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Avatar 2 marks a dramatic step forward for director James Cameron

But The Way of Water is a step back for the endlessly distracting HFR presentation

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There are two thoughts that you never want to cross your mind at a movie theater. One is “Did I just step in gum?” The other is “Is this supposed to look this way?”

Avatar: The Way of Water , James Cameron’s fundamentally enjoyable and exciting sequel to the 2009 blockbuster Avatar , is meant to represent a major technological advance in cinematic exhibition. Time will tell whether that’s the case. But the fact is that many viewers will have a vexing experience if they see the picture in what’s considered the optimum format.

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 a high frame rate (HFR). You may have experienced this with Gemini Man , Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk , or Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy. It’s fair to say that HFR hasn’t really taken off, unlike the wave of 3D that temporarily changed the cinema landscape when Avatar was released. But director/explorer Cameron boasted in October that he’d found a “simple hack” that would work as a game-changer. In short, he used advanced technology to essentially toggle The Way of Water between 48 frames per second and the traditional 24.

On paper, this sounds like a nice compromise. But three-plus hours of the shifting dynamic, without the ability to just settle into one or the other, is actually worse than simply watching an entire HFR movie. To use an old expression, you can’t ride two horses with one behind. And this is all the more upsetting because so much of the film is truly splendid.

Avatar: The Way of Water tells a simple but engaging story in an imaginative, beautiful environment. It’s more than three hours long, and it unfortunately takes close to a full third of that time to get rolling. But once it does — once former human Marine turned Pandoran native Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), his Na’vi mate Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), and their brood of four half-Na’vi, half-Avatar children take refuge from the forest in a watery part of the world — the sense of wonder hits like a tidal wave.

The story setup is simple: Sky People (the rapacious, militarized humans of the Resources Development Administration) are back on Pandora after the events of Avatar , and this time, they want something even more unobtainable than the element unobtainium. No spoilers, but let’s say that extracting this stuff from Pandora isn’t just dangerous, it’s a crime against everything the Na’vi hold dear. Col. Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), reborn in a cloned Na’vi Avatar body, is leading the charge to kill that turncoat/insurgent Jake Sully, and won’t let anything stand in his way. Oorah!

In the second hour, the action picks up. Jake and Neytiri’s family becomes a collective fish out of water, almost literally, moving in with an aquatic tribe of Na’vi and adapting to its aquatic lifestyle. This is where Cameron’s rich soak in his invented world is most fulfilling. There’s about an hour of just floatin’ around a reef. The Sully kids have scuffles with the local bullies; the oddball daughter learns how to plug her hair into sponges and reefs; the adorable runt puts on translucent floaty wings and zooms around. It goes on for a quite a while, and the display of visual creativity is breathtaking.

Hour three is when things get wild. Cameron, an action director with few equals, is in conversation with himself, upping the stakes and testing his own resume. There’s a thrilling, emotional chase, and then a daylight battle sequence that’s propulsive, energetic, and original. It involves a gargantuan sea beast coming in off the top rope in a way that left my theater cheering.

Cameron isn’t generally known as a comic director, but there’s always been a humorous element to his action sequences. Think of Jamie Lee Curtis caterwauling and mugging during the causeway rescue in True Lies , or Robert Patrick’s T-1000 rising up from behind a soda machine as killer checker-patterned goop in Terminator 2: Judgment Day . What, we weren’t supposed to laugh at that first reveal of Sigourney Weaver in the mech suit in Aliens ? But the battle in the last third of The Way of Water is different.

Maybe Cameron reacquainted himself with the work of Sam Raimi. Maybe he’s drinking from the same cup as S.S. Rajamouli , who made the magnificent, absolutely ludicrous Indian import RRR . In The Way of Water , Cameron leans all the way into manic mayhem, smash-cutting from one outrageous image to the next. The final act of this movie shows off a freeing attitude he’s never fully embraced before in his action — even action that’s strikingly similar, like the massive sinking ship sequence in Titanic . James Cameron has some expertise in this arena, but this time out, it feels like he’s having a lot more fun.

It’s unlikely that The Way of Water will be a financial watershed on the same level as 2009’s Avatar . The 3D tech was so new back then, and the world-building and the use of CGI environments were both so unprecedented. It was a once-in-a-lifetime move forward for film technology and immersive storytelling. Much like Disney’s recent sequel Disenchanted , The Way of Water is arriving in a cinematic environment that was completely reshaped by its predecessor — and there are no tricks here that move filmmaking forward in the same way.

The closest Cameron comes is that shifting HFR trick, which winds up being more of a distraction than a bonus. Think about the change you notice at the perimeter of the screen when watching a Christopher Nolan or Mission: Impossible movie in an IMAX theater. The material shot in the large IMAX format blows out to fill the whole frame, changing the aspect ratio. The back and forth of the masking at the top and bottom can be intrusive. Eventually, you get used to it, or you recognize it isn’t that big a deal. The change back and forth with HFR — an enormous screen toggling with a “motion smoothing” effect — is not something the eye and brain can get used to.

What’s more, this is Avatar. Most of the time, what’s in the frame is computer-generated imagery (a telepathic alien whale the size of an aircraft carrier, primed for vengeance!), so it already looks unusual. If the whole movie were in HFR, perhaps one would settle in, but jumping between the two — often from shot to shot in the same action sequence, or even within the same shot , as it is being projected in some cinemas — is simply an aesthetic experiment that fails.

This is not just being picky. The changes mean that the tempo of the action on screen looks either sped up or slowed down as the switches occur. Shots in higher frame rate couched between ones that are lower (and there are many) look like a computer game that gets stuck on a render, which then spits something out super fast. To put it an old-school way, it looks like The Benny Hill Show .

It’s just fascinating that Captain Technology, James Cameron, would want it this way. And it’s unfortunate. Because the entire message of the Avatar films is about environmentalism and preservation, about respecting the world as it is. It seems like Pandora’s creator would recognize that sometimes the best move is to leave well enough alone, instead of looking for ways to fix something that didn’t need fixing in the first place.

Avatar: The Way of Water will be released Dec. 16 in theaters.

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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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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 review: A whole blue world, bigger and bolder than the first

Thirteen years on, James Cameron takes Pandora under the sea in an astonishing, at times overwhelming sequel.

In The Terminator , Arnold Schwarzenegger's cyborg assassin is famously sent back from 2029 to rain death and cool Teutonic one-liners on the good people of 1984. For nearly four decades now, that film's creator, James Cameron , has also seemed like a man outside of time, an emissary from a near-future where movies look like something we've only imagined them to be: liquid metals, impossible planets, boats bigger than the Ritz. Avatar: The Way of Water (in theaters Friday) brings that same sense of dissociative wonder. What fantastical blue-people oceania is this? How did we get here? And why does it look so real ?

The answer to that first question, as several hundred million fans of the original 2009 Avatar already know, is a mythical place called Pandora. The next two land somewhere between vast technology, sweat equity, and God (and, at this New York press screening at least, a slightly smudgy pair of 3D glasses). The Way of Water is, indeed, spectacularly aquatic, though not quite in the way that the six-time Oscar winner's eerie deep-sea thriller The Abyss was, or even the vast, ruthless North Atlantic that swallowed Leonardo DiCaprio and 1,500 other doomed souls in his Titanic . This is circa-2022 James Cameron, which is to say he makes it seem a lot like 2032 — a world so immersive and indubitably awesome, in the most literal reading of that word (there will be awe, and more awe, and then some more) that it feels almost shockingly new.

It's also very much a Cameron movie in that the plot is, at root, blood simple: good, evil, the fate of the free world. Former Marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington ) has permanently shed his human form to become full Na'vi, the extreme ectomorphs with Smurf-colored skin whose peaceful pantheistic ways have long clashed with their would-be conquerors from Earth, the rampaging, resource-greedy "sky people." There's still an American military base there, led by the brusque, efficient General Frances Ardmore (a bemused Edie Falco , incongruous in a uniform). But the Na'vi largely run free, hunting and cavorting and swooping through the air on their dragon-bird steeds, singing the songs of the rainforest and raising little blue babies with swishy tails.

Jake and his Na'Vi princess, Neytiri ( Zoe Saldaña ), now have three offspring of their own, along with an adopted teenage daughter named Kiri ( Sigourney Weaver ), the child of the late Dr. Grace Augustine (whom Weaver plays once again in flashbacks), and an orphaned human boy called Spider (Jack Champion), a loinclothed Mowgli they treat more like a stray cat than a son. Jake is the stern patriarch, still a soldier to the bone, and Neytiri is the gentle nurturer; the children, beneath their extraterrestrial skin, are just happy, jostling kids. But when the DNA imprint of Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) is recovered by science after his fiery defeat in the first film and poured into the healthy body of an Avatar, the resurrected officer vows revenge: While Ardmore & Co. continue to efficiently strip-mine Pandora, he will settle for nothing less than his former protegé's dishonorable death.

And so Sully and his family are forced to flee, hiding out among the reef-people clan of Metkayina. The taciturn chieftan ( Fear the Walking Dead 's Cliff Curtis ) and his wary wife (congratulations if you can tell that's Kate Winslet ) are reluctant to let strangers into their world, especially when they come trailing danger and forest dirt behind them. Socially, most Metkayina are only as welcoming as they strictly need to be, and the Sully family soon finds that living in harmony with the sea also means a steep learning curve for land-bound Na'vi — new customs, new modes of transportation, new ways of breathing.

But that, of course, is where Cameron and his untold scores of studio minions get to shine: 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. The director, who penned the script with married screenwriting duo Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver ( Jurassic World , Mulan ), tends to operate in the grand, muscular mode of Greek myth (or if you're feeling less generous, the black-and-white clarity of comic books). The storytelling here is deliberately broad and the dialogue often tilts toward pure blockbuster camp. (Not every word out of the colonel's mouth is "Oorah," but it might as well be; Jake speaks fluent Hero Cliché, and the Na'vi boys say "bro" like they just escaped from Point Break .)

And yet 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. The actors, performing in motion capture, do their best to project human-scale feelings on this sprawling, sensational canvas, to varying degrees of success. Saldaña's mother-warrior makes herself ferociously vulnerable, and Weaver somehow gets us to believe she's an outcast teen; Worthington often sounds like he's just doing his best to sound 10 percent less Australian. Even the non-verbal creatures — bioluminescent jellyfish as delicate as fairy wings; whales the size of aircraft carriers, with four eyes and flesh like an unshelled turtle's — have an uncanny anthropomorphic charm, stealing several moments from their speaking counterparts.

By the third hour, Cameron has shifted into battle mode, and the movie becomes a sort of rock opera, or a sea-salted Apocalypse Now ; the "Ride of the Valkyries" thunder rarely feels far behind. The scale of mortal combat in those moments is, one could say, titanic, though it turns out to be a more personal reckoning for Sully and his family too. The final scenes are calculated for maximum impact and not a little bit of emotional manipulation; at 192 minutes, the runtime is almost certainly too long. It's strange, maybe, or at least wildly uncritical, to say that none of that really matters in the end. The Way of Water has already created its own whole-cloth reality, a meticulous world-building as astonishing and enveloping as anything we've ever seen on screen — until that crown is passed, inevitably, in December 2024, the projected release date for Avatar 3 . Grade: A–

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Avatar: The Way of Water

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Watch Avatar: The Way of Water with a subscription on Disney+, Max, rent on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, or buy on Fandango at Home, Prime Video.

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Narratively, it might be fairly standard stuff -- but visually speaking, Avatar: The Way of Water is a stunningly immersive experience.

Avatar: The Way of Water 's story is predictable, but the visual effects are so spectacular that it hardly matters.

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‘Avatar 2’ Stuns Press in Rave First Reactions: ‘Visual Masterpiece,‘ ‘Mind-Blowing,’ ’Never Doubt’ James Cameron

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After 13 years of anticipation, James Cameron ‘s “ Avatar: The Way of Water ” has finally been unveiled for members of the press following the movie’s world premiere in London. The first reactions to the film are overwhelmingly positive, with many journalists blown away once again by Cameron’s boundless imagination and pristine visual effects.

“Happy to say ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ is phenomenal,” wrote Fandango’s Erik Davis. “Bigger, better & more emotional than ‘Avatar,’ the film is visually breathtaking, visceral and incredibly engrossing. The story, the spectacle, the spirituality, the beauty – this is moviemaking & storytelling at its absolute finest.”

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“I had faith James Cameron would raise the bar with the effects but these visuals are mind-blowing,” Collider’s Peri Nemiroff added. “One stunning frame after the next.”

“Avatar: The Way of Water” once again centers on Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), now parents who are forced to protect their family from a new threat to Pandora. The cast also includes Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang and Kate Winslet.

Even before “The Way of Water” screened for press, it earned a rave first reaction from none other than Guillermo del Toro. The Oscar winner wrote on Twitter that the “Avatar” sequel is “a staggering achievement,” adding, “It’s a chock-full of majestic vistas and emotions at an epic, epic scale. A master at the peak of his power.”

While the film’s three-hour-and-10 minute runtime has been making headlines for weeks, it doesn’t appear anyone was too bothered by the length. Cameron himself has said he doesn’t care if viewers leave the theater to use the bathroom.

“Avatar: The Way of Water” opens in theaters nationwide Dec. 16 from Disney. Check out first reactions to the film below.

Someone texted me, “what’s the most visually impressive part of the movie?” And I responded, “The whole thing honestly.” — Mike Ryan (@mikeryan) December 6, 2022

Happy to say #AvatarTheWayOfWater is phenomenal! Bigger, better & more emotional than #Avatar , the film is visually breathtaking, visceral & incredibly engrossing. The story, the spectacle, the spirituality, the beauty – this is moviemaking & storytelling at its absolute finest. pic.twitter.com/RicnpDghrx — Erik Davis (@ErikDavis) December 6, 2022

James Cameron once again shows filmmakers how it’s done. I’ve said it a thousand times. Never doubt him. AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER is how you do epic blockbuster-ing. Emotional, visceral, and as big as movies get. @officialavatar — Josh Horowitz (@joshuahorowitz) December 6, 2022

Unsurprisingly, #AvatarTheWayOfWater is a visual masterpiece with rich use of 3D and breathtaking vistas. It does suffer from a thin story and too many characters to juggle, yet James Cameron pulls it together for an extraordinary final act full of emotion and thrilling action. pic.twitter.com/opr6CRyOwk — Ian Sandwell (@ian_sandwell) December 6, 2022

As for the story, it's A LOT of movie & I'm eager for a 2nd viewing to revisit some details, but on 1st watch, it's a mighty effective exploration of community & family dynamics. Returning cast is great, but the newcomers are major standouts, particularly Britain Dalton as Lo'ak. pic.twitter.com/OtZXNr6zMw — Perri Nemiroff (@PNemiroff) December 6, 2022

As an Avatar stan, I had high hopes for #AvatarTheWayofWater and for me it totally delivers. Sure it's a little long, but worth it for the gorgeous visuals, wonderful new characters. A total thrill. — Kara Warner (@karawarner) December 6, 2022

Have now seen #Avatar twice and am overwhelmed by both its technical mastery and unexpectedly intimate emotional scope. Yes the world is expanded and sequels teased but the characters are most important. Cameron is in top form, especially in final act. Good to have him back. 🐟 pic.twitter.com/PR9drN5Zph — Drew Taylor (@DrewTailored) December 6, 2022

I saw you #AvatarTheWayOfWater – if you think you've seen #Avatar think again. Only repeat from the OG is that 'never experienced anything like it' awe. Better than 1st? Easily. The 3D water world & creatures are so surreal it is downright moving. There's a major Titanic homage. pic.twitter.com/EInKRDeumD — Nikki Novak (@NikkiNovak) December 6, 2022

Avatar: The Way of Water is a never-ending visual spectacle. It’s a better, more complex story than the first with solid emotion but the characters could grow a bit more. It’s definitely long, running on incredible visuals & techniques which are 3D’s best. #AvatarTheWayOfWater pic.twitter.com/ezySHunXOe — BD (@BrandonDavisBD) December 6, 2022

A staggering achievement- AVATAR TWOW is chokefull of majestic Vistas and emotions at an epic, epic scale. A master at thepeak of his powers… https://t.co/tG6I16JlhM — Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) November 24, 2022

Avatar: The Way of Water – Like remembering you can dream. To breathe, cry. To believe in hope again. What was once lost is found again. #InCameronWeTrust — Alex B. (@firstshowing) December 6, 2022

So, #AvatarTheWayOfWater : Liked it, didn't love it. The good news is that 3D is good again (yay!), and the action is pretty incredible (especially in the final act). But many of the storylines feel like they have to stop and start, and the high frame rate was hit & miss for me. pic.twitter.com/eY4G76R1AJ — Amon Warmann (@AmonWarmann) December 6, 2022

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Avatar 2 Reviews: Critics Share Strong Reactions to Sequel

Critics have shared their strong first reactions after attending the world premiere of James Cameron's Avatar: The Way of Water .

The upcoming Avatar 2 has been a long time coming. Director James Cameron has been vocal that he needed technology to catch up to his vision for the sequel, and now the time has finally come to see the results of that work.

Fans will soon get the chance to return to Pandora for the first time since 2009, as Cameron debuts to the world this next installment in his "generational family saga."

Now with The Way of Water only mere days away from global release, critics have offered their first reactions to Cameron's latest sci-fi epic.

Avatar 2 First Reactions Make Their Way Online

Following the world premiere of Avatar: The Way of Water , in London, England, critics shared strong first reactions to James Cameron's Avatar: The Way of Water .

Comicbook.com's Brandon Davis called the film both "fulfilling and indulgent," noting that overall he "liked it:"

"'Avatar: The Way of Water', being more than 3 hours long, is both fulfilling and indulgent. It still ends wanting you to know a third is coming. Constantly a visual feast, creative plays with frame rate, and never boring despite. Overall, I liked it."

Davis followed his initial thoughts up by saying "It’s a better, more complex story than the first:"

"'Avatar: The Way of Water' is a never-ending visual spectacle. It’s a better, more complex story than the first with solid emotion but the characters could grow a bit more. It’s definitely long, running on incredible visuals & techniques which are 3D’s best."

Writer Jesse Hawken joked that The Way of Water "bears more than a passing resemblance" to the original film, riffing off the widespread complaints of Avatar being a carbon copy of movies like Pocahontas and Dances with Wolves :

"I don’t know who needs to hear this, but 'Avatar: The Way of Water' bears more than a passing resemblance to a movie from 2009 called 'Avatar'"

What's on Disney Plus called James Cameron's latest "the most beautiful film [they've] ever seen" and "Easily [their] favorite film of the year:"

"Avatar: The Way of Water is the most beautiful film I've ever seen. It is an experience that needs to be seen on the big screen & in 3D. I absolutely loved it & I can't wait to watch it again. It's a masterpiece in terms of technical wizardry. Easily my favourite film of the year."

Collider's Perri Nemiroff praised the film for its "mind-blowing" visuals, pointing out how the effects "always feel in service of character & world-building:"

"Avatar: The Way of Water is pretty incredible. I had faith James Cameron would raise the bar w/ the effects but these visuals are mind-blowing. One stunning frame after the next. But the thing I dug most is how the technical feats always feel in service of character & world-building."

On the story, Nemiroff labeled the movie an "effective exploration of community & family dynamics," praising "Britain Dalton as Lo'ak:"

"As for the story, it's A LOT of movie & I'm eager for a 2nd viewing to revisit some details, but on 1st watch, it's a mighty effective exploration of community & family dynamics. Returning cast is great, but the newcomers are major standouts, particularly Britain Dalton as Lo'ak."

He closed his thoughts out by saying , "yes, this did make me want to see more #Avatar movies:"

"And yes, this did make me want to see more Avatar movies. I would also like a whole lot more of Cliff Curtis' Tonowari in those movies, please."

Nikki Novak from Fandango, remarked that she has "never experienced anything like it," commenting it is "easily " better than the first film:

"I saw you Avatar: The Way of Water - if you think you've seen #Avatar think again. Only repeat from the OG is that 'never experienced anything like it' awe. Better than 1st? Easily. The 3D water world & creatures are so surreal it is downright moving. There's a major Titanic homage."

"Visual masterpiece" was a superlative thrown around by DigitalSpy Movies Editor Ian Sandwell , calling out the "thin story" that James Cameron pulls together for "an extraordinary final act:"

"Unsurprisingly, Avatar: The Way of Water is a visual masterpiece with rich use of 3D and breathtaking vistas. It does suffer from a thin story and too many characters to juggle, yet James Cameron pulls it together for an extraordinary final act full of emotion and thrilling action."

According to Cinemablend's Sean O'Connell , the Avatar sequel "surpasses the original," also calling out the final hour of the film, writing the third act is "Cameron flexing every muscle:"

"Never bet against James Cameron. His Avatar: The Way of Water surpasses the original on every level. Incredible visuals, but a much more emotional connection to the characters and story. The final hour is Cameron flexing every muscle, reminding blockbuster filmmakers how it’s done."

Josh Horowitz from MTV News was similarly positive, Tweeting that " Avatar: The Way of Water is how you do epic blockbuster-ing:"

"James Cameron once again shows filmmakers how it’s done. I’ve said it a thousand times. Never doubt him. AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER is how you do epic blockbuster-ing. Emotional, visceral, and as big as movies get."

Fox's Amanda Salas , shared in the excitement, opining that the film is a "cinematic masterpiece:"

Feliz NA’VIdad indeed! Avatar: The Way of Water is a cinematic masterpiece! I enjoyed it even more than the first one! It conquers stunning visuals on-screen & taps into the heart reminding us of what truly matters in life. Family, home, nature & survival. My top film of the year!"

Writer Tom Beasley said he was "blown away" by The Way of Water :

"I was blown away by the sheer scale of Avatar: The Way of Water, which fulfils every mad promise its creators have made about cinematic innovation. Underwater stuff, especially, is mind-blowing. But it's also huge, epic filmmaking of the kind that has become Cameron's trademark."

Beasley noted that despite being an "Avatar skeptic," he was "thoroughly won over:"

"So you get all of the visual splendour, but it's also big-hearted, resonant on the subject of family and staunchly environmentalist. This Avatar sceptic was thoroughly won over."

So How Good Is Avatar 2 Really?

Right now, it seems like the cool thing to do is to laud Avatar , its sequels, and James Cameron as a filmmaker. However, it seems the Canadian director may have struck gold again with The Way of Water .

These first reactions are glowing nearly across the board. The film's visuals in particular are a point of emphasis seen in almost every initial review.

But this movie was always going to be beautiful. That has been evident in every second of the movie shown so far . Cameron has made a career of pushing the very visual boundaries of the medium. What is encouraging to hear is that the film's story works as well.

The word "thin" was used a couple of times in relation to the sequel's story, but never is it called outright bad, boring, or derivative. And most that complained about the narrative made it a point to mention the "emotional" and "extraordinary" final act found in the film.

Narrative depth has never been Cameron's strong suit. With a few exceptions, he has been a blockbuster filmmaker who has thrived on spectacle. This eye-candy approach has yielded stunning results though, as Cameron looks to have crafted yet another hit with Avatar 2 .

Avatar: The Way of Water hits theaters on December 16.

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James Cameron's Avatar: The Way of Water is finally coming to theaters, and here's what you need to know about the Avatar sequel, including the Avatar 2 release date and what's known about its plot. Cameron smashed his own box office record with 2009's Avatar , which replaced Titanic as the highest-grossing movie of all time as it went on to make over $2.7 billion worldwide, holding its crown until 2019's Avengers: Endgame . Now the director is out to beat it once again, with several Avatar sequels in the works. Avatar itself had a fairly self-contained story, with the human threat defeated and Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) permanently transferred into his avatar body, allowing him to remain with Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and the other Na'vi on Pandora. It gave closure to Jake and Neytiri's arcs, but Avatar 's world-building meant that there was always more story potential for future stories set within James Cameron's Pandora and its world .

Talk of Avatar 2 has been happening since the first movie released over a decade ago. Progress on Avatar: The Way of Water has been slow many reasons, including waiting on the development of new technology. Cameron aims to once again massively push advancements, promising that Avatar 2 will deliver an unparalleled visual spectacle. The film is finally happening though, so here's what to know about Avatar 2/Avatar: The Way of Water , including story details, characters, and when it's set to release in theaters.

Related: Avatar 2 Reveals New Na'vi Changes: Fins & Thicker Tails

Avatar 2 Is Happening (Along With 3 Other Sequels)

Director James Cameron is diligently working on four Avatar sequels in total. Avatar 2 wrapped filming in September 2020 and will be followed by Avatar 3 , with the two filmed back-to-back. While plans could feasibly change slightly if the movies aren't big successes, Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 are already planned to happen. The final two Avatar sequels could still be delayed , depending on how things ultimately pan out for Avatar: The Way of Water . Cameron reportedly knows the story he wants to tell though, so unless Avatar 2 or Avatar 3 underperforms so drastically he has to make changes, chances are the franchise will remain on schedule.

Avatar 2 Release Date

The Avatar sequels have been delayed several times, with Avatar 2 first touted for a 2014 release before it was pushed back time and again to allow for the development of the other sequels, new technology, and Coronavirus-related delays. At long last though it's confirmed that the Avatar: The Way of Water release date is December 16, 2022 . It'll be followed by Avatar 3 on December 20, 2024, Avatar 4 on December 18, 2026, and finally Avatar 5 on December 22, 2028, giving the franchise a hold on the Christmas market throughout the next decade.

Avatar 2 Cast

Most of the cast from Avatar will return in Avatar 2 , with the sequel once again set to be led by Sam Worthington's Jake and Zoe Saldana's Neytiri, while CCH Pounder will be back as Mo'rat, Neytiri's mother. On the human front, Giovanni Ribisi will reprise his role as Parker Selfridge, and Joel David Moore will once again play Dr. Norm Spellman. Perhaps most intriguingly in terms of familiar faces returning are Sigourney Weaver and Stephen Lang. Weaver is confirmed to return as Kiri, the adoptive daughter of Jake and Neytiri. Meanwhile, Lang's Colonel Miles Quaritch has posthumously returned thanks to a technology that implants the consciousness of a fallen soldier into a Na'vi shell.

As for new additions to the Avatar 2 cast. Kate Winslet will reunite with James Cameron to play a Na'vi called Ronal , Edie Falco plays General Ardmore of the RDA, Jermaine Clement will appear as a marine biologist, and Jack Champion will play a human born on Pandora. Cliff Curtis, Oona Chaplin, Jamie Flatters, Trinity Bliss, Britain Dalton and various others will be appearing as Na'vi from across the many tribes of Pandora. Vin Diesel has also been cast in a mystery role. Meanwhile, Michelle Yeoh will play human scientist Dr. Karina Mogue, and Avatar: The Way of Water has an extensive ensemble cast filled with new and familiar faces.

Related: Avatar 2 Should Bring Back The First Movie's Best Deleted Scene

Avatar 2 Story Details

Story details for Avatar 2 are still under wraps, but it will take place several years after Avatar , following Jake and Neytiri and their family. In Avatar 2 , Jake and Neytiri will have three Na'vi children — Neteyam (Jamie Flatters), Lo’ak (Britain Dalton), and Tuktirey (Trinity Bliss). Their fourth child, Miles (who goes by Spider, and is played by Jack Champion), is a human adopted by Jake and Neytiri in Avatar 2 . Spider's inclusion will cause some tension in the family dynamics, which will largely stem from Neytiri's dislike and distrust of humans and what they stand for. In addition, the Avatar 2 trailer shows that some Na'vi are working with the Resource Development Administration — Avatar 's villains — since the RDA has continued developing the Avatar program. What's more, the RDA is now able to use the Na'vi Avatars to bring back fallen soldiers, including the villainous Colonel Miles Quaritch.

When Jake and Neytiri's home is once again threatened they'll be forced to leave it behind and explore more of Pandora than before, harnessing the cutting-edge underwater mo-cap technology Cameron has developed for the aptly titled Avatar: The Way of Water . Jake and Neytiri will encounter various different groups of Na'vi , most notably an ocean-based group led by Tonowari (the Na'vi played by Cliff Curtis). How Sigourney Weaver's Kiri and Kate Winslet's Ronal factor into the plot isn't fully known. Neither is full story of Miles, although it can be assumed he's an important character since he's one of the few humans to appear in the Avatar 2 trailer.

The Avatar Trailers Have Already Breathed New Life Into The Franchise

The longer fans of Avatar waited, the more it felt like Avatar: The Way of Water would be forever stuck in development hell. Their worries were put to rest when the Avatar 2 trailer was released, however. Avatar: The Way of Water already looks incredible, both visually and in how it pushes the scale of the first Avatar to continue the saga of Pandora and the Na'vi. The stunning images in the Avatar 2 trailer aren't that surprising — there's never been any doubt that Avatar 's beautiful CGI would only improve in the sequel. However, what's truly promising is how Avatar 2 will dig even deeper into impact of human expansion that forever changed the Na'vi and Pandora itself. Avatar 2 promises a step up from the classic good-vs-evil formula that Cameron perfected in the first movie, exploring the neo-colonial subtext of the RDA's presence on Pandora more explicitly. It's also notable how Disney and James Cameron have more realistic box office expectations this time around, with a much lower projection than for the first Avatar , even adjusting for inflation. This implies they're aiming not just to break box office records, but to create an endearing movie that delivers on the decade-plus wait.

Avatar 2 has big shoes to fill having been teased for 10 years without so much as a set photo. Naturally, there have been doubts that Avatar 2 would even happen. Now, with the RDA and Na'vi working together in the Avatar 2 trailer, Jake and Neytiri's family, and Pandora's future becoming uncertain once again, there's clearly more than enough material for the franchise to push through. Until perhaps even as recently as 2020, Avatar was on almost nobody's list of possible Disney tent pole franchises. Unless Avatar 2/Avatar: The Way of Water bombs spectacularly, the jaw-dropping trailer hints that James Cameron is about to put the Avatar detractors in their place.

Next: Avatar 2's Groundbreaking Underwater Mo-Cap Is Terrible News For Aquaman 2

Key Release Dates

Avatar 2: the way of water.

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

Thirteen years after the first ‘Avatar,’ James Cameron finally returns to the distant moon of Pandora in this transporting, radiantly personal sequel

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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 Rating: PG-13, for sequences of strong violence and intense action, partial nudity and some strong language When: Opens Friday Where: Wide release Running time: 3 hours, 10 minutes

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Avatar 2 Movie Review

Article by Nanda Gopal Published by GulteDesk --> Published on: 12:01 pm, 16 December 2022

3 Hr 12 Mins | Family | 16-12-2022

Cast - Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver

Director - James Cameron

Producer - James Cameron, Jon Landau

Banner - Lightstorm Entertainment, TSG Entertainment

Music - Simon Franglen

A decade after classic Avatar (2009), master James Cameron has come up with the second installment Avatar: The Way Of Water. He takes us into the stunning world of Pandora. The film is having a massive release in India with a ground-breaking opening. Let’s check out whether the sequel lives up to all the hype and buzz surrounding it globally.

Human-turned Na’vi Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) form a happy Sully family with kids. Everything was going well until they spotted a star in the sky. It marks the arrival of Sky people who begin devastation. This forces the Sully family to leave their homes. But Humans led by Colonel Quartich continue to hunt down Sullies. How Jake & clan fight Quartich and his army forms the crux of the story.

Performances :

Avatar: The Way of Water has brilliant performances. Kudos to James Cameron who used a novel technology to film performance capture scenes underwater, the feat never accomplished before. Jake is played by Sam Worthington and Neytiri is played by Zoe Saldanda who delivered flawless performances.

Technicalities :

Avatar 2’s point is pretty simple and straight. The complexity is in its filmmaking and presenting in a grandeur way. James Cameron excelled in his art. He has shown his indelible mark in every craft of filmmaking. The visual effects are outstanding.

Performances, Musical score, and visual style are impressive. Cinematography deserves special mention. Editing could be crispier. The film has excessive runtime. The initial portions take more than usual time. Albeit, the end justifies the means. The second half is intriguing.

Colonel Miles Quaritch is hefty. He is fierceful and hard as villain. But at times, he is a bit soft which isn’t convincing. Kate Winslet as Ronal, pregnant tribal leader, gets noticed. Overall, Cameron unleashes powerful and gripping performances from his cast.

Thumbs Up Climax Sequence Breathtaking Visuals Stunning VFX & BGM

Thumbs Down Predictable Scenes Sluggish First Half

James Cameron, the auteur of films like Terminator, Titanic, Avatar is back with Avatar 2. After significant delays, the film has finally hit the screens today. The film begins in pandora. Here is where the master Cameron took a chunk of the time. The entire first half is entirely based on drama revolving around the Sully family. There are some emotional scenes here and there which sets the base for the film.

It is the second-half of the film that engrosses us completely. How the Sully family move from forest to water and how they adapt and make new friends look familiar. ‘Sullies stick together’ is often said by Jake who goes to any extent to protect the family. There is a catch. He avoids the war. He rather goes into hiding. He takes shelter from the Metkayina clan yet asks them not to resort to fighting with humans. It is not heroic. It is a bit let down. The heroism isn’t elevated. The villains keep chasing and hunting Sully.

Avatar 2’s story is very simple and easily predictable. The screenplay is also flat. But Cameron balances these shortcomings with the stunning visuals and high-octane action scenes. The underneath emotion is strong. This is what rescues Avatar 2. The climax sequence is the biggest asset of Avatar 2. It is mind-blowing. Here is where Cameron shows his mark completely. He unleashed his talent and wows with amazing cinematic experience. The visual-effects are topnotch. Musical score is complimenting and elevates the scenes.

When Avatar was released in 2009, it took the film enthusiasts by storm. The VFX had stunned audiences and set new standards. No doubt, the filmmaking standards have improved globally in the last decade. Rajamouli has made magnum opus like Baahubali films and RRR. But what Cameron does is unbelievable and non-comparable. He creates a beautiful world in Avatar and weaves the magic yet again. The lives of the Na’vi clan are close to nature. It is a fight between humans and the clans close to nature. There are some takeaways from this epic science fiction.

Avatar 2 caters to kids and film enthusiasts who are fascinated by science fiction films. It is not a masterpiece. Not a great tribute to the first part either. Nevertheless, it doesn’t disappoint either. It just serves the purpose. Go and watch this experience on big screens in 3D. Watch it without much expectations and it hits the right chords.

Bottom-line: Lengthy Visual Spectacle

Rating: 3/5

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Avatar 2 trailer revealed at Cinema Con as James Cameron's sequel gets official title

The first Avatar 2 footage was shown to a select audience as producer Jon Landau confirmed new details about the sequel

The first Avatar 2 trailer has been screened – and the sequel has an official title, Avatar: The Way of Water.

Producer Jon Landau took to the stage at Cinema Con to present the first Avatar 2 footage during Disney 's panel. Landau also announced that the original Avatar is being re-released in cinemas from September 23, and said that each of the four previously announced sequels will play out as "standalone" movies.

Director James Cameron , who was unable to make the event, sent in a video message. The filmmaker said that the movie was made for the big screen. "We wanted to push the limits of what theaters can do," he told the audience.

The teaser trailer – shown in 3D – featured Pandora, some very quick action shots, little dialogue, and, of course, plenty of Na'vi. The trailer will screen in front of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in cinemas, and will only be made available online a week later.

An official synopsis has also been released by Disney. It reads: "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 alive, and the tragedies they endure."

Landau previously told Total Film that each of the sequels "had to individually resolve itself in a story that concludes with a big emotional resolution".

"When you look at them as a whole, the connected story arc of all four movies creates an even larger epic saga," he said.

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Discussing Avatar 2 specifically, the producer remarked that the strength of the movie comes from Cameron's ability to write "universal themes that are bigger than any one genre".

"And if you think about this, there’s really no more universal theme than family," he continued. "At the center of each of our sequels is the Sully family. What are the dynamics that parents go through to protect their family?"

The official title, Avatar: The Way of Water, should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed the behind-the-scenes production on Avatar 2. Cameron's cast – which includes Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Kate Winslet, and Michelle Yeoh – filmed many parts underwater.

The story sees the Sully family's idyllic life being disrupted when the RDA mining operation returns to Pandora, forcing Jake to take the family to "what is perceived as a safe harbor" at the reef.

"And when you get to the reef, there’s a clan we call the Metkayina," Landau told Total Film. "The Sullys are no longer in the environment that they know, the rainforest. They become the fish out of water. They become the fish out of water from a cultural standpoint and from an environmental standpoint."

Avatar 2 reaches cinemas on December 16. Also shown during Disney's Cinema Con panel: the opening 20 minutes of Doctor Strange , featuring multiple Stevens. Marvel boss Kein Feige also revealed that he's currently planning the next decade of movies at the studio .

Jack Shepherd is the former Senior Entertainment Editor of GamesRadar. Jack used to work at The Independent as a general culture writer before specializing in TV and film for the likes of GR+, Total Film, SFX, and others. You can now find Jack working as a freelance journalist and editor.

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Jabba's movie reviews: 'frozen 2' and 'knives out'.

Jabba's Movie Reviews

Movie Man Jason "Jabba" Davis joins the Weekend Sunrise team for two new reviews.

The first Frozen film was a global phenomenon, making around $1.8 billion dollars at the box office, so the sequel has a lot of hype to live up to.

Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, Olaf and Sven leave their home of Arendelle to travel to an ancient, autumn-bound forest of an enchanted land. The adventurous group sets out to find the origin of Elsa's powers in order to save their kingdom.

Jabba's verdict: A Delightful and Magical Family Film - 4 Stars

Acclaimed writer and director Rian Johnson (Brick, Looper, The Last Jedi) pays tribute to mystery mastermind Agatha Christie in Knives Out , a fun, modern-day murder mystery where everyone is a suspect.

When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is found dead at his estate just after his 85th birthday, the inquisitive and debonair Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is mysteriously enlisted to investigate.

Jabba's verdict: A Funny Whodunnit - 3.5 Stars

Frozen 2 and Knives Out are now playing in theaters nationwide.

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COMMENTS

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WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Jabba chats with the stars of Avatar: The Way Of The Water. Stream Sunrise free on 7plus. For Aussie actor Sam Worthington, being the star of the biggest movie ever made was a game changer. Ahead of the first film releasing in 2009, "we got advised by Jim (James Cameron) just to go do normal things," Worthington said.
'Avatar 2' review: Na'vi gazing at its finest
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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.
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First name L The way of watered down storytelling. Rated 1.5/5 Stars • Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 05/05/24 Full Review devon Great movie just watching but In 3d I was with a group of 9 and we keep ...
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Critics have shared their strong first reactions after attending the world premiere of James Cameron's Avatar: The Way of Water . The upcoming Avatar 2 has been a long time coming. Director James Cameron has been vocal that he needed technology to catch up to his vision for the sequel, and now the time has finally come to see the results of ...
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The movie made me connect with the characters especially the eldest son of Jake Sully because I am an eldest son of my family. The movie was one of few to actually make me feel emotional too. Within the first hour I was already planning to see Avatar 3. The long run time of the movie felt completely worth it and 2 and a half hours in I found ...
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Avatar 2 Movie Review
Avatar 2's point is pretty simple and straight. The complexity is in its filmmaking and presenting in a grandeur way. James Cameron excelled in his art. He has shown his indelible mark in every craft of filmmaking. The visual effects are outstanding. Performances, Musical score, and visual style are impressive.
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Jabba's Movie Reviews. Jabba's Movie Reviews. Movie Man Jason "Jabba" Davis joins the Weekend Sunrise team for two new reviews. Frozen 2. The first Frozen film was a global phenomenon, making around $1.8 billion dollars at the box office, so the sequel has a lot of hype to live up to.

Avatar 2 marks a dramatic step forward for director James Cameron

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