Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

Cameron delivers a dazzling, immersive marine epic that expands Pandora's world with breathtaking visuals, heartfelt family elements, and thrilling action sequences, reminding viewers of his mastery of big-screen spectacle.

An exercise in Na’vi gazing that immerses viewers in a brilliantly realized ocean-floor nirvana through sophisticated visual effects and buoyant camera movement. Cameron makes stuff glow up real good in this transporting sequel.

The critic finds the mega-sequel a hugely entertaining follow-up that delivers on action, emotion, and thrilling 3-D visuals, with persuasive CGI and immersive underwater world-building that pulls viewers in despite basic narrative and dialogue. The expanded bio-diverse environment and visceral warfare keep it mesmerizing.

The critic calls it Cameron’s most personal film, spectacular in its underwater sequences and effects while centering family dynamics, identity, and belonging on Pandora. The dreamy whale-filled passages and cathartic final battles blend sincerity with the director’s signature corny-yet-ruthless emotional style.

The critic views the sequel as drowning in epic sincerity rather than feeling like a lazy cash grab, with exhausting worldbuilding but a grandly spectacular finale. He singles out the hint of Titanic in the closing sequences as a personal touch.

An extraordinary visual spectacle with superior motion-capture and effects, but the narrative lacks focus and emotional nuance compared to the original, making it more compelling as a visceral experience.

Cameron returns to Pandora with ecological themes and visual bedazzlements in this grand, muddled project. The embrace of adolescent idealism and moral outrage forms the emotional heart of the movie.

The film is an imperfect but imposing blockbuster that dazzles with supersized spectacle, sincere emotion, and ambitious world-building, though it falls short of Cameron's best in focused storytelling.

The film offers an enchanting visual world and feast for the eyes but is let down by a long, meandering story and underdeveloped characters, especially Neytiri.

The sequel is split by Cameron’s contradictory instincts between vegan nature-plumbing and hard-core weaponry. It features impressive underwater sequences and action choreography but feels long with some dawdling.

The critic finds the sequel visually impressive with stunning underwater scenes but ultimately forgettable and goofy, lacking emotional depth or lasting impact despite its spectacle and progressive themes.

The critic calls the film visually spectacular yet superfluous and a slavish remake of the original that feels like a three-hour borefest. He singles out the needless subplots and side stories that bloat the runtime without adding value.

The critic finds the film a disappointing, overlong and insipid follow-up that stretches a thin story into an expensive but inert epic. He singles out the soulless high-frame-rate underwater effects and lack of visual interest or genuine excitement.

The critic finds the sequel dismal, numbing, overlong and deadeningly obvious, lacking the groundbreaking immersiveness and sense of wonder of the first film.

The critic says the sequel more than fulfills the promise of the original, describing it as beautiful, obsessive and eventful in its depiction of a threatened Eden. He singles out the supreme care and technical achievement in creating hyper-realistic, never-before-seen environments and spectacular sea life for praise.

The critic finds the sequel a sophisticated evolution that adds emotional depth through family dynamics and character arcs alongside its technical wizardry. They single out the move to the ocean setting and the introduction of the intelligent, whale-like tulkun as highlights that enhance the environmental message.

The critic calls it one of the most breathtaking moviegoing experiences of 2022 and a masterclass in learning from the first film's weaknesses. They single out the improved script, family-focused character dynamics, and extraordinary visuals—especially the underwater sequences and third-act action.

The review calls the sequel bolder and better than the original, praising its expanded world-building, lived-in characters, family themes, breathtaking ocean sequences, and thrilling finale while noting it must be seen on the biggest screen possible.

The critic finds the film visually stunning with groundbreaking effects and immersive world-building but criticizes its thin plot, lack of character development, repetitive story beats, and intrusive high frame rate that undermines the visuals.