In 2009, Avatar changed the cinema. The audience had never seen such realistic graphics and such 3D. The plot was also simple ( even if with deep thought ), but it was not for the sake of it the audience went to the sessions. Everyone wanted to see realistic blue men and gorgeous views.

One gets the sense that Cameron tried very hard to outdo the first part – but only partially succeeded. Either technology hasn’t advanced that much in 13 years, or there’s nowhere else to grow.

There are two things that Cameron has noticeably improved. First of all, it’s about filming in water. Until now, no one has ever shown the underwater world so beautifully. The spectacle is so mesmerizing that the reality is completely forgotten. Algae, various fish, huge whales and na’vi, which look harmonious even at depth. At such moments, the film wants to be applauded.

To achieve the desired effect, the director invented a new technology of motion capture, and made the actors practice their lungs and dive to the depths without scuba diving. For example, the wife of Chief Metcain is played by Kate Winslet: she learned not to breathe for longer than 7 minutes.

As for the plot, 15 years have passed since the events of the first movie. Jake Sully still lives in the Na’vi forest tribe and is their leader. 

However, the RDA corporation is preparing a new wave of colonization of Pandora. They clone Colonel Quaritch’s avatar, downloading the original’s memories and desire for revenge on the traitor Sally. The Colonel opens a hunt for Jake and his family, driving them farther and farther into new corners of Pandora.

Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), reincarnated as a Na’vi hybrid, has a large family with his chosen one, Neytiri (Zoe Saldana). They now have three children of their own: oldest son Neteyam, middle son Lo’ac, and youngest Tuck. In addition to them is an adopted teenage daughter, Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), miraculously born from the comatose body of Weaver’s character Na’vi. The family also has close ties with Spider (Jack Champion), the son of the antagonist of the first film, Colonel Miles Quatrich. The military had to leave him on Pandora during the evacuation – because Spyder was still a baby who couldn’t be placed in a cryosleep capsule.

As you can easily predict, so many new characters of different ages and backgrounds is an obvious lead-in to the sequels. Each child has their own quite predictable role in the story, and in “The Way of the Water” they’ve only just begun to be revealed. And, of course, a good portion of the film’s 3-hour running time is spent developing the relationships between Sally’s family and the other characters, as well as within Sally herself.

That said, the plot outline for The Way of the Water specifically is pretty straightforward: after about 15-16 years of peace, humans have returned to Pandora again – all the same evil, but now also much more prepared. The Earth Fleet immediately begins building a city as a base, and the Marines set out to exterminate the locals – among them, of course, the number one target is Jake Sully, who betrayed the people.

The protagonist flees with his family from an unexpected war – and emigrates from his native tribe of forest Na’vi to a village of water Na’vi. The latter have a different shade of skin, they have more massive tails and arms – to better swim. In short, the world of Pandora in the sequel seems no longer just a beautiful amusement park, but a full-fledged large planet.