The sequel to the biggest film of all time is finally here. Alex Casey and Stewart Sowman-Lund weigh in with their reactions to Avatar 2: The Way of Water.

1. I actually kind of love 3D

It’s been so long since 3D disappeared from the world that watching Avatar 2 in IMAX was the first time I’ve had to grapple with wearing regular glasses at the same time as those obscene 3D goggles. Yes, the last time I watched a 3D movie, my vision was apparently all good. But regardless of the uncomfortable heaviness on my nose as I juggled two pairs of glasses, I was absolutely in awe of the 3D achievements in Avatar 2. This is far more than just a movie where a few gun shots come flying at the screen (although – spoiler – that does happen a bit), but it’s a cinematic experience where the 3D actually immerses you in the world of Pandora. The underwater scenes where characters were swimming through tunnels slowly filling with water were particularly claustrophobic. / Stewart Sowman-Lund

2. Big freaky sea creatures

For all the movie genres that Avatar 2 spans, my favourite is when Cameron stops making an action movie, or a family drama, or a David Attenborough documentary, and leans hard into making a big old creature feature. The arrival of the Tulkun, a 300-foot-long mega genius whale with the emotional intelligence of Mother Theresa or something, is a truly jaw-dropping bombshell that enters the undersea villa. When she starts seeking revenge on the nasty hunters? Talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show-stopping, spectacular. / Alex Casey

3. It’s very long… but maybe not too long?

I realised at about the two hour and 40 minute mark of The Way of Water that the film is longer than Hamilton: the Musical (including its intermission). It is undoubtedly a long movie. That being said, the first and last hours absolutely whizzed by for me. The middle hour is pretty chatty – more on the dialogue below – but aside from leaving the theatre with stiff joints I didn’t mind the overall runtime.  / SSL

4. The HFR still looks kinda weird

Remember when Shortland Street went HD and Chris Warner suddenly looked like he was tottering around the hospital like Charlie Chaplin on fast-forward? I remember the exact same uncanny feeling when they shot and projected The Hobbit at double the frame rate (48fps instead of 24fps), leading to a bunch of think pieces about whether or not HFR is the future of filmmaking or if it just looks really weird. 

Avatar 2 incorporates a blend of HFR and regular frame rate using some truly brainiac maths equation logic from James Cameron. I’ll let him explain himself: “In any part of the scene that we want at 24fps, we just double the frames. And so, they actually show the same frame twice, but, but the viewer doesn’t see it that way. And so essentially we’re just using a simple hack to use the high frame rate platform that already exists.”

I don’t really understand a word of that but I bring it up because I occasionally noticed some of the wider action sequences of Avatar 2 leaning a bit Chris Warner as Charlie Chaplin, and it snapped me out of feeling completely immersed under the flipper of a big busted whale. Once again, early opinion is split. Some say that the HFR is “endlessly distracting” whereas others call it “the first great high frame movie”. My take? I would simply use fewer frames. / AC

5. There are some incredible clangers

You don’t need to have the lung capacity of Kate Winslet to hold your breath until the first line of Corny Cameron dialogue. I can’t quite remember if it was “feeling blue?” or “why so blue” but there’s definitely a blue reference early on that is so on the nose they might as well have got Eiffel 65 to do the official soundtrack. “You’re grounded – no flying for a month,” was another delightful bit of wordplay that got a small golf clap from me. There’s also a distracting amount of adolescent boy humour (“butthole” “penis face” etc) but perhaps that is just what happens when the writer is trapped in the body of an 11-year-old dirtbiker. / AC

6. The Na’vi really like to say ‘bro’ and ‘cuz’

Alex has already commented on the shifty dialogue in The Way of Water (most noticeable during the middle hour), but what stuck out to me even more than the classic Cameron clangers was the absolute abundance of blue aliens saying “bro” and “cuz”. / SSL

7. Why Winslet?

I get that Cameron has been trying to get Winslet back in the drink since 1997, but I didn’t realise that she would be playing Ronal, who leads the Metkanyina Clan of water Na’vi with her husband Tonowari (played by Cliff Curtis). Given that this tribe in particular freely borrows Māori elements including tā moko, pūkana, and even a “space haka”, having Winslet in this role seems like an extremely bizarre casting choice to say the very least. / AC

8. This is the definition of a Hollywood blockbuster

Every couple of months Marvel pumps out another billion dollar popcorn flick and I happily cough up to see it on the biggest screen. But Avatar 2 successfully made me question whether I should be doing that. This is what a Hollywood blockbuster really is. It’s more than just IP running around in front of a greenscreen, it’s a fully realised world that couples extraordinary effects with some genuine – though occasionally cloying – emotion. The most recent example I can think of is Top Gun Maverick, another sequel that dominated the box office for months and yet proved that dumb action movies can be more than money makers, but proper movies. / SSL

9. You could also easily not watch it

I will admit I was moved to tears by the plight of the Tulkun (huge fan of Magic in the Water over here, which I can only assume was a huge touchstone for Cameron) and since the screening have felt a deep urge to watch more Blue Planet and really get “into” the sea more. But overall, I left Avatar 2 with the exact same overall feeling in my soul as Avatar 1: I’m not mad that I watched it, but I have absolutely no desire to ever watch it ever again. / AC

10. But if you are going to see it, see it at the cinema

If you do want to watch The Way of Water you should definitely “splash out” on the full IMAX 3D experience. Whether you like the smooth 48fps or not, that is how James Cameron intended it to be watched etc. Go all out, see it for yourself – and then decide whether you enjoyed it. I had an incredible time, and yet I really doubt I’ll be clamouring to watch it when it finally comes out on Disney+ in about two years time. / SSL