All there is to take away from The Way of Water is the fact that James Cameron cares so little about a story for an Avatar movie and likes to blow that insane budget on mindblowing special effects that are supposed to rivet you by themselves. He expects you to be so invested in the beauty of the 3D fantasy world of Pandora, that you're supposed to forget about the elements that really matter; story, compelling characters, good dialogue and entertainment value. The 2021 sci-fi epic Dune had the exact same problem, but it felt like that movie cared more about the audience than the long-awaited sequel to Avatar does.

Film and TV reviews are always meant to give credit to where it's due in the movie or series, so we'll start by stating the obvious/the thing you've heard a trillion times by the time of seeing this review, but the budget of over $300 million dollars is put to some good technical use by delivering an immersive 3D experience that viewers hungry for stunning visuals will enjoy Avatar: The Way of Water for. 13 years have passed and technology has obviously improved a lot since 2009, so the cinematography, special effects and picture quality are more advanced, and watch this film in 3D is an absolute hallucination. The fantastical creatures, underwater sequences, humanoid aliens, colours and action deliver the same effect as the first film, making you ask what's CGI, what's shot in real life and how this is all possible.

However, this movie thinks it can crawl away from criticism if it's able to impress us with the visual effects, even if it's lacking of elements that are much more simple, though much more important. The story consists around daily events as Jake Sully has now had a family with Neytiri, and a lot of the film focuses on their parenting or the kids getting themselves into trouble. There is no connection at all to the problems the characters must face, the characters themselves, or the uninteresting fantasy world we're supposed to care about. Therefore, this film is extremely boring, unoriginal, predictable and messy. Unless special effects are enough to impress you, Avatar or movies like it don't deserve your money, time or support, and you should shouldn't be afraid to skip it in a heartbeat.

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