You go to the movies for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes, you might find yourself there to cry, or laugh, or contemplate some of the biggest questions we face as a species. One thing movies can do is, as part of the value they bring to the world, amaze you.
Even in an era when blockbuster movies seem to be taking up more oxygen than ever, it still feels rare to see something on screen that you’ve never seen before, which is part of the reason James Cameron’s value as a director has never been higher. Throughout his long career in Hollywood, Cameron has consistently amazed audiences more than almost anyone else. As the old mantra suggests, it’s a fool’s errand to bet against him.
In spite of all of his success, though, there were people who weren’t sure Avatar: The Way of Water would work, and even more people who saw it, loved it, and then let it sour in their memories. If you rewatch The Way of Water, you’ll be reminded of the reasons this movie became one of the highest-grossing in history.
Avatar movies are made for theaters
One of the reasons the Avatar movies have had a perplexing cultural reputation (these movies are a huge deal, but no one seems to care very much about them afterward) is that they are designed to be seen in theaters. Cameron has built an entire world in a way we’ve never seen before, and part of the joy of experiencing it is just sitting in the theater and letting your eye wander to every corner of the screen.
Pandora is rich and vibrant, filled with detail and color and life. Almost everything on screen has been created in a computer, and yet it nonetheless feels remarkably handmade.
The Way of Water, which came a full 13 years after the original film, manages to fully recapture that movie’s magic, in part by introducing us to a whole different part of the planet. The Way of Water is a water movie, and it’s filled with all of the ocean imagery that Cameron himself has likely witnessed in one deep-sea diving excursion or another.
The result is the kind of imagery that’s meant to be experienced on the biggest screen possible. Cameron is one of the few blockbuster filmmakers who can craft massive movies that feel remarkably intimate and personal, and it’s that combination that has made these first two movies such remarkable successes.
These movies still work at home
Even as it’s undeniably the case that Avatar movies are big-screen experiences first and foremost, what that also means is that, like every Cameron movie, they also work great on rewatch. It’s true that some of the visual grandeur is lost on a smaller screen, but Cameron has never gotten enough credit for his ability to build sturdy stories that beautifully complement his visual-first approach to storytelling.
In fact, the biggest knock that Cameron has faced over the course of his career has been that he’s a clunky screenwriter who doesn’t fully understand how people speak. His dialogue can be a bit overly expository, and he’s never been one for subtlety.
All of these things are true, but they are also part of what makes Cameron such a perfect director to make movies on the biggest scale possible. These are elemental stories that can appeal to almost everyone, and Cameron knows how to tell them in the grandest terms possible. The beats are not unexpected (the first Avatar is basically just Dances With Wolves), but originality has never been the point. What’s impressive is not that Cameron is telling a new story, but that he’s managed to make a familiar one feel so new.
It’s because the story beats feel so elemental that these movies work so well on rewatch. The Way of Water is a movie that’s easy to be swept up in, and it’s one that allows you to spend entire stretches forgetting about the bigger machinations of the plot so that you can focus on individual character beats or the world of Pandora.
Cameron still does action better than almost anyone
Both Avatar movies have plenty of action, but The Way of Water in particular feels like a remarkable achievement in that regard. The movie’s climax, which runs for well over 40 minutes, feels a bit like the culmination of Cameron’s entire career, including elements from everything from Titanic to Terminator.
Crucially, though, Cameron also understands that action requires more than just compelling filmmaking. What matters just as much is what’s happening between the characters and the way the stakes of the sequence play out in the interactions between them. The Way of Water offers a bounty of character-rich interaction, from Neytiri considering killing Spider to save her own children to Sully dealing with the loss of one of his.
In combining rich character work with visceral, exciting filmmaking (and a sinking ship doesn’t hurt either) and an actual runway to build real stakes, The Way of Water feels like a full meal. It’s got everything you might want a blockbuster to have, and it flies by much faster than you might expect from its runtime. Is it all a little bit silly? Of course, but that’s part of the point.
We don’t need our blockbusters to change the world, but we also don’t need them to be utterly empty and vacuous. Cameron has struck that balance perfectly, and The Way of Water is all the evidence you need.
Stream Avatar: The Way of the Water on Disney+. Avatar: The Way of Water will be rereleased in theaters on October 3, 2025.
