James Cameron spent thirteen years and a reported $350–460 million getting back to Pandora. Avatar: The Way of Water answers the only question that mattered: was the wait worth it? Mostly, yes — but the film’s best ideas arrive late and its worst habits run the full 192 minutes.
Trailer, via Avatar.
Jake Sully Leaves the Forest
The sequel picks up sixteen years after the Na’vi drove the Resources Development Administration off Pandora. Jake Sully is now chief of the Omatikaya clan. He and Neytiri have two sons, Neteyam and Lo’ak, a daughter, Tuk, and an adopted daughter, Kiri, born from the inert avatar of Dr. Grace Augustine.
The RDA returns to colonize the moon. Among the colonists are recombinants — Na’vi avatars implanted with the memories of dead human soldiers. One of them is Colonel Miles Quaritch, killed by Neytiri in the first film and now back in a blue body with the same grudge.
Quaritch captures Jake’s children; Jake and Neytiri free them. He also captures Spider, the teenaged human son he never knew, and the two spend time together while Spider teaches him Na’vi culture and language. Knowing Spider’s knowledge could lead Quaritch to the Omatikaya, Jake moves his family to Pandora’s eastern sea and seeks asylum with the Metkayina, an aquatic clan led by Tonowari and his pregnant wife, Ronal.
The Reef, the Tulkun, and Payakan
This is where The Way of Water stops being a retread. The Sully children learn Metkayina ways, and Lo’ak befriends Tsireya, Tonowari’s daughter. Aonung, Tonowari’s son, and his friends strand Lo’ak in a dangerous part of the sea. A shark-like predator closes in. Payakan — a Tulkun, a highly intelligent whale-like creature — saves him.
The Tulkun thread carries the film’s real weight. Brendan Cowell plays Captain Mick Scoresby, a hunter of the Tulkun, and Jemaine Clement plays Dr. Ian Garvin, the marine biologist on his payroll. The hunt is the one sequence where Cameron’s technology and his moral anger point the same direction.
The cast splits into two clear halves:
- Returning: Sam Worthington as Jake, Zoe Saldaña as Neytiri, Stephen Lang as Quaritch, Sigourney Weaver as Dr. Grace Augustine
- New or expanded: Kate Winslet as Ronal, Cliff Curtis as Tonowari, Edie Falco as General Frances Ardmore, Bailey Bass as Tsireya
Sigourney Weaver pulls double duty, voicing the teenage Kiri while also reprising Grace Augustine. It is the strangest and most interesting piece of casting in the film.
What the Water Costs
| Element | Avatar (2009) | The Way of Water (2022) |
|---|---|---|
| Setting | Forest, Omatikaya clan | Eastern sea, Metkayina clan |
| Antagonist | Colonel Quaritch, human | Quaritch, recombinant Na’vi |
| Runtime | — | 192 minutes |
| Budget | — | $350–460 million (estimated) |
| Filmed | — | Simultaneously with Avatar: Fire and Ash |
The production itself is a story. Two sequels were announced after the 2009 film’s success, with the first aiming for 2014. Two more were added, bringing the total to five, and new technology had to be built to film motion-capture scenes underwater. Filming began in Manhattan Beach, California, on August 15, 2017, moved to Wellington, New Zealand the following month, and wrapped in September 2020.
That timeline explains a lot. The underwater work is genuinely new; the plotting is not. Cameron and his co-writers — Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Josh Friedman and Shane Salerno — spend the first hour reassembling the first film’s machinery before letting the ocean take over.
The Way of Water is a technical triumph carrying a familiar story. The Metkayina, the Tulkun, and Payakan’s bond with Lo’ak give the franchise somewhere to go. Quaritch’s recombinant body gives it a villain who can evolve. But 192 minutes is a long time to spend on a family relocation, and the film’s middle stretch mistakes patience for depth.
The score is 6.7 of 10.
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