourney Weaver ), the offspring of Weaver's character from the first film.

Family bliss is fractured when the 'sky people' return, including an avatar Na'vi version of one Colonel Miles Quaritch ( Stephen Lang ), who has come to finish what he started, including vengeance on Jake for the death of his human form. He comes back with a group of former-human-now-Na'vi soldiers who are the film's main antagonists, but not the only ones. "Avatar: The Way of Water" once again casts the military, planet-destroying humans of this universe as its truest villains, but the villains' motives are sometimes a bit hazy. Around halfway through, I realized it's not very clear why Quaritch is so intent on hunting Jake and his family, other than the plot needs it, and Lang is good at playing mad.

The bulk of "Avatar: The Way of Water" hinges on the same question Sarah Connor asks in the "Terminator" movies—fight or flight for family? Do you run and hide from the powerful enemy to try and stay safe or turn and fight the oppressive evil? At first, Jake takes the former option, leading them to another part of Pandora, where the film opens up via one of Cameron's longtime obsessions: H2O. The aerial acrobatics of the first film are supplanted by underwater ones in a region run by Tonowari ( Cliff Curtis ), the leader of a clan called the Metkayina. Himself a family man—his wife is played by Kate Winslet —Tonowari is worried about the danger the new Na'vi visitors could bring but can't turn them away. Again, Cameron plays with moral questions about responsibility in the face of a powerful evil, something that recurs in a group of commercial poachers from Earth. They dare to hunt sacred water animals in stunning sequences during which you have to remind yourself that none of what you're watching is real.

The film's midsection shifts its focus away from Sully/Quaritch to the region's children as Jake's boys learn the ways of the water clan. Finally, the world of "Avatar" feels like it's expanding in ways the first film didn't. Whereas that film was more focused on a single story, Cameron ties together multiple ones here in a far more ambitious and ultimately rewarding fashion. While some of the ideas and plot developments—like the connection of Kiri to Pandora or the arc of a new character named Spider ( Jack Champion )—are mostly table-setting for future films, the entire project is made richer by creating a larger canvas for its storytelling. While one could argue that there needs to be a stronger protagonist/antagonist line through a film that discards both Jake & Quaritch for long periods, I would counter that those terms are intentionally vague here. The protagonist is the entire family and even the planet on which they live, and the antagonist is everything trying to destroy the natural world and the beings that are so connected to it.

Viewers should be warned that Cameron's ear for dialogue hasn't improved—there are a few lines that will earn unintentional laughter—but there's almost something charming about his approach to character, one that weds old-fashioned storytelling to breakthrough technology. Massive blockbusters often clutter their worlds with unnecessary mythologies or backstories, whereas Cameron does just enough to ensure this impossible world stays relatable. His deeper themes of environmentalism and colonization could be understandably too shallow for some viewers—and the way he co-opts elements of Indigenous culture could be considered problematic—and I wouldn't argue against that. But if a family uses this as a starting point for conversations about those themes then it's more of a net positive than most blockbusters that provide no food for thought.

There has been so much conversation about the cultural impact of "Avatar" recently, as superheroes dominated the last decade of pop culture in a way that allowed people to forget the Na'vi. Watching "Avatar: The Way of Water," I was reminded of how impersonal the Hollywood machine has become over the last few decades and how often the blockbusters that truly make an impact on the form have displayed the personal touch of their creator. Think of how the biggest and best films of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg couldn't have been made by anyone else. "Avatar: The Way of Water" is a James Cameron blockbuster, through and through. And I still believe in him.

Available only in theaters on December 16th.

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

Rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence and intense action, partial nudity and some strong language.

192 minutes

Sam Worthington as Jake Sully

Zoe Saldaña as Neytiri

Sigourney Weaver as Kiri

Stephen Lang as Colonel Miles Quaritch

Kate Winslet as Ronal

Cliff Curtis as Tonowari

Joel David Moore as Norm Spellman

CCH Pounder as Mo'at

Edie Falco as General Frances Ardmore

Brendan Cowell as Mick Scoresby

Jemaine Clement as Dr. Ian Garvin

Jamie Flatters as Neteyam

Britain Dalton as Lo'ak

Trinity Bliss as Tuktirey

Jack Champion as Javier 'Spider' Socorro

Bailey Bass as Tsireya

Filip Geljo as Aonung

Duane Evans Jr. as Rotxo

Giovanni Ribisi as Parker Selfridge

Dileep Rao as Dr. Max Patel

James Cameron

Writer (story by)

Amanda Silver
Josh Friedman
Shane Salerno

Cinematographer

Russell Carpenter
Stephen E. Rivkin
David Brenner
John Refoua
Simon Franglen

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Avatar: The Way of Water Reviews

James Cameron’s long-awaited blockbuster sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, is a big, boisterous, beautiful return to Pandora.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 13, 2024

Avatar: The Way of Water, the long awaited sequel to Cameron’s Avatar - the highest grossing film of all time - was ultimately mesmerizing and a mind-blowing immersive visual experience taking audiences on a epic adventure unlike anything seen before.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Jul 8, 2024

Overall, Avatar: The Way of Water is a colossal disappointment on a story and character level, saved only by its stunning visuals (at least when they’re not too garish).

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Jul 7, 2024

The first Avatar was a spectacular display of technical prowess. It utilized Cameron’s brilliant populist instincts to capture the imagination of the planet. By comparison, The Way of Water feels like a pale imitation.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Jul 3, 2024

Did I think this movie would be made? No. Did I think it would crack my Top 10? Also no. But here we are.

Full Review | Feb 27, 2024

'Avatar: The Way of Water' pops with well-rendered images and vibrant colors. It's like you’re witnessing Cameron film a National Geographic documentary on an alien planet. It evokes all the senses.

Full Review | Original Score: A | Jan 9, 2024

James Cameron's Avatar sequel has stunning visuals that get elevated on a big IMAX screen. However, the plot is less than engaging, the dialogues are clunky, and you wish it was shorter.

Full Review | Oct 4, 2023

The preservation of our woods is the central topic of the first Avatar film and the topic of Avatar: The Way Of Water is ocean preservation. To summarize, don’t doubt James Cameron.

Full Review | Sep 26, 2023

The special effects are breathtaking...Like all sequels, the original was a bit better.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Aug 10, 2023

Technology used to make the film is so compelling and masterful that everything else is an afterthought.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Aug 9, 2023

Whatever may be wrong with it, Avatar: The Way of Water is pure, unabashed cinema, with some of the most glorious visuals ever put to screen and an endlessly absorbing soundtrack.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 6, 2023

The Way of Water is somehow even better than its already masterful antecedent.

Full Review | Aug 2, 2023

The Way of Water clearly sets itself apart from other blockbusters, building on 13 years of preparation to deliver a memorable cinema experience. A visually, technically breathtaking adventure, particularly in the truly stunning underwater sequences.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Jul 25, 2023

The Way Of Water is not just one of the best sequels ever created… it’s a god damn masterpiece. Breathtaking, visually stunning, & epic in every single way. I’m truly speechless by what James Cameron has crafted

Full Review | Jul 25, 2023

Would you like to go on venture number three in the world of Pandora? After the first one, I would have said, “no, thanks”, but now, bring it on.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Jul 25, 2023

As with the first film, it’s impossible to deny that audiences will be treated to a visual feast in The Way of Water, but those looking for a more character-driven movie will be left adrift in the open water.

Full Review | Jul 24, 2023

Unlike every CGI-heavy theme park ride, the fact that the spectacle and the action sequences never undermine the narrative or emotionally stirring moments is mind-boggling.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Jul 23, 2023

We’re nowhere close to Cameron at his best, but I feel we’re approaching something worth experiencing.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Jun 20, 2023

We can accept a barebones revenger because it lets us reacquaint ourselves with Pandora. Cameron is easing us back in with a conflict we don't need to expend too much energy on so we can absorb everything else in the background.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | May 12, 2023

I’ll say this for James Cameron: At this point, he can slap his name on an old print of Plan 9 From Outer Space, re-release it as Avatar 3: The Way of Outer Space, and incessantly hype it until it crosses the billion-dollar mark and racks up the awards.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 18, 2023

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Avatar: The Way of Water First Reviews: A Magical, Visually Sublime Cinematic Experience Well Worth the Wait

Early reviews of james cameron's long-in-the-making sequel say it feels like an immersive theme park thrill ride with interesting characters, breathtaking action, and a better story than the first..

TAGGED AS: First Reviews , movies , news

The first of Avatar’ s sequels is finally here, 13 years after the release of the record-breaking original. For those who’ve been anxiously looking forward to Avatar: The Way of Water and those who have been doubting its necessity, the good news is that the movie is worth the wait and another work of essential theatrical entertainment from James Cameron. The first reviews of the follow-up celebrate its expected visual spectacle as well as its slightly improved script and new cast members. You’re going to want to return to Pandora after reading these excerpts.

Here’s what critics are saying about Avatar: The Way of Water :

Does it live up to expectations?

The Way of the Water is a transformative movie experience that energizes and captivates the senses through its visual storytelling, making the return to Pandora well worth the wait. – Mae Abdulbaki, Screen Rant

Spending more than a decade pining for Pandora was worth it. Cameron has delivered the grandest movie since, well, Avatar . – Johnny Oleksinski, New York Post

This latest and most ambitious picture will stun most of his naysayers into silence. – Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times

Is it better than the original?

Like all great sequels, The Way of Water retrospectively deepens the original. – David Ehrlich, IndieWire

Avatar: The Way of Water is as visually exhilarating and sweepingly told as its predecessor; the plot is more emotionally vigorous. – Johnny Oleksinski, New York Post

(Photo by ©Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)

So it’s not just more of the same?

Any “been here, actually do remember this” déjà vu washes all the way off the minute the action finally plunges under the surface. – David Ehrlich, IndieWire

[It is] meticulous world-building as astonishing and enveloping as anything we’ve ever seen on screen. – Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly

The brand-extension imperatives that typically govern sequels are happily nowhere in evidence. – Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times

Does it have a better script?

The sequel’s story is spread a bit thin, though there is certainly more depth than the first film. – Mae Abdulbaki, Screen Rant

In terms of narrative sophistication and even more so dialogue, this $350 million sequel is almost as basic as its predecessor, even feeble at times. – David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

The story is still just okay. – Owen Gleiberman, Variety

Will we care enough about the story and characters regardless?

Avatar: The Way of Water is such a staggering improvement over the original because its spectacle doesn’t have to compensate for its story; in vintage Cameron fashion, the movie’s spectacle is what allows its story to be told so well. – David Ehrlich, IndieWire

The movie’s overt themes of familial love and loss, its impassioned indictments of military colonialism and climate destruction, are like a meaty hand grabbing your collar; it works because they work it. – Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly

Watching The Way of Water , one rolls their eyes only to realize they’re welling with tears. – Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair

I’m sorry, but as I watched The Way of Water the only part of me that was moved was my eyeballs. – Owen Gleiberman, Variety

Are there any standout performances?

Saldaña and Winslet have poignant moments…and Dalton and Champion are standouts among the young newcomers. – David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

The most dynamic portrayal probably belongs to Lang, whose Quaritch is so relentless in his pursuit of Jake that he becomes a force of nature. – Tim Grierson, Screen International

How is the action?

The open-water clash that dominates the final hour is a commandingly sustained feat of action filmmaking. – David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

Any hack can make stuff blow up real good; Cameron makes stuff glow up real good. – Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times

Are the visuals as spectacular as they’re supposed to be?

One can’t say enough good things about the film’s visuals — each frame is more breathtaking and magical than the last. – Mae Abdulbaki, Screen Rant

The world both above and below the waterline is a thing to behold, a sensory overload of sound and color so richly tactile that it feels psychedelically, almost spiritually sublime. – Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly

What’s most astonishing about The Way of Water is the persuasive case it makes for CGI. – David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

(Photo by Mark Fellman/©Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)

But how is that high frame rate?

It’s a rather soulless feel, as it was in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit films. But it can make you feel like you’re sharing the same space with the characters. – Owen Gleiberman, Variety

While the approach can sometimes prove distracting, the film is far more persuasive than Ang Lee’s recent experiments in the form. – Tim Grierson, Screen International

The use of high frame rate (a sped-up 48 frames per second) tends to work better underwater than on dry land, where the overly frictionless, motion-smoothed look might put you briefly in mind of a Na’vi soap opera. – Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times

Does it feel like more than just your average movie?

At times you don’t feel like you’re watching a movie so much as floating in one. – Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times

There are times when it can seem as if there isn’t a screen at all, and that the action is unfolding right in front of you. – David Ehrlich, IndieWire

It’s truly a movie crossed with a virtual-reality theme-park ride. – Owen Gleiberman, Variety

Do we need to see it in a theater?

It’s the most rapturous, awe-inducing, only in theaters return to the cinema of attractions since Godard experimented with double exposure 3D in Goodbye to Language . – David Ehrlich, IndieWire

Will it leave us excited for Avatar 3 ?

Where it will flow next is a mystery, and it’d be disingenuous of me to suggest I’m not eager to find out. – Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times

Avatar: The Way of Water opens everywhere on December 16, 2022.

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‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ Review: Big Blue Marvel

James Cameron returns to Pandora, and to the ecological themes and visual bedazzlements of his 2009 blockbuster.

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By A.O. Scott

Way back in 2009, “Avatar” arrived on screens as a plausible and exciting vision of the movie future. Thirteen years later, “Avatar: The Way of Water” — the first of several long-awaited sequels directed by James Cameron — brings with it a ripple of nostalgia.

The throwback sensation may hit you even before the picture starts, as you unfold your 3-D glasses. When was the last time you put on a pair of those? Even the anticipation of seeing something genuinely new at the multiplex feels like an artifact of an earlier time, before streaming and the Marvel Universe took over.

The first “Avatar” fused Cameron’s faith in technological progress with his commitments to the primal pleasures of old-fashioned storytelling and the visceral delights of big-screen action. The 3-D effects and intricately rendered digital landscapes — the trees and flowers of the moon Pandora and the way creatures and machines swooped and barreled through them — felt like the beginning of something, the opening of a fresh horizon of imaginative possibility.

At the same time, the visual novelty was built on a sturdy foundation of familiar themes and genre tropes. “Avatar” was set on a fantastical world populated by soulful blue bipeds, but it wasn’t exactly (or only) science fiction. It was a revisionist western, an ecological fable, a post-Vietnam political allegory — a tale of romance, valor and revenge with traces of Homer, James Fenimore Cooper and “Star Trek” in its DNA.

All of that is also true of “The Way of Water,” which picks up the story and carries it from Pandora’s forests to its reefs and wetlands — an environment that inspires some new and dazzling effects. Where “Avatar” found inspiration in lizard-birds, airborne spores and jungle flowers, the sequel revels in aquatic wonders, above all a kind of armored whale called the tulkun.

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Cast & crew
User reviews

Avatar: The Way of Water

Jake Sully lives with his newfound family formed on the extrasolar moon Pandora. Once a familiar threat returns to finish what was previously started, Jake must work with Neytiri and the arm... Read all Jake Sully lives with his newfound family formed on the extrasolar moon Pandora. Once a familiar threat returns to finish what was previously started, Jake must work with Neytiri and the army of the Na'vi race to protect their home. Jake Sully lives with his newfound family formed on the extrasolar moon Pandora. Once a familiar threat returns to finish what was previously started, Jake must work with Neytiri and the army of the Na'vi race to protect their home.

James Cameron
Amanda Silver
Sam Worthington
Zoe Saldana
Sigourney Weaver
3.3K User reviews
387 Critic reviews
67 Metascore
75 wins & 150 nominations total

Top cast 70

(as Zoe Saldaña)

General Ardmore

All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

Trivia According to James Cameron , Kate Winslet performed all of her underwater stunts herself.
Goofs During the fight when Jack and Neytiri rescued their children, they kill 4 soldiers from a party of 6. Yet at the extraction scene, all 6 soldiers are present.

Tsireya : [to Lo'ak] The way of water has no beginning and no end. Our hearts beat in the womb of the world. The sea is your home, before your birth and after your death. The sea gives and the sea takes. Water connects all things: life to death, darkness to light.

Crazy credits The first half of the end credits highlight Pandoran sea creatures.
Alternate versions Like its predecessor, which is present 1.78 : 1 aspect ratio, this film presents 1.85:1 aspect ratio for home video releases, although there can be no widescreen versions of this film as James Cameron intended to watch the full format.
Connections Featured in AniMat's Crazy Cartoon Cast: Watching the Weird Way of Water (2022)
Soundtracks Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength) Performed by The Weeknd Lyrics and Melody by The Weeknd (as Abel "The Weekend" Tesfaye) Music by Simon Franglen and Swedish House Mafia Produced by Simon Franglen and Swedish House Mafia The Weeknd Performs Courtesy of XO/Republic Records

User reviews 3.3K

daredevilx90
Apr 21, 2023

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How long is Avatar: The Way of Water? Powered by Alexa
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December 16, 2022 (United States)
United States
Official Site
Avatar: El Camino Del Agua
Stone Street Studios, Wellington, New Zealand
20th Century Studios
TSG Entertainment
Lightstorm Entertainment
See more company credits at IMDbPro
$350,000,000 (estimated)
$684,075,767
$134,100,226
Dec 18, 2022
$2,320,250,281

Technical specs

Runtime 3 hours 12 minutes
Dolby Atmos
IMAX 6-Track
Dolby Surround 7.1
D-Cinema 96kHz Dolby Surround 7.1

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Review: An exercise in Na’vi gazing, ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ will cure your moviegoing blues

A CGI image of a blue man riding on the back of a winged creature over a body of water

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In “Avatar: The Way of Water,” the director James Cameron pulls you down so deep, and sets you so gently adrift, that at times you don’t feel like you’re watching a movie so much as floating in one. From time to time he brings you to the bottom of an alien sea, shot with stunning hyper-clarity in high-frame-rate 3D and teeming with all manner of surreally strange fish — all oddly shaped fins, decorative tentacles and other vestiges of an otherworldly, faintly screw-loose evolutionary timeline.

You can imagine the fun (and the headaches) that Cameron and his visual-effects wizards must have had designing this brilliant ocean-floor nirvana. You can also see an astronomical budget (reportedly north of $350 million) and an extraordinarily sophisticated digital toolkit at work, plus a flair for camera movement that, likely shaped by the director’s hours of deep-sea diving, achieves an exhilarating sense of buoyancy.

Much as you might long for Cameron to keep us down there — to give us, in effect, the most expensive and elaborate underwater hangout movie ever made — he can’t or won’t sustain all this dreamy Jacques-Cousteau-on-mushrooms wonderment for three-plus hours. He’s James Cameron, after all, and he has a stirringly old-fashioned story to tell, crap dialogue to dispense and, in time, a hell of an action movie to unleash, complete with fiery shipwrecks, deadly arrows and a whale-sized, tortoise-skinned creature known as a Tulkun. All in all, it’s marvelous to have him back (Cameron, that is, though the Tulkun is also welcome). He remains one of the few Hollywood visionaries who actually merits that much-abused term, and as such, he has more on his mind than just pummeling the audience into submission.

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Cameron wants to submerge you in another time and place, to seduce you into a state of pure, unforced astonishment. And he does, after some visual adjustment; the use of high frame rate (a sped-up 48 frames per second) tends to work better underwater than on dry land, where the overly frictionless, motion-smoothed look might put you briefly in mind of a Na’vi soap opera (“The Blue and the Beautiful,” surely). But then he can captivate you with something as lyrically simple — but actually, as painstakingly computer-generated — as a shot of his characters sitting beside the water at night, their faces and bodies reflecting the digital phosphorescence below. Any hack can make stuff blow up real good; Cameron makes stuff glow up real good.

In this long-running, long-gestating sequel to his 2009 juggernaut, “Avatar,” Cameron returns you to that distant moon called Pandora, though most of the action unfolds far from the first movie’s majestic floating mountains and verdant rainforests. We encountered that dazzling, soon-to-be-despoiled Eden through the eyes of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a square-jawed, soft-hearted ex-Marine sent by his ruthless corporate overlords to infiltrate the Na’vi, a powerful race of blue-skinned, yellow-eyed, cat-tailed humanoids who lived in astonishing oneness with all living things. Transplanted into his own genetically tailored Na’vi body, or avatar, Jake didn’t take long to switch allegiances and turn against humanity, having fallen hopelessly in love with Pandora’s beauty and also with a Na’vi warrior princess, Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña).

“Avatar” was a thrilling moviegoing experience and a pioneering showpiece for performance-capture technology, which allowed Cameron and his actors to endow their Na’vi characters with astonishingly detailed and lifelike gazes, gestures and physiognomies. The movie was also built on a consciously thin story, with thudding echoes of anti-imperialist westerns like “Dances With Wolves” and the fondly remembered eco-conscious animation “FernGully: The Last Rainforest.” But then, Cameron’s cutting-edge technophilia has always been married to, and complemented by, an unapologetic cornball classicism. And if it was easy to snicker at “Avatar’s” hippy-dippy sincerity, it was also easy to surrender to its multiplex transcendentalism, its world of synthetically crafted natural wonders. Here was the rare studio picture that seemed enlivened, rather than undermined, by its contradictions.

If anything, those contradictions hit you with even greater force in “Avatar: The Way of Water,” which fully and subtly immerses you in the Na’vi world from start to finish. The level of computer-generated artifice on display in every landscape and seascape is cumulatively staggering, in ways to which even the first movie, toggling insistently between Jake’s human and Na’vi experiences, didn’t aspire. Just as crucially, the stakes have risen, the emotions have deepened and the brand-extension imperatives that typically govern sequels are happily nowhere in evidence.

A blue, CGI woman holding a bow and arrow while interacting with a blue, CGI man in a fiery landscape

That might seem remarkable, considering that the “Avatar” series (at least three more movies are planned), like all properties of the former Fox Studios, now belongs to Disney, speaking of ruthless corporate overlords. But then, it’s no surprise that the director of “Aliens” and “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” two of the most indelible sequels in action-cinema history, knows a thing or two about intelligent, expansive franchise building. And as “The Abyss” and “Titanic” bore out, Cameron also knows a thing or two about water, which is where this latest sequel finds its sweet spot: Welcome to Pandora’s beach.

But first, there’s a truckload of exposition to get through. As in the first movie, Jake obliges with the kind of grunting film-noir-gumshoe voiceover that reminds you, in ways more endearing than irritating, that snappy exposition will never be one of Cameron’s strong suits. (He co-wrote the script with Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver.) Several years after shedding his own avatar and being reborn as a full-blown Na’vi, Jake has mastered his post-human way of life. He and Neytiri are parents to four Na’vi children: two teenage sons, Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) and Lo’ak (Britain Dalton); an 8-year-old daughter, Tuk (Trinity Bliss), and an adopted teenage daughter of mysterious provenance named Kiri. She’s played by Sigourney Weaver, a casting choice that naturally ties her to Dr. Grace Augustine, Weaver’s deceased scientist from the first movie, initiating a mystery that will presumably be unraveled further down the franchise road.

Weaver’s casting also raises some odd, potentially discourse-sowing questions about Kiri’s chaste (for now) bond with a young human male and fellow foundling named Spider (Jack Champion), who likes to run, bare of chest and foot, with the Sully clan. But if their friendship makes for an optimistic portrait of interspecies harmony, Cameron doesn’t linger on it for long. Instead, he unleashes a grave threat that drives Jake and Neytiri from their Omaticayan jungle home and sends them fleeing to the ocean, where they seek refuge with a civilization of Na’vi reef dwellers known as the Metkayina.

It’s a shrewd narrative gambit that not only refreshes the scenery (and how!) but also forces Jake, Neytiri and their family to adapt to an entirely new way of life, cueing a second-act training regimen that allows Cameron to show off every square inch of his aquatic paradise. (His key collaborators include his longtime cinematographer, Russell Carpenter, and production designers Dylan Cole and Ben Procter.)

Led by the kind, welcoming Tonowari (Cliff Curtis) and his less hospitable wife, Ronal (a glaring Kate Winslet), the Metkayina are a highly evolved clan of water dwellers, as underscored by their aquamarine skin (in contrast to the Omaticayans’ cerulean tones), seashell-and-fishnet jewelry and intricate tattoos, reminiscent of Maori body art. They also boast unusually thick, long tails built for underwater propulsion. For Jake, Neytiri and especially their children, learning to navigate the watery wilderness just outside their new beach-bum paradise will prove a difficult challenge. It’ll also earn them some mockery from the locals, especially Tonowari and Ronal’s own teenage children, in a story that sometimes plays like a teen surfing movie by way of “Swiss Family Robinson.”

Even coming from a filmmaker used to setting intimate relational sagas against large-scale tragedy, the tenderness and occasional sentimentality with which Cameron invests this drama of family conflict and survival feels unusually personal. It can also feel a bit thinly stretched at three hours, but even that seems more an act of generosity than indulgence on Cameron’s part; his attachment to this family is real and in time, so is yours. Audiences expecting propulsive non-stop action, rather than the director’s customary slow build, may be surprised to find themselves watching a leisurely saga of overprotective parents and rebellious teens, biracial/adoptive identity issues and casual xenophobia. They’ll also be treated to some lovely whalespeak courtesy of those mammoth Tulkuns, who turn out to be engaging conversationalists as well as formidable fighters.

If you’re impatient, sit tight: The action is still to come, much of it dispensed by a snarling reincarnation of the first movie’s ex-military villain, Col. Miles Quaritch, here reborn — and played once more by the ferocious Stephen Lang — as a Na’vi avatar implanted with a surviving packet of the colonel’s memories. Bigger, badder and bluer than before, Quaritch 2.0 isn’t looking for unobtainium, the first movie’s stupidly, wonderfully named mineral MacGuffin. All he really wants is revenge against Jake and his family. (It’s personal for him, too.) His Na’vi transformation leaves only a handful of human characters, some of them old friends (Joel David Moore, Dileep Rao), though most of them are puny, inconsequential villains who rain down destruction on the Metkayina and their delicate ecosystem, only to reap destruction in return. Like its predecessor, “Avatar: The Way of Water” is both an environmental cautionary tale and a madly effective opportunity to root against our own kind; by the time the third act kicks in, you’ll be screaming for human blood.

Cameron’s return trip to Pandora has been long in the making and nearly as long in the mocking. Over 13 years of ever-shifting industry buzz about possible sequels, sequels to sequels and countless changes of plan, more than a few have expressed exasperation with the director’s ever-outsized ambitions and even cast doubt on the first “Avatar’s” pop-cultural legacy. It’s hardly the first time Cameron has been dinged in advance for an Olympian folly, and if the pattern holds, this latest and most ambitious picture will stun most of his naysayers into silence. “Never underestimate James Cameron” has become something of a mantra of late when, in fact, the underestimation is crucial. It’s part of the director’s hook, his wind-up showmanship, his belief that moviegoing can be a religious and even redemptive experience. The more he suffers, the more he can thrill us, and the more fully the wonder of cinema can be reborn.

You don’t have to buy into that self-mythologizing to surrender, even if only intermittently, to the lovely, uneven, transporting sprawl of “Avatar: The Way of Water.” Certainly it’s hard not to feel moved and even heartened by the conviction of Cameron’s filmmaking, the unfeigned sincerity with which he directs a young Metkayina woman to solemnly intone, “The way of water has no beginning and no end.” That could be interpreted as a dig at the running time, but it also nicely articulates Cameron’s sense of visual continuity. As with the first “Avatar,” the immersive fluidity he achieves here feels like an organic outgrowth from his premise, a reminder that all life flows harmoniously together.

Where it will flow next is a mystery, and it’d be disingenuous of me to suggest I’m not eager to find out. Until then, Pandora, so long, and thanks for all the fish.

‘Avatar: The Way of Water’

In English and Na’vi dialogue with English subtitles Rated: PG-13, for sequences of strong violence and intense action, partial nudity and some strong language Running time: 3 hours, 10 minutes Playing: Starts Dec. 16 in general release

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‘avatar: the way of water’ review: james cameron’s mega-sequel delivers on action, emotion and thrilling 3-d visuals.

Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldaña return to Pandora with a Na’vi family to protect as the “Sky People” menace follows them to a bioluminescent ocean hideout.

By David Rooney

David Rooney

Chief Film Critic

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James Cameron knows his way around a sequel. With Aliens and Terminator 2: Judgment Day , he showed he could build on the strengths of franchise starters with brawny action, steadily ratcheted tension and jaw-dropping technological invention. He’s also a storyteller very much at home in H2O, harnessing both the majestic vastness of the oceans and the icy perils of the deep in Titanic and The Abyss .

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Avatar: The Way of Water review

A transcendent cinematic experience.

TechRadar Verdict

Avatar: The Way of Water is a phenomenal feat of filmmaking. Not only does director James Cameron deliver on the promise of truly jaw-dropping visual effects, he also gives a beating heart to a story that, somehow, manages to make us care deeply for a family of blue aliens whose species and customs we haven’t encountered for over a decade. This long-awaited return to Pandora is every bit as beautiful as its aquatic title suggests – at times unbelievably so – and although some may take issue with the film’s whale-sized runtime, most will walk away from The Way of Water feeling stung by the disappointment of having to leave Cameron's mesmerizing world at the multiplex door.

Bar-raising performance capture

Surprisingly moving story

Simon Franglen’s sweeping score

Third act feels familiar

Lengthy runtime may frustrate some

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, but the 13-year gap between James Cameron’s Avatar and its sequel, The Way of Water, has understandably left many cinemagoers at best indifferent and at worst uninterested in a return to the lush green jungles of Pandora.

2009’s introduction to the Naʼvi and their homeworld is seared into our collective consciousness for the novelty of its 3D format and, of course, its record-breaking box office success – the film’s global receipts now total a ridiculous $2.9 billion – but less has been said in the years since about Avatar’s unrivalled ability to immerse and entertain (Quentin Tarantino famously described the experience of watching the movie as “a ride”).

No other filmmaker can draw the viewer into an on-screen adventure quite like Cameron, and no other film since Avatar has come close to delivering the sort of sustained awe that the world of Pandora elicits around every corner – until now.

Welcome (back) to the jungle

Cameron has explained away the decade-long wait for his Avatar sequel by saying it was necessary to develop new technology for shooting its underwater sequences (more on these later), but he may as well claim that the delay was a deliberate creative decision to age his Na’vi heroes in real time.

Set some 15 years after its predecessor, The Way of Water finds Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) living a life of forest-dwelling quietude on Pandora. They now have four children – three of their own and an adopted daughter by Grace (Sigourney Weaver), whose pregnancy, we’re told, was a mystery until her after death in Avatar – and the pair serve as leaders of the Omaticaya, the Na’vi clan central to Cameron’s original story.

Also part of the Sully clan is Spider (Jack Champion), a human boy who lives among the Na’vi because he was too young to be shipped back to Earth following the departure of the ‘sky people’ a decade earlier (he’s described in the film’s opening moments as a “ stray cat”, which says something of the underlying hostility the Na’vi still hold toward non-natives).

Plenty more new faces are introduced throughout The Way of Water’s three-hour runtime, and given that almost all of them belong the Na’vi, Cameron is quick to point out that most of the film’s dialogue is spoken in the Naʼvi language, despite sounding English to our ears (Jake’s scene-setting monologue includes a smart explanation as to why that is).

It’s impressive how light-touch this exposition feels considering the gap between visits to Pandora. Cameron bets on our immediate familiarity with the Naʼvi, the Omaticaya, Pandora, and its wildlife by throwing us straight back into the jungle with only a few brief moments of memory-jogging, and it doesn’t take long before The Way of Water has us strapped in and ready to fly alongside the mountain banshees for a new adventure.

The film’s dramatic location change comes by way of a familiar threat. Without wishing to stray too far into spoiler territory, the ‘sky people’ return to Pandora with a mission to make its biosphere hospitable for humans. Earth has (surprise!) been ravaged by centuries of neglect, so mining is out and colonization is in – and certain members of the human race also happen to have a real grudge against marine-turned-Na’vi-native Jake Sully.

Long story short: the Sully clan are forced to seek safety in the faraway regions of Pandora. They settle on a crop of Caribbean-esque islands that are home to the Metkayina, or reef people, and are permitted to take shelter among their aquatic hosts on the condition that they learn – you guessed it – the way of water. Cue the bioluminescent whales!

Fathers and sons

Of course, a whole lot more happens in The Way of Water once Jake, Neytiri and their blue brood encounter these same-but-slightly-different Na’vi neighbors – in truth, our synopsis only retells the events of the film’s opening hour– but Cameron’s follow-up story is best experienced as blind as possible.

Just know this: the introduction of children in The Way of Water makes for an infinitely more emotionally engaging ride than the first Avatar. Cameron knows exactly what he’s doing by throwing naive Na’vi youngsters into the fray – they’re the bait that wholeheartedly involves us in the film’s otherwise-familiar humans-are-the-bad-guys story. In the 13 years since Worthington and Saldaña played Jake and Neytiri for the first time, both actors have started families of their own, and the immense – at times crushing – responsibility of parenthood is felt in every frame of The Way of Water. “You’re fearless when you don’t have kids. But you learn fear when you do – you have something to lose”, Cameron said in the film’s press conference, and that sentiment fuels the movie’s plot right through to its downright stirring conclusion.

So, yes: The Way of Water may well make you cry about a bunch of blue aliens. But the all-too-familiar relationships between parents and children aren’t the only parts of Cameron’s sequel that risk inducing tears.

On a technical level, it’s hard to think of a more visually arresting motion picture than The Way of Water. This is a cinematic experience in the purest sense – one whose stills are often just as powerful as its motion-heavy sequences – and once the Sully clan touch down on the shores of the Metkayina, it becomes abundantly clear that Cameron’s spiel about waiting for the right technology was no spiel at all.

Where the original Avatar broke new ground with innovative performance-capture techniques, The Way of Water takes the same trickery underwater to blend action and expression in ways never before seen on screen. Seriously, the visual wizardry on display here from New Zealand-based animation studio Wētā FX – the production company founded by The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson – is nothing short of remarkable. If you’re able to see The Way of Water in IMAX 3D, absolutely do so. The interaction between water and light is frequently jaw-dropping; sea creatures zip across the screen with power and grace, sand dampens when touched by waves, and surface ripples distort images as they do in real life. In one scene, Sully’s second-oldest son, Lo’ak, encounters a supposedly fearsome whale, and the next 10 minutes are almost spiritually beautiful to behold.

The Na’vi, too, never look less than utterly convincing. Even when characters aren’t speaking to one another through verbal dialogue, there's a perceptible nuance in the eyes and facial expressions of the actors behind them. Pupils contract, muscles twitch and hair – my gosh, the hair! – dances in the water like the tentacles of a solitary sea anemone. Not everything works to perfection. In a movie as heavily reliant on CGI as this, the occasional dodgy texture stands out like a big blue Na’vi thumb, and some vehicle animations come off as a little too video game-like. But for the most part, it is honestly hard to distinguish between the practical and the computer-generated in The Way of Water. Cameron’s enthusiasm for this new form of motion capture technology is absolutely vindicated.

A huge amount of praise must also go to the film’s composer, Simon Franglen, who took on the responsibility of scoring The Way of Water solo after the passing of original Avatar maestro (and frequent Cameron collaborator) James Horner in 2016. Michael Giacchino ( The Batman ) and Ludwig Göransson ( Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ) have a fight on their hands for next year's Best Original Score Oscar.

Our verdict

Despite its many triumphs, The Way of Water is not a flawless movie. Saldaña’s Neytiri gets disappointingly little screen time until her shoot-the-pilot-in-the-cockpit skills are needed, and the film’s third act – which is more action packed than a Michael Bay-directed car chase – feels a touch too familiar.

But once you’ve seen a teenage alien visibly blush at the sight of a new love interest, or a superpowered eel perform a somersault against the backdrop of a Pandora sunset, or an extraterrestrial jellyfish field illuminate a deep sea canyon, it becomes difficult to care about earthly filmmaking gripes that might otherwise bring the experience of watching The Way of Water down. Cameron has here crafted a hypnotic aquarium of a movie – an all-encompassing journey to another world that can only be described in hyperbolic terms.

As the follow-up to one of the most groundbreaking films of recent decades, The Way of Water was never going to deliver anything close to the same cultural sucker punch as 2009’s inaugural journey to Pandora – but it does a damn good job of reminding us all why movies exist in the first place.

Avatar: The Way of Water releases exclusively in theaters on December 16.

Axel is TechRadar's UK-based Phones Editor, reporting on everything from the latest Apple developments to newest AI breakthroughs as part of the site's Mobile Computing vertical. Having previously written for publications including Esquire and FourFourTwo, Axel is well-versed in the applications of technology beyond the desktop, and his coverage extends from general reporting and analysis to in-depth interviews and opinion. Axel studied for a degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick before joining TechRadar in 2020, where he then earned an NCTJ qualification as part of the company’s inaugural digital training scheme.

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Movie Reviews

Movie review: 'avatar: the way of water'.

Bob Mondello

Filmmaker James Cameron's sequel to the biggest worldwide box office hit of all time, "Avatar: The Way of Water," has been in the works for more than a decade.

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Avatar: The Way of Water

December 16, 2022

Action-Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction

"Avatar: The Way of Water" reaches new heights and explores undiscovered depths as James Cameron returns to the world of Pandora in this emotionally packed action adventure. Set more than a decade after the events of the first film, "Avatar: The Way of Water" launches the story of the Sully family (Jake, Neytiri, and their kids), the trouble that follows them, the lengths they go to keep each other safe, the battles they fight to stay alive, and the tragedies they endure. All of this against the breathtaking backdrop of Pandora, where audiences are introduced to new Na’vi cultures and a range of exotic sea creatures that populate the majestic oceans. Nominated for numerous Academy Awards® including Best Picture, the James Cameron-directed film became the third highest-grossing box office film of all-time and set a new benchmark for visual effects. Produced by Cameron and his longtime partner Jon Landau, the Lightstorm Entertainment production stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Cliff Curtis and Kate Winslet. Joining the illustrious adult cast are talented newcomers Britain Dalton, Jamie Flatters, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Bailey Bass and Jack Champion.

Rated: PG-13 Runtime: 3h 12min Release Date: December 16, 2022

Directed By

Produced by.

Nominee - 2023 Academy Award® for Best Picture
Nominee - 2023 Academy Award® for Production Design
Nominee - 2023 Academy Award® for Sound
Winner - 2023 Academy Award® for Visual Effects

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Avatar: The Way of Water Cast and Characters

General Frances Ardmore

Dr. Ian Garvin

Mick Scoresby

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Movie Image Gallery

(L-R): Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) in 20th Century Studios' AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

(L-R): Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), Ronal (Kate Winslet), and Tonowari (Cliff Curtis) in 20th Century Studios' AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

(L-R): Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) in 20th Century Studios' AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

(L-R): Ronal (Kate Winslet), Tonowari (Cliff Curtis), and the Metkayina clan in 20th Century Studios' AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

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Avatar: The Way of Water

December 16, 2022

Action-Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction

Rated: PG-13 Runtime: 3h 12min Release Date: December 16, 2022

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Directed By

Produced by.

Nominee - 2023 Academy Award® for Best Picture
Nominee - 2023 Academy Award® for Production Design
Nominee - 2023 Academy Award® for Sound
Winner - 2023 Academy Award® for Visual Effects

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There are many words one could use to describe the heightened visual quality of James Cameron ’s original “ Avatar ” — words like incandescent, immersive, bedazzling. But in the 13 years since that movie came out, the word I tend to remember it best by is glowing . The primeval forest and floating-mountain landscapes of Pandora had an intoxicating fairy-tale shimmer. You wanted to live inside them, even as the story that unfolded inside them was merely okay.

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“The Way of Water” cost a reported $350 million, meaning that it would need to be one of the three or four top-grossing movies of all time just to break even. I think the odds of that happening are actually quite good. Cameron has raised not only the stakes of his effects artistry but the choreographic flow of his staging, to the point of making “The Way of Water,” like “Avatar,” into the apotheosis of a must-see movie. The entire world will say: We’ve got to know what this thrill ride feels like .

At its height, it feels exhilarating. But not all the way through. Cameron, in “The Way of Water,” remains a fleet and exacting classical popcorn storyteller, but oh, the story he’s telling! The script he has co-written is a string of serviceable clichés that give the film the domestic adventure-thriller spine it needs, but not anything more than that. The story, in fact, could hardly be more basic. The Sky People, led again by the treacherous Col. Quaritch (Stephen Lang), have now become Avatars themselves, with Quaritch recast as a scowling Na’vi redneck in combat boots and a black crewcut. They’ve arrived in this guise to hunt Jake down. But Jake escapes with his family and hides out with the Metkayina. Quaritch and his goon squad commandeer a hunting ship and eventually track them down. There is a massive confrontation. The end.

This tale, with its bare-bones dialogue, could easily have served an ambitious Netflix thriller, and could have been told in two hours rather than three. But that’s the point, isn’t it? “The Way of Water” is braided with sequences that exist almost solely for their sculptured imagistic magic. It’s truly a movie crossed with a virtual-reality theme-park ride. Another way to put it is that it’s a live-action film that casts the spell of an animated fantasy. But though the faces of the Na’vi and the MetKayina are expressive, and the actors make their presence felt, there is almost zero dimensionality to the characters. The dimensionality is all in the images.

Reviewed at AMC Empire, Dec. 6, 2022. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 192 MIN.

Production: A Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, 20th Century Studios release of a 20 th Century Studios, Lightstorm Entertainment production. Producers: James Cameron, Jon Landau. Executive producers: David Valdes, Richard Baneham.
Crew: Director: James Cameron. Screenplay: James Cameron, Rick, Jaffe, Amanda Silver. Camera: Russell Carpenter. Editors: David Brenner, James Cameron, John Refoua, Stephen E. Rivkin. Music: Simon Franglen.
With: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Stephen Lang, Britain Dalton, Sigourney Weaver, Cliff Curtis, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Edie Falco, Jemaine Clement, Giovanni Rabisi, Kate Winslet.

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Avatar: the way of water.

Common Sense Says
Parents Say 39 Reviews
Kids Say 112 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Long but dazzling return to Pandora has sci-fi violence.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 13+?

Sci-fi action violence. Supporting characters die due to explosions, bullet woun

Scattered strong language includes one "f--k," "holy s--t," "bulls--t," "dips--t

Brief scene of nonsexual nudity (blink-and-miss glimpse of a Na'vi woman's breas

No product placement in movie, but dozens of off-screen tie-in merchandising dea

Any Positive Content?

Messages about acceptance, unity, and teamwork. Strong environmental, pro-peace,

The women leaders of the clan are strong, brave, assertive characters, and the N

The Na'vi species is divided into clans with a variety of cultures, traditions,

Violence & Scariness

Sci-fi action violence. Supporting characters die due to explosions, bullet wounds, arrows, and dismemberment, as well as a whale-like creature's destructive movements. Several intense scenes involving combat, a ship sinking, and animal hunting that shows the killing of ancient beings. Children are held captive and at gunpoint. Bullying and pranking that leaves a teen in harm's way. Children are used as hostages. A couple of emotional deaths.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Scattered strong language includes one "f--k," "holy s--t," "bulls--t," "dips--t," "bitch," "goddamn," "damn," "piss," "hell," "oh my God," "ass," "ass-whooping," and insults like "four-fingered freak," "half-breed," "stupid," "ignorant," etc. "Jesus" used as an exclamation.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Brief scene of nonsexual nudity (blink-and-miss glimpse of a Na'vi woman's breasts). Adolescent Na'vi flirt and hold hands. There's a strong bond between Kiri and Spider. Jake and Neytiri embrace and kiss.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

No product placement in movie, but dozens of off-screen tie-in merchandising deals, including toys and books aimed at young kids.

Positive Messages

Messages about acceptance, unity, and teamwork. Strong environmental, pro-peace, and anti-imperialist themes. Idea that love and understanding can trump division and violence. Shows consequences, dangers, and immorality of a corrupt government colonizing and oppressing another land and people. Stresses importance of honest communication between children and their parents.

Positive Role Models

The women leaders of the clan are strong, brave, assertive characters, and the Na'vi are all deeply connected to the land. Jake and Neytiri are courageous and loving parents and clan leaders. Ronal is the spiritual leader of her community. Spider loves the Na'vi even though he's human and is forced into difficult moral situations. Lo'ak finds a way to commune with a sacred creature.

Diverse Representations

The Na'vi species is divided into clans with a variety of cultures, traditions, and belief systems, with overt parallels to Indigenous peoples (tribal tattoos and symbiotic, spiritual relationships with nature) and Indigenous history (colonialist expansion, genocide). But the filmmakers are White, and main characters are almost all voiced by non-Indigenous actors, raising issues about cultural appropriation. The women leaders of the clan are strong, brave, assertive.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Parents need to know that Avatar: The Way of Water is the long-awaited sequel to James Cameron's epic 2009 mega-hit Avatar . The sequel returns to Pandora 15 years after Jake Sully ( Sam Worthington ) rallied the indigenous Na'vi clans against the corrupt "Sky People" (colonizing humans trying to mine and extract Pandora's resources). Jake and his mate, Neytiri ( Zoe Saldaña ), now have four children and decide to save their forest clan by seeking refuge for their family among the island dwelling Metkayina clan. Filmed mostly underwater, the three-hour-plus film is visually striking. And, like the first movie, it has sci-fi action violence, with weapons, hand-to-hand combat, and the hunting of a sacred whale-like creature. The story also features adolescent flirting, hand-holding, and crushes, as well as marital affection. Occasional strong language includes many uses of "s--t," "bitch," and "ass," as well as one "f--k." Like the first movie, this one has a strong anti-imperialist message, plus environmental and multicultural themes that stress the importance of tolerance, acceptance, and honest communication. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Parent and Kid Reviews

Parents say (39)
Kids say (112)

Based on 39 parent reviews

3 hours of extreme unnecessary violence !

More kid friendly than the 1st, what's the story.

AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER is set approximately 15 years after the events of the original Avatar . In the forests of Pandora, Jake ( Sam Worthington ) and his mate, Neytiri ( Zoe Saldaña ), are now parents to two teen sons, Neteyam ( Jamie Flatters ) and Lo'ak (Britain Dalton), as well as a young girl named Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), and Kiri ( Sigourney Weaver ), the teen daughter they adopted after she was born under mysterious circumstances. Jake has helped the Na'vi fight against the Sky People (humans trying to mine and extract Pandora's resources), but the onslaught of the humans' military operations ramps up when they launch a new mission: sending a select group of avatars with the uploaded consciousness and memories of the long-dead Col. Quaritch ( Stephen Lang ) and his loyal soldiers. Quaritch and his Na'vi-fied squad terrorize Jake and Neytiri's Omaticaya clan until Jake convinces Neytiri that their immediate family should leave and seek refuge with the far-off island dwelling Metkayina clan, who are a different shade of blue and boast fin-like tails and flipper-like hands. Their leader, Tonowari ( Cliff Curtis ), and his spiritual leader mate, Ronal ( Kate Winslet ), tentatively grant Jake and Neytiri's family sanctuary, but eventually Quaritch tracks them down and brings the war of the Sky People to the water clans.

Is It Any Good?

James Cameron 's crowd-pleasing sequel is a spectacular technical achievement that, while overlong, manages to dazzle the senses enough to prove that the director is still a visionary. Avatar: The Way of Water isn't a movie you see for its layered, complicated plot. The storyline is simple, and the dialogue is mostly expository or cliché, particularly when Quaritch talks. But it doesn't quite matter, because Cameron puts the movie's $350 million budget to remarkable use in all of the underwater sequences, the incredible creature effects, and the overall immersive return to Pandora. It's worth seeing on the biggest screen possible, in 3D if you can. Yes, the three-hour-plus runtime is long, but it's easy to get lost in the movie's memorable world-building. The motion-capture performances are fascinating to behold, and Winslet and Curtis are welcome additions to the cast. Of the young actors, Dalton stands out as Neytiri and Jake's troublemaking younger son, Lo'ak, who befriends an outcast tulkun (the sacred alien whales). Also worth noting is Jack Champion as Spider, the human boy raised among the Na'vi but whose mask marks him as different. His bond with Kiri, who's also a little bit different, seems headed toward romance, but it's too early to tell (not to mention complicated).

Lang's Quaritch is only slightly less unhinged in this installment than he was in the first film. But he's far from the only antagonist. The Na'vi face seemingly insurmountable odds as the humans' tech gets better and deadlier. The action sequences come mostly in the third act, but there are moments of pulse-pounding peril throughout that will make audiences clutch their seats (or their partners). There's even an extended ship-sinking sequence that's reminiscent of Titanic , right down to how people grip the railing and hold their breath as areas flood. While there's no Pandoran quartet playing classical music, composer Simon Franglen uses the late James Horner's original themes to create an evocative score as the Na'vi fight for their lives. With Avatar: The Way of Water , Cameron and cinematographer Russell Carpenter have created something monumental in scope, so much so that the movie's flaws don't prevent it from being stunning.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the visual and special effects in Avatar: The Way of Water . How do they compare to those in the first movie? How has technology changed since that one was released?

What themes does James Cameron consistently work into his films? Compare aspects of Avatar to the Terminator movies and Titanic . What similarities can you find?

Discuss the difference between how humans dealt with the Na'vi in the first movie and in this sequel.

How do the different tribes from Pandora interact, work together, and use teamwork to achieve their goals? Why is that an important character strength ?

The language and culture of the Maori people indigenous to New Zealand provided director James Cameron with inspiration for the sea-based Metkayina people. What are respectful ways to acknowledge other cultures?

Movie Details

In theaters : December 16, 2022
On DVD or streaming : March 28, 2023
Cast : Zoe Saldana , Sam Worthington , Kate Winslet , Sigourney Weaver
Director : James Cameron
Inclusion Information : Female actors, Black actors, Latino actors
Studio : Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Genre : Science Fiction
Topics : Adventures , Ocean Creatures , Space and Aliens
Character Strengths : Courage , Perseverance , Teamwork
Run time : 192 minutes
MPAA rating : PG-13
MPAA explanation : sequences of strong violence and intense action, partial nudity and some strong language
Awards : Academy Award , Common Sense Selection
Last updated : August 9, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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Avatar: the way of water review - overlong but stunning sequel is worth the wait.

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It’s been over a decade since director James Cameron released Avatar , and the fear of a sequel diminishing, or being inferior to the original film is certainly not the case with Avatar: The Way of Water . Cameron, who co-wrote the script with Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, returns to Pandora, offering viewers even more stunning visuals, a personal, more emotional story, and incredible underwater sequences that put every other film’s technical achievements to shame. The Way of Water is overlong and stretched thin on story, but the Avatar sequel is beautiful, with lush world-building and characters that add depth.

Set nearly two decades after the events of the first film, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) are thriving. Jake has fully settled into Na’vi life and over the years the pair has welcomed four children — their eldest son Neteyam (Jamie Flatters), their second-oldest son Lo’ak (Britain Dalton), adopted daughter Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), and their youngest daughter Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss) — along with Miles (Jack Champion), better known as Spider, a human boy who was left behind on Pandora and who grew up alongside Jake and Neytiri’s family. However, Jake and Neytiri’s happiness abruptly ends when they are faced with another threat, this time in the form of Colonel Miles Quaritch’s (Stephen Lang) avatar, who is embedded with his clone’s memories. Quaritch wants his revenge on Jake, and is relentless in hunting down his family, forcing him and Neytiri to seek shelter with the Metkayina, a water tribe.

Related: Young Stars Of Avatar: The Way Of Water Share Pandora Secrets

One can’t say enough good things about the film’s visuals — each frame is more breathtaking and magical than the last. The underwater scenes are especially immersive and magnificent to behold. Visually, Avatar: The Way of Water didn’t cut corners, and there was clearly a lot of work put into creating such spectacular, colorful, and unique vistas; the effort shows and the film’s technical achievements are one of the core strengths of the sequel. As Jake and Neytiri’s kids explore the ocean, and the gorgeously rendered creatures within it, The Way of Water brings audiences in with them, and the 3D pops in ways that make the adventure all the more visceral.

Rather than staying put in the forest, Cameron takes the opportunity to explore a new part of Pandora and its diverse people. This benefits the Avatar sequel and keeps it from becoming stagnant. The film’s primary focus is the younger Na’vi generation, which allows the film to further explore Pandora and the Na’vi without needing to spend so much time on Jake’s perspective or introduction to the customs. Rather, the Metkayina's inclusion brings a fresh angle to the story and gives Neytiri and Jake’s family a lot to work with, including a few obstacles they must overcome. This also gives the story a genuine push-pull dynamic between the adults and the teens, who are head-strong and stubborn in their own ways. The threat by way of Colonel Miles Quaritch gives the sequel a sense of familiarity without retreading the same ground.

The Way of Water introduces an abundance of new characters, including Jake and Neytiri’s children and the water tribe that gives their family refuge. While the new characters are welcome and their personalities and relationships well-established, there are enough of them that it’s easy for others to be sidelined — like Neytiri, who gets very little to do here compared to the first film and, unlike Jake, rarely shares moments with her children — and the screenwriters struggle to balance all of their storylines despite the lengthy runtime.

To that end, the sequel’s story is spread a bit thin, though there is certainly more depth than the first film, and some of the scenes are obviously working to set up Avatar 3 than acting in service of The Way of Water’s story. This doesn’t distract too much from the film’s narrative, but given that the film’s ending leaves a few things unresolved, it would have made the film stronger had Cameron wrapped up certain storylines before forging ahead.

Despite this, Avatar: The Way of Water explores enough new story beats, and raises the stakes for its characters through tension to justify the continuation of the first film’s narrative. Engaging, enjoyable, and one of the most beautiful films of the year, The Way of the Water is a transformative movie experience that energizes and captivates the senses through its visual storytelling, making the return to Pandora well worth the wait.

More: Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio Review: Stunningly Realized Stop-Motion Animation

Avatar: The Way of Water releases in theaters Friday, December 16. The film is 192 minutes long and is rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence and intense action, partial nudity and some strong language.

Avatar is a sci-fi action/adventure film created by James Cameron and released in 2009. Set in the fictional world of Pandora in the distant future, humans seek a rare mineral found on the planet but find a race of highly-intelligent beings directly in their mining path. To attempt to communicate and work with them, scientists create body replicas called "avatars," and one man will change the destiny of both races using an avatar of his own.

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Avatar: the way of water, full breakdown of all quiet on the western front's true story & events, the oscars 2023 complete guide: winners & where to watch every best picture nominee, everything avatar: the way of water does better than avatar 1.

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Review: ‘avatar: the way of water’ is 2022’s biggest, most ambitious film.

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The inevitable biggest blockbuster of 2022 arrives this weekend courtesy of writer-director James Cameron, with no serious doubt Disney-Fox’s Avatar: The Way of Water will score one of the biggest (if not the biggest) opening weekends of all time and earn front-runner status in the race for highest grossing film in cinema history. But does the long-awaited sequel to 2009’s acclaimed record-shattering Avatar live up to expectations? Can it possibly exceed them?

Bailey Bass stars in "Avatar: The Way of Water"

First up, the box office outlook. With a budget and marketing price-tag likely exceeding $500+ million, Avatar: The Way of Water probably needs at least $1.3 billion in box office (assuming a roughly 40% share of global ticket sales for the studio) just to cover costs. That said, remember both The Way of Water and the third Avatar film were made simultaneously and shared some expenses, and lots of investment on the front end saved a lot of money overall. Meaning the huge studio expenses will be offset in the long run by having two films shot together, akin to the approach for The Lord of the Rings (although not an exact comparison).

But with the original Avatar enjoying an impressive one-week re-release box office haul topping $75 million this year despite the passage of 13 years and plenty of “does anybody really care anymore about this franchise” talk among cinephiles and entertainment press, and early signs that Avatar: The Way of Water is generating enormous audience awareness and interest, it looks like nobody needs to worry that Cameron’s franchise is in any danger of losing money.

[Side note: I’m surprised Avatar’s re-release doesn’t include double feature screenings through the Christmas season with The Way of Water , to boost Avatar to $3 billion, which I think is very doable now that it’s a mere $77 million from that threshold, as I discuss here . ]

A domestic cume of at least $180-200 million and worldwide tally of $500-600 million appears likely this weekend, and the holiday season lacks any serious challengers that could dam up The Way of Water’s box office momentum. With a probable half-billion-plus freshman outing and Christmas season and New Year’s around the corner, I see no scenario where Avatar 2 doesn’t top $1 billion by Christmas Day, if not sooner depending on how much the ongoing Covid pandemic surge suppresses turnout in key international markets like China.

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The first Avatar took 19 days to hit the $1 billion mark, while Avengers: Endgame accomplished the feat in just 5 days. We’ll see if I’m right that Avatar: The Way of Water can do it in 10 or less, but I think prospects look very good, especially if its opening weekend is as towering as expected. Even without such a particularly large first weekend, however, the film is destined to have long legs that carry it far, so the bigger the opening the farther it runs.

Does that mean it can top $2 billion? Probably. How about $3 billion? Unlikely at this point, because of too many external factors — including overall theatrical slowdown and rapidly rising Covid infections in China — but not entirely out of the cards. Much depends on whether audiences are as captivated by the sequel as they were by the first movie, resulting in lots of repeat business.

Worst-case should be somewhere in the $1.5+ billion range if it has a weaker than expected bow and runs out of steam by the end of January. More likely is a $2+/- billion result in the current financial and theatrical climate.

But make no mistake — The Way of Water doesn’t need to top the box office of the first film to be a massive success. Anything north of $1.5 billion is a clear sign of the franchise’s popularity despite the decade of waiting, pandemic, and financial pressures of today. A $2 billion finish would be phenomenal and make this only the second franchise in history (the other being Marvel’s Avengers series) to have two entries scoring $2+ billion. Indeed, a $1.5 billion final total would put the Avatar franchise in the same rare company with Avengers films.

What will be most determinative for the degree of success enjoyed by Avatar: The Way of Water is whether it delivers the visual and emotional awe of the original movie. And in that regard, there’s even more good news for Cameron and Disney-Fox. Read on for my full review — and be aware, while I mostly avoid spoilers, there are a few general concepts and parts of the story I’ll discuss, so consider this your spoiler warning.

I’ve long repeated the mantra “Never bet against James Cameron.” However high the bar is set, he manages to meet and exceed expectations. That holds true today more than ever.

Many filmmakers would create a sequel to Avatar driven by more futurism and a perpetuation of the energy source within more complicated technical plotting. Cameron, in contrast, keenly perceived that what audiences were most fond of in the 2009 picture was not so much the action and plot technicalities, but rather experiencing the newness and wonder of the alien world of Pandora and learning about it alongside the characters. Then there’s the emotional connection between the characters and watching them interact with the same sense of awe for their world as we had viewing it.

So it is that Avatar: The Way of Water is less about the particulars of its story — which is frankly pretty simple and doesn’t waste much time explaining itself or worrying about consistency — and all about the experience and feeling. It’s a glorious visual tour of Pandora’s previously unrevealed locales and creatures, seen through the eyes not of the adults but primarily through the eyes of their children.

It’s a story about kids learning their new place in a world that’s grown much bigger than they expected, at a time when they didn’t feel prepared for it, and how they grow into it without growing apart from each other. And through their learning and relationships we get to explore the world with them and share their fears, their thrills, their losses, and their victories.

This is a coming of age tale set in a nature documentary, with as little intrusion by plot points as possible, except when the pacing calls for some action and/or when the main political theme — protecting animal species from exploitation, represented primarily as a space equivalent to fighting against commercial whaling — presents itself.

We get an immersive dive into the water world of Pandora and introduction to all manner of animals and necessities of living in the small island community to which the story’s main characters move and become members. Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana return as the adult characters Jake and Neytiri from the first film, but years have passed and now they have two biological teenage sons and one young daughter, plus one adopted teenage daughter. These four children are the main characters and get the vast majority of screen time outside of the titanic-scale action sequences and a few necessary familial moments.

I won’t reveal many more story details, other than to say the family leave their forest home and venture to the islands, where we get lots of homages to the first film as the family learn to live and work among the water clan who inhabit the reefs. Key story beats from the first film are repeated, with both the heroes and villains sometimes mirroring and other times reversing moments from the first Avatar . And it’s all about exploration this time, until the cataclysmic final act gets going and we are hurled into an extended massive sea battle that eventually harkens back to Cameron’s first time atop the all-time box office charts.

The results for the story create a familiar and nostalgic feeling that balances nicely with the glory and excitement of new revelations and introductions. At three hours and ten minutes, it somehow manages to go by fast, at least relatively speaking (I thought it still had at least another half hour left when it was just minutes from ending), and you leave with your head mostly full of the awesome spectacle of it all and the feeling that somehow, somewhere this alien world really exists (a testament to how well it not only creates a sense of place, but also how well and realistically it reflects our own world).

That’s frankly all there really is to say about the story itself, except for some complaints I need to express shortly. First, let me continue on this track and talk about the source of Avatar: The Way of Water’s power and intense impact on audiences — the visuals.

I attended the Hollywood premiere of Avatar: The Way of Water at the Dolby Theatre, where it was presented in Dolby Vision 3D and Dolby Atmos (what I call the 3D of sound systems).

I have been a diehard fan of Dolby technology for a long time, as my regular readers will know. I only buy televisions and blu-ray players that are Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos capable, and I think it’s the singular superior viewing experience. The range of color and depth, as well as the fluidity and clarity, are tailor-made for the grandest of cinematic spectacles, and Avatar: The Way of Water is absolutely such a film.

The 3D pops better than any other format, too, so it retains a solidity that depth other 3D can’t match. If you’re going to watch a movie in theaters, this is the way to do it and this is the film to do it with — Avatar: The Way of Water in Dolby Vision 3D and Dolby Atmos is truly the ultimate theatrical experience you can find today.

That isn’t hyperbole. I cannot stress enough how unprepared you are for what The Way of Water accomplishes visually. I went into it expecting a feast for my eyes and knowing the technology used for the VFX was more advanced than that of the first film. But it didn’t matter what I thought I knew or expected, Avatar: the Way of Water has kept its secrets close and everything you’ve seen so far is mild compared to what most of the film has in store.

Takes this to heart: even the remastered 4K high-dynamic range re-release of Avatar earlier this year, as excellent as it looks and as much as it could hold up today against just about any other film’s visual effects, appears obsolete alongside Avatar: The Way of Water’s mind-blowing spectacle and realism. There’s no distinguishing between CGI characters and real-life human beings on the screen, the settings look like real places as opposed to convincing video-game-level CGI creations, the animals look straight out of a nature documentary, and the water — my god, the water...

This is, after all, a film about water and sea life, among Cameron’s greatest passions. Maybe that’s why even more work seems to have gone into designing, bringing to life, and spending a large portion of the film’s runtime on the oceans and reefs of Pandora. It’s a massive leap forward in VFX. I’m not exaggerating when I say you will be unable to distinguish between real water and CGI water (hint: it’s almost always CGI water, only a few moments include real water on real live actors who aren’t motion-captured). This plus the impressive improvements in motion capture make the water sequences ridiculously immersive and real.

This is the ultimate in cinematic effects, there’s simply nothing else comparable to it in the history of moviemaking (talking of course about side-by-side comparison, not the relativity of it for older films engaged in their own historic creations). During the screening, I literally couldn’t stop myself from saying, “Wow” out loud over and over, worried that I was annoying those seated around me (I didn’t, they were too engrossed in the film to notice, lucky for me).

Rewatching the first Avatar , you’ll often get the sense that the VFX are great and lovely to behold, but it is still obviously animation and doesn’t fool you into thinking it’s literally real. That’s not a knock, it’s just a testament to the fact as time has passed the CGI in cinema overall has caught up to where the first Avatar sits, and while at times it achieves a level of hyper-realism it’s not consistent in that regard and it’s mostly as much about the feeling and sense of presence and place it evokes than a literally photo-realism approach. It’s often comparable to the best cutscenes and scripted moments in the best-looking video games.

Avatar: The Way of Water is way beyond that. The least-convincing visuals here are on par with or surpass the best visuals of the original film. Again, not a knock on the first Avatar , but a testament to how much Cameron and the artists at Weta have pushed the boundaries of what’s possible. This is the cutting edge of VFX, and it’s going to once again change what audiences expect and are willing (and unwilling) to tolerate in terms of visual authenticity and artistry.

When these incredible visuals are paired with emotional moments of youth finding their path and being surprised and inspired by the world around them with such joy, and when this is in turn paired with their emotional journey together and how they learn to appreciate their differences and fight to stay together as a family, it is breathtaking and everything fantasy filmmaking can and should aspire to be.

It seems impossible that Cameron has successfully recaptured the sense of newness and awe that accompanied Avatar , yet here we are. His instincts as a filmmaker and intuition as a storyteller served him well in recognizing the importance of pulling out only the essential resonant elements from the original picture and building an even bigger, more personal family tale around those broader and simplified ingredients. In retrospect, of course this was the exact right answer that now feels like the only way to successfully follow up Avatar and reach beyond what that movie achieved.

In fact, right up until the start of the extended climactic third act, I was literally thinking to myself that this is a family film and much more all-ages appropriate than the first Avatar , more PG than PG-13. Then the final major conflict began and body parts started flying, and we were back into PG-13 territory again. So, just a note that yes it’s still a film your children will adore and beg you to see again and again, and yes it spends most of its runtime in generally family-friendly territory, but it eventually gets intense and has plenty of action like the first one, with a great deal of death.

Now, some complaints, and I’ll get the easy stuff out of the way first. Yes, the story is much simpler this time around and the motivations are more straightforward for everybody. Mostly that’s a smart choice, as I said, but it also leads to some shortcuts in the storytelling and some convenient unexplainable moments where ideas are just dropped or events aren’t explained, including one or two that are real head-scratchers to put it mildly (you’ll be asking yourself “um, where did everybody GO?” at one point and there is simply no good answer, unfortunately).

But the truth is, the visual experience is so overwhelming and compelling, as is the emotional buy-in of this world and the kids’ relationships, that these flaws don’t really detract from the experience. Other issues, though, require more discussion...

The first film’s “white savior” narrative is sort of reversed and generally abandoned this time in Jake’s arc, thank goodness, and there is even an attempt to imply questions about exactly who a human is once they’re memories and supposedly “mind” occupy a Na’vi Avatar body (is it really them, or just a copy of their memories imprinted onto a genetically engineered Na’vi who represents a new different person and even a different species from humans and Na’vi?).

By focusing on the children as main characters (who are now a mix of both true Na’vi and human-Na’vi hybrid parents) and the ones propelling the action and major choices in the film once they arrive among the reef clans, the film seems conscious of the complaints about 2009’s problematic “white man joins a group and becomes the most awesome member” trope and tries to get distance from it.

Granted, Avatar sparked international movements for liberation and resistance, and was embraced by many different communities around the world who spoke about the film’s themes of insurgency against occupation, and about the loss of human sense of connection to nature (we are, after all, part of it, yet position ourselves forever opposed to it as if we are separated from the natural world and every other species).

Some of them said the “white savior” aspects are of course undeniably bad (and that even if the lead actor were Will Smith for example, it would still retain a western-centric chauvinism), but that the film also convinced tens of millions of people — including across all demographics among the mainstream American public — to cheer indigenous people slaughtering U.S. military and contractors occupying their land, not just defensively but also launching offensive attacks to kill and drive out the occupiers.

So it is that there are defenders of the first film who feel its attempts at social progressive messaging and defense of inherent rights of self-defense against occupation and exploitation by overtly western culture and military force are worthy of praise (just as many older films by beloved filmmaking icons were frequently racist and sexist, but could include degrees of social messaging and attempts to open the mind of resistant audiences and normalize or mainstream more radical progressive attitudes — films which are regularly held up and praised today by plenty of folks who likewise resent and condemn those same things in other films like Avatar ).

It’s almost impossible for example to really like or love 1970s or 1980s action, gangster, western, sci-fi, horror, or fantasy films without accepting some degree of racism, sexism, “white savior” tropes, and/or jingoistic rightwing sentiments found in most such films. I recognize this and how much it is at odds with what I want and feel and believe, and I’m frustrated by how much cinema so frequently falls far short of even the most basic sense of fairness and equality — and how often film criticism, even usually mindful and aware criticism, falls short of those same things.

Just look at the Sight & Sound poll ranking the best films of all time, and the controversy it stirred. How many cinephiles defended the list this year when it gave rise to complaints? How many people with firm understanding of cinema and history stood up to speak in defense of the list? And how many bothered to say even one single word condemning the fact the vast majority of films on the list — more than 3/4 by my count — are predominantly white western stories told by white western filmmakers (mostly men) from white western countries?

Do you know how many of these widely praised, defended, beloved movies are racist, sexist, and/or otherwise bigoted? Do you know how many were made by filmmakers who were abusive to women, or who were racist, and/or who engaged in anti-progressive or otherwise harmful tropes and messaging in their lives and in their art?

Many who defended the Sight & Sound poll results will be angry I’m criticizing the list for this, and won’t waste time asking whether their opinions on this are at odds with their feelings in other situations. I’m not saying this makes their criticism in other instances void, I’m just saying they should perhaps consider that the allowances, reasoning, and reactions they have to films they love and defend which are inevitably full of racism, sexism, jingoism, or other bad or problematic content is no different from those who watch Avatar and still enjoy and appreciate the film’s achievements and themes about resistance and environmentalism while also recognizing it has bad “white savior” narratives.

[There are some excellent subreddits where indigenous peoples around the world discuss Avatar , and I encourage folks to read those for excellent insights into how various peoples perceive and think/talk about Avatar and these issues. As an amusing side note, someone in one thread notes that Jake fails as a “white savior” and the main battle is lost, so that Eywa must intervene to save the day in the end, and then Neytiri has to intervene to save Jake when he loses his private battle.]

Avatar: The Way of Water still retains elements of this from the first film, by definition as a sequel, but it also makes overt attempts to discard it and set up a story focused on the children and on the idea of Jake as a non-savior this time (and as not being as masterful at everything new he learns all of the time), and also turns more toward a broader statement about human versus other species — or human versus the rest of the world, really — instead of about occupation and cultural conflict.

The analogy about whaling and overfishing, about abuse of animals and destruction of habitats for non-humanoid lifeforms (i.e. not the Na’vi this time, but the rest of Pandora’s species), speaks in broader terms toward the need for humanity to end such destructive practices and recognize how we upset entire ecosystems, which in turn upset larger connected ecosystems and so on, until it can all fall apart around us. Meanwhile, the conflict between characters becomes a personal one about vendettas and blurs some of the overt distinction that defined the “human versus Na’vi” story of the first film.

The idea becomes that humans have ruined their own world and now threaten to ruin another world, and so anyone who opposes this destructive approach that targets other species (like whales) has an obligation to use every means necessary to stop the practices and save those species.

And that approach combines with the visuals and cinematic experience into something greater than the sum of its parts, unlike anything else you’ll see this year (or most any other year, frankly). I can feel this and explain it, even as I recognize and am pained by its flaws, particularly foundational ones arising from the first film.

Avatar: The Way of Water is an embodiment of the power of film to transport us to entirely new worlds, transcendent and astonishing in its ambition and its ability to make us believe. Cameron has accomplished what many deemed impossible. Again.

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What we know about Avatar 3, 4, and 5

Avatar: The Way of Water is finally here — but James Cameron has so much more planned

by Austen Goslin

Additional reporting by Matt Patches

Avatar: The Way of Water has finally arrived, a full 13 years after its predecessor. But with the movie poised to be a smash hit, and Avatar 3 , 4 , and 5 plans announced a decade ago, it’s hard not to immediately look ahead at what’s next for the world of Pandora and the larger Avatar universe.

Director James Cameron has been on an extensive press tour for Avatar 2 and a lot of the talk has involved the theoretical three Avatar sequels that are apparently on the way. Cameron hasn’t been shy about where those movies or at and basic details, which means we know more about what the next decade has in store for Avatar than we might with a typical franchise.

One thing that may surprise fans, based on how these massive franchises normally work, is how Cameron went about writing them. After the success of the original movie, when plans for so many sequels were first made, Cameron put together a writers’ room similar to the ones assembled for a season of television. Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver ( Dawn of the Planet of the Apes ), Josh Friedman ( War of the Worlds ), and Shane Salerno ( Hawaii Five-0 ) worked along with Cameron to develop the story for the franchise, then split up to each take a script for a film. This kind of proactive approach also shows up in how Cameron went about filming the movies; large parts of the next three movies have already been filmed with actors Sam Worthington, Stephen Lange, Zoe Saldaña, and the new child actors.

But with all those exciting behind-the-scenes details revealed, it still doesn’t give us the full picture of what we know about the next three Avatar movies. So here’s a breakdown on Avatar 3, 4 , and 5 , pieced together from Cameron’s comments and our conversations with the Avatar: The Way of Water crew.

[ Ed. note : This story contains spoilers for Avatar: The Way of Water , and also potentially for future Avatar movies.]

When will Avatar 3 be released?

Avatar 3 is now set for release on Dec. 29, 2025. Originally the setup of releasing one Avatar movie every two years was designed to give the franchise room to breathe (though not 13 years this time around) while leaving Disney space to release new Star Wars movies. Since those plans were made, however, Star Wars’ theatrical future has become a little murkier, but Disney still shouldn’t have too much trouble finding something to replace Rogue Squadron if it’s not ready in time.

What is the title of the next Avatar movie?

The supposed titles of the Avatar sequels were leaked by the BBC in 2018 , based on “documentation,” and while Cameron didn’t confirm any of the titles, he did say that they were among those being considered, including The Way of Water for the second movie. With that in mind, the leaked title for Avatar 3 is The Seed Bearer . This doesn’t necessarily mean this is exactly what this movie will be called, but considering that Cameron and his co-writers have already worked ahead on a few movies now, he likely has a great idea of what he’d like it titled.

What’s it about?

So far, the only things Cameron has alluded to on the record is that Avatar 3 will be about the Sully family, with a focus on the kids. Perhaps the easiest guess is that this movie will continue Jake’s campaign against Quartich and the skypeople, and follow Kiri more closely after her superpowered third-act in The Way of Water .

Cameron’s collaborators have told Polygon to expect even more underwater action. According to costume designer Deborah L. Scott, behind-the-scenes images of Kate Winslet underwater waving around a big white cape are actually from Avatar 3 , while director of photography Russell Carpenter’s tells us that “there was more underwater work done for the other movie.” So if you thought Avatar: The Way of Water was wet, wait until Avatar 3 .

In further, somewhat confusing, developments on the movie’s plot, James Cameron told French publication 20 Minutes , that the third movie will include evil fire Na’vi. Cameron says that this is because he wants to “show the Na’vi from another angle,” which presumably means make some of them bad guys. Since then, producer Jon Landau has also announced that Oona Chaplin ( Game of Thrones ) has been cast as Varang, the leader of these aggressive fire Na’vi who will be known as the Ash People.

How far along is Avatar 3?

Avatar 3 has been entirely shot, at least according to Cameron, producer Jon Landau, and Carpenter. This movie was shot back-to-back with the second installment.

OK, so when will Avatar 4 be released?

The last time Disney updated its release calendar, Avatar 4 was set for Dec. 21, 2029, delaying the fourth movie by three years.

Does Avatar 4 have a name?

The leaked title for Avatar 4 is Avatar: The Tulkun Rider — though again this has not been confirmed as the title. Given that we already see someone ride (sort of) a tulkun in The Way of Water , it’s a little unclear what this title might be referring to, so we’ll probably have to wait for more details on that front. But we’re imagining Dune in the Avatar-verse.

How far along is it?

This is a little less clear than with the third movie, but we do know that it’s written, according to Cameron, and that the cast and crew have shot part of the movie, but definitely not the whole thing. Landau told Polygon there were logistical reasons for the partial shoot. An obvious guess: It’s possible that the young actors involved with The Way of Water needed to shoot a portion of Avatar 4 before, you know, growing up. More specifically, according to Cameron , on page 35 of the script for Avatar 4 , the story will skip forward, letting the kids age up.

As far as where the story goes, Cameron has said the script for Avatar 4 was the first to provoke the studio’s response. He didn’t get notes, exactly...

“When I turned in the script for 4 ,” he told Collider , “the studio executive, creative executive over the films, wrote me an email that said, ‘Holy f---.’ And I said, ‘Well, where are the notes?’ And she said, ‘Those are the notes.’ Because it kind of goes nuts in a good way.”

When will Avatar 5 be released?

Avatar 5 will hit theaters on Dec. 19, 2031. But Landau tells Polygon that a fifth film isn’t necessarily a done deal — the fate of that proposed sequel may depend on how The Way of Water does at the box office . But considering just how massively successful that movie has been, it seems pretty likely now.

Does Avatar 5 have a name?

Avatar: The Quest for Eywa is the rumored title for this one, but as with the others, we don’t have a lot of solid confirmation.

Weirdly, we know a lot more about this one than we do about Avatar 4 . According to Cameron’s most recent comments , he thinks Avatar 5 will bring the action to Earth. In the director’s words, Neytiri will see that not all humans are bad, but the audience will also see that not all Na’vi are good — which softly implies an Avatar alien-invasion movie. It sounds amazing.

Producer Jon Landau added a couple more details to this in tease in an interview with Variety , explaining that the movie would be set on an Earth that’s already dealing with overpopulation and a depletion of natural resources.

How far along is Avatar 5?

Based on what we know, this sequel is the least far along, and may not even be completely written yet. With that in mind, little to none of it seems to have been filmed, based on Cameron’s vague comments.

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Avatar: The Way of Water movie review (2022)
Cameron invites viewers into this fully realized world with so many striking images and phenomenally rendered action scenes that everything else fades away. Advertisement. Maybe not right away. "Avatar: The Way of Water" struggles to find its footing at first, throwing viewers back into the world of Pandora in a narratively clunky way.
Avatar: The Way of Water
Rated: 3.5/5 Aug 13, 2024 Full Review Nadya Martinez The Latin Times Avatar: The Way of Water, the long awaited sequel to Cameron's Avatar - the highest grossing film of all time - was ...
Avatar: The Way of Water
Rotten Tomatoes, home of the Tomatometer, is the most trusted measurement of quality for Movies & TV. The definitive site for Reviews, Trailers, Showtimes, and Tickets
Avatar: The Way of Water
The first of Avatar's sequels is finally here, 13 years after the release of the record-breaking original.For those who've been anxiously looking forward to Avatar: The Way of Water and those who have been doubting its necessity, the good news is that the movie is worth the wait and another work of essential theatrical entertainment from James Cameron.
'Avatar: The Way of Water' Review: Big Blue Marvel
Cameron's ambitions are as sincere as they are self-contradictory. He wants to conquer the world in the name of the underdog, to celebrate nature by means of the most extravagant artifice, and ...
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
Avatar: The Way of Water: Directed by James Cameron. With Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang. Jake Sully lives with his newfound family formed on the extrasolar moon Pandora. Once a familiar threat returns to finish what was previously started, Jake must work with Neytiri and the army of the Na'vi race to protect their home.
'Avatar 2' review: Na'vi gazing at its finest
Review: An exercise in Na'vi gazing, 'Avatar: The Way of Water' will cure your moviegoing blues. Jake Sully (played by Sam Worthington) in the movie "Avatar: The Way of Water.". In ...
'Avatar: The Way of Water' Review: James Cameron's Immersive Sequel
Director: James Cameron. Screenwriters: James Cameron, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver. Rated PG-13, 3 hours 12 minutes. In terms of narrative sophistication and even more so dialogue, this $350 million ...
'Avatar: The Way of Water' review roundup: See it on the ...
Critics say James Cameron's "Avatar: The Way of Water," is a stunning piece of cinema. It scored a "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Avatar: The Way of Water review
Avatar: The Way of Water is a phenomenal feat of filmmaking. Not only does director James Cameron deliver on the promise of truly jaw-dropping visual effects, he also gives a beating heart to a ...
Avatar 2 review: a thrilling epic that gambles on how you watch it
The first press screenings of the long-delayed 192-minute opus, which reportedly cost somewhere between $250 million and $400 million to make, were held at theaters equipped to project the film in ...
Avatar: The Way of Water Review
Avatar: The Way of Water is a clear improvement on its predecessor and, though its story isn't breaking new ground, its jaw-dropping visuals make this an irresistible return to Pandora.
Movie Review: 'Avatar: The Way of Water'
Movie Review: 'Avatar: The Way of Water' Filmmaker James Cameron's sequel to the biggest worldwide box office hit of all time, "Avatar: The Way of Water," has been in the works for more than a decade.
Avatar: The Way of Water
2022. PG-13. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Argentina. 3 h 12 m. Summary Set more than a decade after the events of the first film, Avatar: The Way of Water begins to tell the story of the Sully family (Jake, Neytiri, and their kids), the trouble that follows them, the lengths they go to keep each other safe, the battles they fight to stay ...
Avatar: The Way of Water
3h 12min. Release Date: December 16, 2022. Genre: Action-Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction. "Avatar: The Way of Water" reaches new heights and explores undiscovered depths as James Cameron returns to the world of Pandora in this emotionally packed action adventure. Set more than a decade after the events of the first film, "Avatar: The Way of ...
Avatar: The Way of Water
PG-13. Runtime: 3h 12min. Release Date: December 16, 2022. Genre: Action-Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction. "Avatar: The Way of Water" reaches new heights and explores undiscovered depths as James Cameron returns to the world of Pandora in this emotionally packed action adventure. Set more than a decade after the events of the first film ...
'Avatar: The Way of Water' Review: Eye-Popping, but Lacking ...
Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña. 'Avatar: The Way of Water' Review: It's Even More Eye-Popping Than 'Avatar,' but James Cameron's Epic Sequel Has No More Dramatic Dimension. Reviewed at ...
Avatar: The Way of Water Movie Review
Our review: Parents say ( 39 ): Kids say ( 113 ): James Cameron 's crowd-pleasing sequel is a spectacular technical achievement that, while overlong, manages to dazzle the senses enough to prove that the director is still a visionary. Avatar: The Way of Water isn't a movie you see for its layered, complicated plot.
Avatar: The Way Of Water Review
Visually, Avatar: The Way of Water didn't cut corners, and there was clearly a lot of work put into creating such spectacular, colorful, and unique vistas; the effort shows and the film's technical achievements are one of the core strengths of the sequel. As Jake and Neytiri's kids explore the ocean, and the gorgeously rendered creatures ...
Avatar: The Way of Water
The film was released on June 7, 2023, on Disney+ and Max. [207] [208] Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment (under the 20th Century Home Entertainment label) distributed Avatar: The Way of Water on Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray and DVD on June 20, 2023. [209] Disney released an expanded "collector's edition" of the film on December 19 ...
Review: 'Avatar: The Way Of Water' Is 2022's Biggest, Most Ambitious Film
First up, the box office outlook. With a budget and marketing price-tag likely exceeding $500+ million, Avatar: The Way of Water probably needs at least $1.3 billion in box office (assuming a ...
What we know about Avatar 3, 4, and 5
Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver ( Dawn of the Planet of the Apes ), Josh Friedman ( War of the Worlds ), and Shane Salerno ( Hawaii Five-0) worked along with Cameron to develop the story for the ...
The Toxic Avenger: Peter Dinklage Has Disappointing Update About Film's
After its debut, the film ended up on Rotten Tomatoes with a 92% critics score after 25 reviews. After years in development, the film finally found its star in Game of Thrones alum , Peter Dinklage .

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