While being a visual feast for the eyes on the surface level, Avatar: The Way of Water has nothing beneath the waves to hold viewers for the over three-hour runtime.

First, let's get it out of the way. This movie looks very pretty. The CGI work to make not only the Navi, but the entire world look realistic is incredibly impressive. Unfortunately, these fantastic visuals are not presented in any interesting way. The cinematography leaves much to be desired. It is not bad per se, but nothing is done to uplift the incredible CGI work. Once the luster of the visuals fade, there is not much to hold the viewers eye for the rest of the movie. This is also overlooking the strange framerate issues that pop-up throughout the film. These inconsitencies immediately pull you out of the experience.

Outside of visuals, Avatar: The Way of Water has little story to justify its runtime. The middle portion of this film needed a weed-whacker to cut away at least 30-minutes, if not more. The characters offer very little to keep the audience interested, and outside of a handful of well acted scenes and emotional moments, there is little fat on this steak.

And that this is the movie's biggest flaw. Why, with an over three-hour runtime, does this movie feel so empty? It's because it is. Devling past the surface-level beauty, viewers will find very little to tide them over.