The world of Pandora has been brought back to life after the long-awaited arrival since the release of Avatar in 2009. The sci-fi action movie Avatar: The Way of Water was released on December 16th, 2022. The film was directed by James Cameron and starred Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Kate Winslet, Stephen Lang, Sigourney Weaver, Cliff Curtis, Jamie Flatters, Trinity Bliss, Jack Champion, and Britain Dalton. After the 13-year wait since the first film was released, there was uncertainty about how they would pick up where they left off, as well as what would they do next. Avatar: The Way of Water surpassed my expectations. In this film, viewers will get to experience even more of Pandora than before as the film follows the Sully family’s adventure.

The Way of Water has a run time of three hours and twelve minutes, and while that may be off-putting to some, this definitely helped the film’s quality of experience. It takes its time to display the beauty and interactions in scenes and does not feel rushed in comparison to other films. The captivating visuals were astounding the amount of detail that went into the environment and the species that inhabit Pandora was breathtaking. The storytelling was my favorite aspect of the movie; it feels like the viewer is really there until they wake up at the end of the three hours and realize they are sadly back in reality. 

Unfortunately, it can’t always be peaceful on the planet Pandora. The fight scenes were incredibly well done and packed with emotion as the way of life on Pandora is at stake. As an audience member, they also feel their emotion and rage as they watch the events of the movie unfold, building up to its final fight. The special effects in Way of Water are absolutely amazing, it really has come a long way since the first movie. It portrays the actors’ emotions perfectly, as well as their body language and facial expressions.

The way the movie was left off leaves room for many possibilities of what could happen next. With the next movie being set for 2024 it is safe to say that we will not have to wait 13 years just to see what happens next.