With a runtime of 192 minutes (3 hours and 12 minutes), Avatar: The Way of Water takes audiences back to the fictional world of Pandora. Set a decade and a half after Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) decides to forgo his life with ‘sky people’ and become a part of the beautiful Na’vi clan. He has come a long way in life. He not only married Ney’tiri (Zoe Saldana) but they also have four children now: Neteyam (Jamie Flatters), Lo’ak (Britain Dalton), Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), and an adopted daughter, Kiri (Sigourney Weaver).
While life seems all good and beautiful at first with the sky people nowhere around, the film takes a massive turn within the first half hour by bringing back a troop of sky people led by Stephen Lang’s Colonel Miles Quaritch, who is now somewhat a part of Pandora. This time, he’s got revenge on his mind. His only goal is to watch Jake crumble. Their clash leads Jake, Ney’tiri, and their children to leave the forest-dwelling community and find refuge with the Metkayina Na’vi tribe, led by Cliff Curtis’ Tonowari and Kate Winslet’s Ronal. The forest dwellers now learn the ways of the water while preparing for an inevitable clash with Quaritch’s troop of sky people.
Avatar: The Way of Water comes with massive expectations, considering James Cameron made fans wait for 13 years before he returned to Pandora. The director, who has delivered some of the most memorable cinematic experiences, lives up to visual expectations. Avatar: The Way of Water is far richer and bigger than its 2009 precedent. Cameron plays it smart with both halves, banking on nostalgia in the first half while serenading us with the new world in the second.
