After a long wait of 13 years, director James Cameron came out with the sequel to the well-beloved movie franchise Avatar. Avatar: the Way of Water, brings back the main cast and continuously evolves the story into more. As an avid Avatar fan, I was excited for the long awaited sequel… and let me tell you; it was worth 13 years. 

    To start off the movie, the audience is introduced to Jake and Neytiri’s family with their oldest Neteyam, watching the family grow with the addition of Lo’ak, Kiri, and Tuktirey on the fictional planet called “Pandora”. Throughout the montage we see everyone grow older to our present day characters. We are also introduced to Spider, the human that lives with the Na’vi (one of the native groups on Pandora), specifically the Sully family. If you are a first time watcher watching the sequel to Avatar, the scene of Jake telling a recap of what happened in his life is a perfect way to start the film. We are introduced to the Avatar of Colonel Quaritch as the antagonist and his recombinant squad minutes into the film. We learn they have a plan to kill the Na’vi, that being Jake Sully and getting revenge on him.

    The franchise of the Avatar introduces cultural elements of the Black and Pacific Islander cultures. We are introduced to the Metkayina clan, also known as the sea or water Na’vi. The Metkayina clans take cultural elements from the Māori community, mainly Tā moko. This element makes the movie more enjoyable to watch. We get a first look at the clan leaders Tonowari and his wife Ronal when the Sully family come to look for a place to stay to warn the clan about Quartich and his crew coming for him. The family is shown the ways of how to live in Awa’atlu and stay there. We see a little riff between the son of Tonowari and the boys of Jake because they don’t have the tails they have. Being introduced to the start of a love story with Lo’ak and Tsireya (daughter of the clan leaders), a bond with the children, and sweet comfort for Jake and Neytiri leads to a seemingly peaceful clan.. The peace has to come to an end when Jake hears of Quartich setting fire to the other clans of  Metkayina to find Jake. 

    The new conflict tests the morals of the children, the clan, and Jake Sully. When making life-changing battle decisions, they’ve had to weigh the importance of the clan versus their own family. The movie simultaneously had me throwing my fists in anger and crying happy tears. Get an early start on watching the renowned Avatar series because they plan three  more movies… even if it will take 39 more years. Seriously, go with the flow, The Way of Water is the way to go.