James Cameron has another hit on his hands according to Avatar: The Way of Water's early reviews and their very positive nature. The filmmaker has spent more than 10 years developing the sequel to Avatar, and that passage of time created some doubt that the sequel would be worth the wait. The first trailers helped erase some of that doubt due to the impressive CGI displayed in Avatar 2's footage. And while there has been much debate about if the sequel can possibly be a box office success (especially in comparison to the highest-grossing movie ever), questions about whether Avatar: The Way of Water's story will match the visuals remained.

Following the film's world premiere and the first Avatar 2 reactions surfacing online, the review embargo has now lifted, resulting in some early Avatar: The Way of Water reviews being posted. Here is a SPOILER-FREE round up of what critics are saying about James Cameron's new movie:

Mae Adbulbaki, Screen Rant

Cameron, who co-wrote the script with Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, returns to Pandora, offering viewers even more stunning visuals, a personal, more emotional story, and incredible underwater sequences that put every other film’s technical achievements to shame. The Way of Water is overlong and stretched thin on story, but the Avatar sequel is beautiful, with lush world-building and characters that add depth.

Dan Bayer, Next Best Picture

The film represents a decade of behind-the-scenes work: innovations in visual effects technology, digital cinematography, and performance capture, in addition to untold millions of dollars in production costs. Every cent and every second spent on making this film can be seen onscreen. “The Way of Water” is the magic of movies made manifest, a three-hour-plus epic that brings us to a new world and makes it thrillingly tactile in ways that no other film has done before. In other words: James Cameron has done it again.

William Bibbiani, The Wrap

After some pacing issues in the first act and some odd story decisions in the second, the film’s breathtaking climax completely sneaks up on you. You might think the film has a lot more twists and turns to go, since there’s lot of running time left, but Cameron stages the finale of “Avatar: The Way of Water” like an incredible, ever-evolving action sequence where locations, dangers and imminent threats shift dramatically, sometimes on a dime. It’s like watching a tidal wave start miles in the distance as a tiny bump in the ocean. By the time it crests, whatever the film’s many other flaws may be, we are invested, and we are ultimately rewarded with a truly spectacular, awe-inspiring finale.

David Rooney, THR

In terms of narrative sophistication and even more so dialogue, this $350 million sequel is almost as basic as its predecessor, even feeble at times. But the expanded, bio-diverse world-building pulls you in, the visual spectacle keeps you mesmerized, the passion for environmental awareness is stirring and the warfare is as visceral and exciting as any multiplex audience could desire.

Nick De Semlyen, Empire

The result, Avatar: The Way Of Water, is so dazzling to behold that adjectives like “dazzling” seem too anaemic to apply. It’s a leap beyond even what he pulled off with the first film, a phantasmagorical, fully immersive waking dream of a movie in which something impossible is happening on-screen at almost every moment. It’s a lot to process. And a timely reminder of what cinema is capable of when it dares to dream big.

David Ehrlich, IndieWire

An out-of-body theatrical experience that makes its predecessor feel like a glorified proof-of-concept, “Avatar: The Way of Water” is such a staggering improvement over the original because its spectacle doesn’t have to compensate for its story; in vintage Cameron fashion, the movie’s spectacle is what allows its story to be told so well.

Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm

"Avatar" is back in a big way with "Avatar: The Way of Water," Cameron's massive, overstuffed, overlong, exciting, eye-watering sci-fi adventure. It is a spectacle in every sense of the word; an imaginative, gorgeous, action-packed endeavor that thrills us while also having us occasionally checking our watches and wondering how much more is left. It is pure Cameron movie magic; a visual feast with some of the best blockbuster action you're likely to see. It's also a lopsided, meandering film — one starts to get the sense that for once, Cameron isn't all that interested in big action. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of big action here — the final hour of the three-hour film is essentially one long action sequence. But with "The Way of Water," Cameron is more focused on the beauty and grandeur of Pandora, a place that doesn't even exist.

Leah Greenblatt, EW

The world both above and below the waterline is a thing to behold, a sensory overload of sound and color so richly tactile that it feels psychedelically, almost spiritually sublime. The director, who penned the script with married screenwriting duo Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (Jurassic World, Mulan), tends to operate in the grand, muscular mode of Greek myth (or if you're feeling less generous, the black-and-white clarity of comic books). The storytelling here is deliberately broad and the dialogue often tilts toward pure blockbuster camp.

Germain Lussier, io9

Now, Avatar: The Way of Water finally arrives, and guess what? It delivers. While not quite on the same level as Aliens or T2 (at least on a single watch), The Way of Water is a sequel that expands and improves upon the original in almost every way. It’s an enthralling, exhilarating, emotional story of a family in peril, with the most advanced digital effects in the history of cinema. Is it a little bit overindulgent? Maybe too drawn out at times? Sure. But the scope, ambition, and heart of the film more than make up for any of its flaws.

Ross Bonaime, Collider

The Way of Water is one of the most breathtaking moviegoing experiences of 2022, a master learning from the mistakes of the previous film, and making a spectacle unlike we ever see at the movies anymore. Simply put, we should’ve never bet against Cameron.

Related: Avatar 2 Is Establishing A James Cameron Sequel Trend

What Avatar 2's Reviews Tell Us About The Movie

avatar the way of water film review
Kate Winslet and Cliff Curtis in Avatar: The Way of Water

It is no surprise that the visuals of Avatar: The Way of Water is the talk of the film from this first wave of reviews. One of the reasons James Cameron took 13 years to make the sequel is that he was developing new technology to properly capture the water-heavy story. This was necessary as a key part of Avatar: The Way of Water's story takes place with a clan of Na'vi who live underwater. It was only after Cameron was confident that technology would be able to make the water and VFX believably blend together. All reactions to the movie have left no doubt that Avatar 2's CGI visuals will impress any viewer.

While there are some mixed results from Avatar: The Way of Water's script and characters, it does sound like James Cameron sticks the landing ultimately with a thrilling third act. The film's marketing has teased portions of the action-packed finale by showing the Na'vi going to war with the RDA in a fiery water setting. Of course, how much investment audiences have in the characters' journeys at this point will play a significant role in whether the action-packed ending also delivers on an emotional level. That could depend not only on one's enjoyment of Avatar 2's first two acts, but also how viewers feel about the original movie.

Furthermore, it is no surprise that Avatar: The Way of Water's three-hour-plus runtime is one of the movie's biggest pitfalls. It sounds like Cameron takes his time reintroducing viewers to Pandora and the key conflict. The action-heavy ending might help audiences leave on a high note, but those already skeptical about the story demanding Avatar 2's long runtime could be more turned off by the film's slow pacing early on. Ultimately, it is up to each individual to make their opinions on the movie regardless of what the Avatar: The Way of Water reviews say.

More: Avatar 2 Is Already Fixing 3 Big Problems From 2009

Sources: Various [see above]

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