Avatar: The Way of Water

This weekend, Avatar: The Way of Water was released in theaters. Avatar: The Way of Water follows Jake Sully and his family as they flee from their home in the forest. They soon find themselves in the safe haven of the water kingdom and must join with the tribes there to keep their family safe. I was very excited to see this movie. The last two films James Cameron made were the two highest-grossing films of all time and the two sequels he has made are arguably two of the greatest sequels ever made. All of that combined with the fact that this is the first James Cameron movie in 12 years has made me very excited.

This was a very good movie. As was the case with the original Avatar, the visuals in this film are absolutely stunning. The visual effects all look so real and refined. Seeing it in IMAX really added to the experience as well as it feels like you are actually in the movie. This movie also does an excellent job with its world-building. This is something James Cameron has excelled at. The film takes what we know about the world of Pandora and builds on it and expands it. The film does a very good job of introducing us to this water-based community and all of the customs and cultural aspects that go along with it. In the same realm, this movie also consists of a lot of underwater shots that are really cool to see and very well done. It is just so cool to see all that James Cameron was able to accomplish with this film. I also thought the movie handled its run time very well. Being 3 hours and 12 minutes, that makes this quite a long movie. However, the movie doesn't waste the extra runtime and instead uses it to build the characters and move the story forward in a compelling way. This film doesn't feel like it's over 3 hours long. Finally, the action in this film is very well done. James Cameron is always great at making action sequences in his films and this one is no exception. Overall, this is a great visually stunning film.

There isn't much I found wrong with this film, just a minor thing I had an issue with. The issue I had is the direction they want with the villain. The film essentially revived the Colonel from the previous film to be the villain in this film which just felt lazy to me. Taking 12 years to make this movie, one would think they could come up with an original villain. While they still added to his character and took him in a new direction, I would have preferred that an original villain be used.

Overall, this is a very well made visually stunning film with a simple story that builds on the world established in the previous film. While I would have preferred James Cameron not to spend 30 years making Avatar movies, the content he is putting out is still top-tier.

Score:8.5/10 Grade: A- Recommendation: This is a must-watch in theaters.