James Cameron introduced me to Pandora when I was in elementary school. If there is one film I could pinpoint that took me from movie lover to film enthusiast, it would be the 2009 predecessor of Avatar: The Way of Water (2022). You can imagine how excited I was about revisiting Pandora and the characters I fell in love with many years ago. As I settled into my seat, now an adult, to journey hundreds of light-years away, I felt a sudden sense of anxiety that the second installment of Cameron’s universe wouldn’t bring me the same sense of wonder and exhilaration as it did thirteen years ago. While this film, as expected, delivered a breathtaking spectacle, some of the recycled contents left me a little disappointed. 

If there was an Olympic gold medal for best visual effects, the team behind the Avatar films would have more medals than Michael Phelps. When the film opened with the shot of the hallelujah (floating) mountains, I got chills. Visually this film is in a league of its own, and I expected nothing less. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) continues to narrate his story, picking up right where he left off. He and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), who are still as in love as they were a decade ago, now have a family, two sons and two daughters. When a new ship of humans lands on the planet, they must wage war against on the sky people once again.

As the conflict was introduced during the first act, the setup was a little too similar to the first film–Na’vi against humans. I rolled my eye’s when Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang) was suddenly resurrected as an avatar with the same jarhead attitude and shit personality. I was pretty content with him being dead. The only thing that made this film different from the first was Jake’s decision to move his family elsewhere. 

We are taken to a new part of Pandora, the island tribes, where my sense of wonder was also suddenly resurrected. The sea of Pandora is just as beautiful as its forests, and all over again, we watch Jake, and his family, learn the traditions of the tribe. Cameron’s world-building is nothing less than a creative masterpiece where every detail makes Pandora seem more real than some of the National Geographic specials I’ve viewed. In this new landscape, we get to know more of Jake and Neytiri’s kids, Neteyam (Jamie Flatters), Kiri, Lo’ak, and Tuktirey/Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), as well as the Metkayina leaders (Kate Winslet and Cliff Curtis) and their children.

The second act introduces a lot of new content to this story. Relationships and possible future plotlines begin to develop. We see Jake and Neytiri as vulnerable parents. We watch Neteyam try to live up to his father while his younger brother Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) can’t seem to make the right decision. Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) cannot find her place in Pandora because of her unique conception and abilities. Meanwhile, the colonel is hunting the Sullys with his kidnapped son. If that sounds like a lot, it’s because it was. Cameron took the intimate approach he used to develop Jake and Neytiri in the first film and tried to apply it to all major characters while adding to an intricate world with almost too many important details. 

This is where I struggled.  If Avatar was the pilot episode, The Way of Water was the second episode dedicated to world-building rather than storytelling. It felt like the film was meant as a setup for the next three movies. As much as I hate to compare one film to another, it is inevitable with sequels, especially those created of this magnitude. Still, the film brought me a lot of emotion, and each cast member delivered impressive performances, making the film an extraordinary watch. The climactic battle was just as exciting and anxiety-inducing as the battles we saw as children; however, I still have a lot of questions and unresolved feelings (plus a pretty big cliffhanger). 

Cameron’s first Avatar film was so beautifully opened and shut. It’s hard not to be disappointed and overly critical of a movie that has been anticipated for over ten years. While Avatar can clearly stand alone as a great film, The Way of Water cannot stand without its forerunner. I fall between two sides, thinking that maybe there was no need to continue our voyage on Pandora, but I also crave more. The third, fourth, and fifth movies (thank god) will be released in a much tighter time frame than the one separating the first two films. I fear that Cameron’s masterpiece may fall into the Marvel trap where the films themselves are not as strong without considering them as a universe. The serialization of Avatar may be a mistake. That being said, I am still over the moon that I got to go back to Pandora, and I can hardly wait to go again.

Review Courtesy of Sara Ciplickas