13 years after the hit box office movie, “Avatar” came out, the long awaited sequel “Avatar: The Way of Water” was finally released in theaters Dec. 16. With a runtime of three hours and 12 minutes, “Avatar: The Way of Water” still manages to prove to audiences that a three hour film can be extremely well done. 

In the 13 years since the first movie was released, James Cameron hasn’t only been making the first of the four sequels to be released, he has also been writing, directing and filming each of them back to back. But before he finished the fourth film, he decided to release the second movie for audiences all around the world.

Taking place 14 years after the events of the first film, after Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) became one of the Navi, he and his wife Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) have formed a family of their own with three biological children and one adopted daughter. They have two biological sons named Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) and Lo’ak (Britain Dalton), along with one daughter named Tuktirey (Trinity Bliss), while their adopted daughter is named Kiri (Sigourney Weaver). 

One day while the Sully family is living life peacefully on Pandora, the humans on earth manage to make their way back to the planet in search of Jake Sully. Leading the humans is the antagonist from the previous film, Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang). Although this time his memory has been restored to an Avatar body, due to him being killed in the first film. 

Before I went to watch “Avatar: The Way of Water,” my expectations were pretty high due to the fact that this movie took 13 years to come out and that it was over three hours long. Thankfully, “Avatar: The Way of Water” did not disappoint. It definitely met my expectations, I might even say exceeded them. 

Every single actor did a fantastic job in their role and showed emotion and passion in their part. But I would say my favorite character was Lo’ak. He was definitely the most relatable and realistic character out of them all. He felt alone and that he was always disappointing people which made him by far the most interesting character.

The only issue I really have with the movie was one of the supporting characters, Spider (Jack Champion). He wasn’t an awful character but was definitely one of the most annoying. However, almost every other aspect of the movie was so perfect that it was easy to look past.

Even though a second “Avatar” movie has been in the works for over a decade, the long wait has made fans of the original film upset. Despite the sequel being very well put together, it was absurd how long it took for it to come out. The third film won’t take as long to make its way to theaters, as it is set to be released Dec. 20 of 2024.

If you haven’t already, definitely make sure to check out “Avatar: The Way of Water” as soon as you can. It is definitely worth the time.

“Avatar: The Way of Water:” ★★★★★