Avatar: The Way of Water

James Cameron's Avatar movies are not exactly complicated. But considering that The Way of Water comes in at over three hours long, this epic Pandora ...

Although it took over a decade before James Cameron could bring audiences back to Pandora, we won’t have to wait as long to see how The Way of Water will influence Avatar 3. In the end, the Sullys are welcomed into the Metkayina clan and given permission to stay. But the very title of The Way of Water more or less alludes to Kiri’s arc as she learns to connect to Pandora’s essence. After an explosive battle that sees casualties on all sides — including the demise of Jake’s eldest son Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) — the drama boils down to Jake and Quaritch in a very personal, one-versus-one knife fight on a sinking ship. The hunt for the Sullys compels them to flee to a new corner of Pandora that is home to the Metkayina, a clan of Na’vi whose biology and culture are more attuned to the sea. And a lot happens to this family, with even more to come in the already-filmed Avatar 3.

James Cameron's science-fiction epic Avatar is the highest-grossing movie of all time. But it took 13 years to get a sequel into theaters.

EXCLUSIVE: We are hearing from our sources that James Cameron's sequel to his highest grossing movie in the world, Avatar: The Way of Water, is currently on ...

By way of comparison, a superhero movie often has 70+% of PreSales in for Preview Night/Opening Day. The Jon Landau produced sequel has also seen the largest share of 3D ticket sales on Fandango since 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Lower than 70% is a strong indicator of success. The Batman ran at 2 hours and 56 minutes, while Avatar: The Way of Water runs at 3 hours and 12 minutes. It’s for that reason why distribution sources are expecting this movie to hold weekend to weekend, even if it comes in the low end this weekend. I’m hearing that showtimes for prime 3D, Imax, Dolby and premium format viewings are hard to come by in LA, NYC and Phoenix.

It's the sequel to the highest-grossing film in movie history, and filmmaker James Cameron says he waited 13 years to make it so that film technology could ...

It was there at the start, Pandora's ecosystem in perfect balance until the arrival of humans, and "Avatar: Way Of Water" doubles down on that notion - no more talk of strip-mining unobtainium, possibly because it sounds silly. Now the reason humans have come to Pandora is they finally wrecked planet Earth and need a new planet to despoil. The concentration on family is new this time, but the thing that stayed constant so far is the filmmaker's obviously sincere passion about the environment. As lessons are learned, rivalries morph into friendships with the more aquatic teens... MONDELLO: While I shouldn't go into specifics, for long stretches, this movie belongs to the kids. But between the tattooed four-eyed whales and the rideable flying fish, he's arguably treading new water here - not so much in the plot department where he's recycling everything from "Moby Dick" and "Finding Nemo" to his own greatest hits reel, whole scenes that could have been lifted from "Aliens," "Terminator" and "Titanic." The visuals in this movie are astonishing, everything you'll have heard and then some, especially when Sully realizes that the humans are after him personally and he and his family join another branch of the Na'vi... "Avatar: The Way Of Water" opens this week on close to 54,000 screens worldwide. But when the sky people lit up the forest as they were landing and sparks floated persuasively enough out into the auditorium to have me briefly worrying about the hair of the woman sitting in front of me, I decided I was on board. But everything's basically fine until just a few minutes into the movie, they spot what looks like a new star in the heavens and realize that the sky people are back. BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE: More than a decade has passed since the Na'vi sent Pandora's invading humans packing, and their world seems to have more or less healed. Here's critic Bob Mondello to tell us, without spoilers, how that vision plays out.

Tal Minks '18, character animation alumna and soon-to-be psychology graduate, worked on Avatar: The Way of Water in his role as a lead animator for ...

To accomplish this, I have been applying to grad schools, and I hope to start my Ph.D. It may be tempting to try and fill your reel with acting shots (like I did), but I would encourage mastering body mechanics first. I hope to become a practicing neuropsychologist and behaviorally assess patients who have brain injury and trauma. That was at the base of my intentions in pursuing my second degree. The degree has also helped me in my lead animator role with Steamroller. If you are animating a creature shot, find reference, and before you touch the animation software, fully understand that reference. Understand how the joints and bones connect with the musculature. My team and I became very close over the couple years of the program, and I gained multiple long-lasting friendships. I was able to try my hand at many different roles in the animation pipeline, and I felt that I had a foundation from which I could choose to hone in on any one of those roles. Ever the learner, Minks hopes to continue his studies with a graduate degree while pursuing animation part-time. But for him, the movie represents more than a return to the world of Pandora — it’s a culmination of his hard work as a lead animator at Steamroller Animation, where he helped work on the film. It will be a nice reward after all the time and effort that was put into both.”

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Dec. 15, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Luxury fragrance powerhouse, House of Sillage, announces collaboration with Disney and...

House of Sillage is based in Newport Beach, California and produced in France. House of Sillage is releasing out-of-this-world, intricate, collectable luxury fragrance products to highlight the beautiful and exotic world of Pandora. The collection includes one Way of Water Limited-Edition Fragrance and one set of four Avatar Amplifier perfume droppers. Intricately presented in an enchanting Ilu silhouette design cap and embellished with diamond-cut Swarovski crystals, a hallmark of innovation and elegance. House of Sillage blends time-tested, hand craftsmanship with modern materials to create quality, creativity, and innovation and remains on the cutting edge of the fragrance industry, carving out a new category in luxury. 15, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Luxury fragrance powerhouse, House of Sillage, announces collaboration with Disney and James Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment’s theatrical release, Avatar: The Way of Water.

James Cameron proves he is still a master of big-screen spectacle in this sequel to the 2009 box-office smash—but the story is a bit of an afterthought.

[Samsung promo code - Up to 40% off + free shipping](https://www.wsj.com/coupons/samsung) [Kohl's Coupon 30% off sitewide](https://www.wsj.com/coupons/kohls) [Up to 15% off + free shipping at Wayfair](https://www.wsj.com/coupons/wayfair) Cameron, the director of the first two “Terminator” films, “True Lies,” “Aliens” and “Titanic,” seems to have lost interest in character, and even the story is a bit of an afterthought. “Way of Water” is an excursion in paradise. With “Avatar: The Way of Water,” Mr.

James Cameron's visually spectacular sequel sets up the future of Pandora and the Na'vi.

As a result of their loss, the family is also accepted by the ocean-dwelling Metkayina clan as their own. [Edie Falco](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004908/)) is pretty intense but is basically forgotten after giving Quaritch his mission. [Sigourney Weaver](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000244/)) acted as bridge between the humans and Na'vi, in addition to spearheading the avatar project that allowed Sully to become one of the blue aliens. The clone Quaritch was surprised to learn that Miles "Spider" Socorro ( [Jack Champion](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5607823/)), a human who's grown up with Sully and Neytiri's kids, was the son he abandoned in his old life. The baddie flies off on his ikran because he has to return in a sequel, while Spider returns to his Na'vi family. Director [James Cameron](/culture/entertainment/avatar-director-james-cameron-on-the-sequels-emotion-look-past-the-spectacle/) is back for more adventures on the lush world of Pandora, along with original stars [Sam Worthington](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0941777/) and [Zoe Saldaña](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0757855/) back as Na'vi heroes Jake Sully and Neytiri. This leaves Sully and Quatrich to have an intense one-on-one confrontation as the ship sinks (it even rears up like the Titanic). It allows them to see Neteyam, who fluctuates between his teenage self and a child as he talks to Sully. It's a close call, but Sully manages to defeat Quatrich in their nasty underwater fight and leaves him for dead. Kiri and Tuk manage to get themselves captured again, with Quatrich holding a knife to Kiri's throat as Sully confronts him. She was adopted by Sully and Neytiri, is a teenager by the time of the sequel and has some kind of special connection with Na'vi deity Eywa. They also launch a hunt for the treacherous human-turned-Na'vi Sully, leading us to the movie's final conflict.

With “Avatar: The Way of Water” hitting theaters this weekend, director James Cameron is gambling that audiences are ready to not only return to Pandora ...

"Allow that suspension of disbelief to happen and just lose yourself in the world of Pandora. Some shots may not need the tool at all." "When filmmakers make a movie, they try to instill a suspense of disbelief. If you try a high frame rate look, you ruin the suspense of disbelief." "The old way of doing high frame rate makes it look like sports or a documentary or a soap opera, and it kind of disengages that storytelling zone," Miller says. This means that 24 still images are displayed on the screen every second, creating the illusion of motion.

A blue alien rides a flying fish across the sea in Avatar 2 The Weight of. Disney. Last month my family and I visited Disney World for the ...

I recognized that sickness from early 3D presentations and rides like Star Tours, the effect of my eyes seeing something that my inner ear doesn't feel. [TV reviewer](/tech/home-entertainment/best-tv/) I've seen a lot of great-looking films, and Avatar: The Way of Water is one of the best. This was the first time I actually appreciated the value of smoother action in films. Some of the flying scenes and some of the broad vistas benefit from 48 frames," Cameron When the plot, pacing and premise fell short, I didn't really care, and even brief motion sickness didn't spoil my fun. Even with a runtime of 3 hours and 12 minutes, director James Cameron's epic kept me amazed at the visual experience the entire time.

Alissa Wilkinson covers film and culture for Vox. Alissa is a member of the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Society of Film Critics. I hated the ...

But film is primarily and fundamentally a visual medium; you can have a movie without a plot, without characters, without sound, but you can’t have a movie without images. What exactly you see will depend on which format you’re watching it in and the technical capabilities of your theater of choice. Or watching the entirety of the experimental and proudly illogical 2001: A Space Odyssey (which, by the way, finished second only to Funny Girl in box office receipts in 1968). I guess a blockbuster, even this one, mostly just exists to make a lot of money. This is not to say that the images in Avatar: The Way of Water are entirely pristine. There’s a moment to breathe, something to arrest the attention, an invitation to forget everything around you and lose yourself in majestic contemplation. Activities are completed, and connections between creatures are made, all of which will become crucial to the plot. (“The way of water connects all things” is the kind of line that sounds profound until you really think about it.) But this new Avatar filled an awe-shaped void in my heart, and for that, I thank James Cameron. (They’re called tulkun, and they are worth the price of admission.) But mostly, for long, gorgeous passages, it’s just the clearest blue water and glowing lights and an overwhelming sense of ... But peace never lasts, and when the sky people return and start to wage war, Jake Sully and his family have to head for shelter with a tribe of Na’vi who live next to, and largely in, the ocean. But for my money, the best thing a blockbuster can achieve is an overwhelming sense of awe.

Comscore Senior Media Analyst Paul Dergarabedian joins Yahoo Finance Live to explain why the "Avatar" sequel has the potential to perform well in international ...

The biggest movie of the year is now hitting theaters around the globe but will the movie eventually head to Netflix? Well, the chances are you know the ...

Internationally, they state the movie may be available on Disney+ as soon as March 2023. The biggest movie of the year is now hitting theaters around the globe but will the movie eventually head to Netflix? Firstly, the movie’s distributor, 20th Century Fox, is no longer independent after Disney’s acquisition in 2016.

Raymond Knowles, the world's biggest fan of James Cameron's sci-fi blockbuster, is covered in 'Avatar' tattoos and drives an 'Avatar'-decorated truck.

“Of course the beautiful Neytiri,” he added in his post, “which inspired me to do all that I have done and will to continue to do. I just loved everything about it.” He admires the “beautiful graphic scenery” and “the many similarities to our own planet” reflected in the alien world of Pandora. Cameron will top it with the next one and the following ones. “I will always watch Avatar in IMAX theaters,” Knowles explains. While Knowles won’t hesitate to share YouTube videos about how Avatar: The Way of Water “will change movies forever,” he’s careful not to set expectations too high. He admits that his answer is “yes and no.” What was it about the original Avatar that Knowles found so electrifying? Avatar.” According to his customers in Edmonton, Knowles is a nice, knowledgeable guy who does great work, and he’ll happily pose for a photo or discuss his cinematic passion with anyone interested. [Avatar](https://www.rollingstone.com/t/avatar/) saga — four additional movies in all. [James Cameron](https://www.rollingstone.com/t/james-cameron/)’s 2009 sci-fi epic [Avatar](https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-reviews/avatar-251996/) was supposed to hit theaters in 2014. “People think I’m obsessed,” Knowles says. At long last, the film [debuts this week](https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-reviews/avatar-the-way-of-water-james-cameron-environment-navi-zoe-saldana-1234644855/).

The big-budget film hits theaters globally today, and with its gigantic price tag, it has to become one of the highest-grossing movies of all time to break even ...

It also got the green light to [premiere in China](https://fortune.com/2022/12/10/avatar-2-china-release-profit-james-cameron-movie-box-office/), which is never a given for Hollywood movies given the criteria they need to meet [to be released there](https://time.com/4649913/china-remaking-global-film-industry/), and on the conservative side, Variety estimates that “initial returns [from Chinese cinemas] could reach $100 million by Sunday” in addition to the $22 million in advance sales. [FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Charged With Fraud](https://time.com/6240579/ftx-sam-bankman-fried-arrested-bahamas/?utm_source=roundup&utm_campaign=20221213)by SEC After Arrest in the Bahamas [an interview with Total Film](https://www.gamesradar.com/avatar-3-james-cameron-box-office-way-of-water-interview/), Cameron said that the franchise will end with Avatar 3 if the second one underperforms at the box office. [reported to have cost](https://variety.com/2022/film/box-office/avatar-way-of-water-box-office-opening-weekend-projections-1235459227/) Disney $350 million, according to Variety. Avatar: The Way of Water needs to make $1.49 billion to clinch the top spot for 2022, and it There are a multitude of reasons why it cost so much money and took so much time to make the second Avatar movie. That puts it ahead of early projections for Top Gun: Maverick, which currently ranks as the most successful movie this year. Reviews aside, it remains to be seen how the movie will perform and if it will reach the heights of its predecessor. “For the sequels, Cameron wanted to use the same motion capture tech for actors while they were submerged underwater, an unheard-of feat that required years to engineer a solution.” Cameron also decided to film the second and third movies together, which took three years to complete. This, on top of the time it took for post-production, all adds up to the 13-year wait. But if its current rating of 80% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes is any indication, a majority ultimately did enjoy the sequel for the visual spectacle that it is. Domestic box office projections are strong and reviews sway positive in general, but the coming days will offer a better sense of whether it’s on track to meet its lofty ambitions.

Preview screenings for James Cameron and Disney's “Avatar: The Way of Water” reached $17 million domestically. A whopping 61% of Thursday's domestic tickets ...

"Avatar" ultimately generated $760 million in the U.S. Meanwhile, in Asia-Pacific, which includes Korea, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, 39% of box office receipts were for these more expensive showings. At the time, theatrical windows typically ran for 75 to 90 days. The second-highest was "Wakanda Forever" with 17% 3D showings. In Europe, 71% of tickets sold came from 3D and premium format showings. Heading into the weekend the "Avatar" sequel saw an even split between the number of 3D screens and 2D screens.

After several delays across 13 years, “Avatar: The Way of Water,” the sequel to the highest-grossing movie of all time, has arrived in theaters, ...

With rave reviews and a resurgence of [Pandora fever](https://variety.com/2022/film/features/avatar-depression-fans-the-way-of-water-1235460636/), “The Way of Water” has officially started to make the box-office climb. So far, Disney reported “The Way of Water” has sold $38 million in advance ticket sales, putting it above “Top Gun: Maverick” ($126 million opening) and “Jurassic World Dominion” ($145 million opening), but behind “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” Cameron’s film looks to outpace “Thor: Love and Thunder” ($144 million opening) and “The Batman” ($134 million opening), the other top debuts of 2022. [Avatar: The Way of Water](https://variety.com/t/avatar-the-way-of-water/),” the sequel to the highest-grossing movie of all time, has arrived in theaters, and it’s earned a solid $17 million in previews at the domestic box office.

For Avatar: The Way of Water, a new cinematic journey from 20th Century Studios and Lightstorm Entertainment, Academy Award^®-winning filmmaker James Cameron ...

“I could see everybody where they’re supposed to be, above or below the water, and I could talk to them over the diver address system,” he says. “They were acting to real-time direction based on what I was seeing on the Virtual Camera.” We didn’t want to do what people called ‘dry for wet.’ We wanted to put Zoe Saldaña, Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, and others in water—to have them feel the current, the movement, the waves, and to give a performance. “We look at every actor and every performance at a frame-by-frame level to make sure it matches,” explains Letteri. The computer’s taking data from one volume, data from the other volume, and in real time integrates all that information and shows me on my Virtual Camera people coming and going, swimming up, getting out onto a dock, or diving in and swimming underwater. “The actors really enjoyed it,” Cameron says. “If there was somebody down there holding the light, they were holding their breath. “We could do waves breaking on the shore and have people trying to get out of the water while they’re getting hit by waves. We could create wave interaction with the creatures and people surfacing, getting hit by a wave, trying to say their lines, and trying to breathe at the same time.” A propeller system dubbed “the racetrack,” which included two 6-foot- diameter ship propellers, was used to drive the current in the tank. “It was only a 10-knot current,” he explains, “but we were able to make it look much faster for the film.” And the emotion was real.” “It looks real because the motion was real.

"Avatar: The Way of Water" lives up to box office expectations, already closing in on $100 million worldwide as it heads into opening weekend.

We can look back at The Terminator, at Aliens, at Titanic, at Avatar, and now at Avatar: The Way of Water and see the same mistaken assessments and the same eagerness to see Cameron and his films collapse amid a pile of hubris and humiliation, and every time the films rose to the occasion and exceeded expectations. And this all raises a big important point: all of the years of talk about Avatar lacking social footprint, lacking staying power, lacking public awareness or interest, and not having much to justify its existence on merit are washed away as easily as sand on a beach. The core audience who will revisit the film over and over in theaters are now gearing up to arrive. Avatar: The Way of Water is still on course for a $180-200 million domestic opening, and a massive $500-600 million global bow. In an interesting side note, even the World Cup and the arrival of Avatar 2 didn’t suppress Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s ability to hold well as it heads into the weekend. James Cameron’s long-awaited sequel to 2009’s chart-topping Avatar has arrived, and early numbers point to another major box office result and widespread acclaim for Avatar: The Way of Water.

Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is the chief of the Omaticaya clan and is raising a family with Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña). The couple has two sons, named Lo'ak ( ...

Cliff Curtis and Kate Winslet, as the heads of the Metkayina clan, bring a sense of regality to the whole affair. The action sequences should be dynamic, colorful, and pack a wallop. The way he allows his insecurities to show while exuding a great level of care for every single member of his family is incredible to watch. Zoe Saldaña was the highlight of the first film, and she continues to be so in the sequel. Almost a whole hour is dedicated to dissecting everything that fuels the culture of the Metkayina clan. Sigourney Weaver as Kiri is, to everyone’s surprise, the heart of the film. Within the first 15-20 minutes of the film, James Cameron and his team establish the themes they are going to tackle. Much like its predecessor, “The Way of Water” isn’t non-stop action and is deliberately paced so that you can relate to these characters and also immerse yourself in this new area of Pandora. Then the plot picks up several years later when things are on the brink of a breakdown, and this legend reappears to make things right again. The reason behind that is the sense of tangibility that is brought about by the editors, sound designers, and composer Simon Franglen, as well as Cameron’s mastery over the medium of cinema. On an individual level, they show us how every single one of Jake and Neytiri’s children is different from the others. And now, he’s back with “Avatar: The Way of Water,” with which he shows what CGI, VFX, SFX, and heartfelt storytelling are capable of achieving if they’re in the right hands.

The film has a 94% audience score on the site from fans who have seen it. Why it matters: Cameron claims the sequel will need to earn $2 billion globally just ...

- "We'll see how this sequel goes," says Robbins. [The highest-grossing films of all time](https://www.axios.com/2022/12/16/highest-grossing-films-all-time) [told Variety](https://variety.com/2022/film/news/james-cameron-end-avatar-franchise-three-films-sequels-fail-1235425232/) he's prepared to give up on "Avatar," which has three more sequels planned, if "The Way of Water" isn't successful. [highest-grossing film](https://www.axios.com/2022/12/16/highest-grossing-films-all-time) of all time [could pay off](https://www.axios.com/2022/12/13/avatar-save-struggling-box-office). [Hollywood Reporter](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/avatar-the-way-of-water-eyes-best-box-office-opening-1235281397/). Early reaction to "Avatar: The Way of Water" suggests director James Cameron's $2 billion bet on a sequel to the

Photo: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection. If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our ...

“In terms of the way that I approach work, I seem to have gone back to the way I started, which is just to give 120 percent and do the homework and go to bed early and focus on my work. How can fans watch Avatar: The Way of Water online for free? Here’s [how to subscribe for free](https://stylecaster.com/disney-plus-free-trial/). Get More Unlimited, Play More Unlimited, Verizon Plan Unlimited, Go Unlimited, Beyond Unlimited and Above Unlimited.) If you have one of these plans, you can sign-up for a free six-month Disney+ subscription (which saves you about $42.) [Click here for Verizon’s FAQ](https://www.verizon.com/support/disney-bundle-faqs/) on how to sign up for its free Disney+ subscription. The Avatar: The Way of Water cast includes Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldaña, who reprised their roles as Jake Sully and Neytiri respectively from 2009’s Avatar. See the full Avatar: The Way of Water cast below. [Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness](https://stylecaster.com/how-to-watch-doctor-strange-in-the-multiverse-of-madness/) became available to stream on Disney Plus on June 22, 2022—47 days after its theatrical premiere on May 6, 2022. It took the next Marvel movie [Eternals](https://stylecaster.com/harry-styles-eternals/)—which premiered on November 5, 2021—68 days to arrive on Disney Plus on January 12, 2022. The Duo Basic saves subscribers $5.99 per month from subscribing to Hulu and Disney Plus’ ad-supported plans individually; Trio Basic saves subscribers $12.98 per month from subscribing to Hulu, Disney Plus and ESPN Plus’ ad-supported plans individually; and Trio Premium saves subscribers $15.98 per month from subscribing to Hulu and Disney Plus’ no-ads plans and ESPN Plus’ ad-supported plan individually. “Certainly when we planned we didn’t anticipate the resurgence of Covid.” Despite Chapek’s 45-day announcement, it took [Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings](https://stylecaster.com/awkwafina-shang-chi/)—which premiered on September 3, 2021—total of 70 days to arrive on Disney Plus on November 12, 2021. [Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings](https://stylecaster.com/watch-shang-chi-online-free/)—the first Disney and Marvel movie since the current health crisis to not stream on Disney Plus Premier Access at the same time as its theatrical release—would be available to stream 45 days after its premiere in theaters. Avatar: The Way of Water is the sequel to 2009’s Avatar, James Cameron’s sci-fi epic set in the mid-22nd century as humans colonize the world of Pandora, a thriving moon of a gas giant in the Alpha Centauri star system, to mine the valuable mineral, unobtanium.

An exclusive invitation from James Cameron to join him at his VF/X Club Med.

The near-absence of characters’ substance and inner lives isn’t a bug but a feature of both “Avatar” films, and, with the expanded array of characters in “The Way of Water,” that psychological uniformity is pushed into the foreground, along with the visual styles. Though endowed with great skill in crafts, athletics, and martial arts, they don’t have anything to offer themselves or one another in the way of non-martial arts; they don’t print or record, sculpt or draw, and they have no audiovisual realm like the one of the movie itself. The watery light and its undulations are attractions in themselves, but the spotlight is on the flora and fauna with which Cameron populates the sea—most prominently, luminescent ones, such as anemone-like fish that light the way for deep-sea swimmers who have a spiritual connection to them, and tendril-like plants that grow from the seafloor and serve as a final resting place for deceased reef people. Putting the movie’s design in the forefront does “The Way of Water” no favors. Despite the martial exploits of Neytiri, a sharpshooter with a bow and arrow, and of Ronal, who goes into battle while very pregnant, the superficial badassery is merely a gestural feminism that does little to counteract the patriarchal order of the Sullys and their allies. The screenplay builds the action anecdotally, with a variety of sidebars and digressions that don’t develop characters or evoke psychology but, rather, emphasize what the movie is selling as its strong point—its visual enticements and the technical innovations that make them possible. Jake’s statement of paternal purpose is emblematic of the thudding dialogue; compared to this, the The Metkayina queen, Ronal (Kate Winslet), is wary of the newcomers, fearing that the arrival of Na’vis seeking refuge from the marauders will make the islands a target, but the king, Tonowari (Cliff Curtis), welcomes the Sullys nonetheless. Two boys, a Na’vi and a Metkayina, fight after one demands, “I need you to respect my sister”; afterward, Jake, getting a glimpse at his bruised and bloodied son, is delighted to learn that the other boy got the worst of it. By contrast, [James Cameron](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/10/26/man-of-extremes-james-cameron-profile-avatar), who delivered the original “ [Avatar](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/01/04/going-native-movie-reviews-avatar-sherlock-holmes)” in 2009, has delivered its sequel, “ [Avatar: The Way of Water](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/the-current-cinema/12/26/avatar-the-way-of-water-is-split-by-james-camerons-contradictory-instincts),” thirteen years later, in which time he has directed no other feature films—and, though he doubtless has lived, the sole experience that the new movie suggests is a vacation on an island resort so remote that few outside visitors have found it. The island is the home of the Metkayina, the so-called reef people, who—befitting their nearly amphibian lives—have a greenish cast to contrast with Na’vi blue; they also have flipper-like arms and tails. The couple’s foster son, Spider (Jack Champion), a full-blooded human, is the biological child of Jake’s archenemy, Colonel Miles Quaritch, who was killed in the earlier film.

In the original “Avatar,” actors such as Sam Worthington, Stephen Lang, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez and Joel David Moore all appeared on screen in ...

“He’s a rebel, sort of a guy who gets in trouble and a screw-up in that way,” Dalton Filip Geljo plays Aonung, a young male hunter and free diver of the Metkayina who happens to be Tonowari and Ronal’s son. “She does not see herself as the youngest,” the actor told Variety. “The family might be protective of her, but she sees that as underestimation. “Even in the face of grave danger, and with an unborn baby on board, she still joins her people and fights for what she holds most dear: her family and their home.” “To get to see yourself in the film… “But we were really led by a terrific team of professionals who were with us every step of the way, making sure that we were as safe as one can possibly be when one is doing a knife fight 25 feet below the surface. It’s a relatively straightforward reveal in “The Way Water,” but still one that’s best to discover in theaters. “Doing the water work was challenging and difficult,” he “I got to work with my idol at a very early stage of my career,” she said. Jake is the leader of the Pandora forest tribe, known as the Omaticaya people. In the original “Avatar,” actors such as Sam Worthington, Stephen Lang, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez and Joel David Moore all appeared on screen in their own bodies for significant amounts of screen time.

Commentary: I (mostly) loved it, high frame rate smoothness and all.

I recognized that sickness from early 3D presentations and rides like Star Tours, the effect of my eyes seeing something that my inner ear doesn't feel. [reviewer of televisions](/tech/home-entertainment/best-tv/) I've seen a lot of great-looking films, and Avatar: The Way of Water is one of the best. This was the first time I actually appreciated the value of smoother action in films. Some of the flying scenes and some of the broad vistas benefit from 48 frames," Cameron When the plot, pacing and premise fell short, I didn't really care, and even brief motion sickness didn't spoil my fun. Even with a runtime of 3 hours and 12 minutes, director James Cameron's epic kept me amazed at the visual experience the entire time.