Credit: Unsplash

James Cameron has raised the bar once again.

13 years after the premiere of the original Avatar film, legendary director James Cameron has once again produced a stunning visual spectacle in the form of Avatar: The Way of Water. The movie is set to hit theaters on December 16, but ahead of that, initial screenings for critics and press have drawn near-universal praise for its impressive and breathtaking visuals, not unlike the film that came before it.

Josh Horowitz, host of Happy Sad Confused, writes, “James Cameron once again shows filmmakers how it’s done. I’ve said it a thousand times. Never doubt him. ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ is how you do epic blockbuster-ing. Emotional, visceral and as big as movies get.”

“Happy to say ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ is phenomenal,” writes Fandango’s Erik Davis. “Bigger, better & more emotional than ‘Avatar,’ the film is visually breathtaking, visceral and incredibly engrossing. The story, the spectacle, the spirituality, the beauty – this is moviemaking & storytelling at its absolute finest.”

Return to Pandora with us. #AvatarTheWayOfWater only in theaters December 16th. pic.twitter.com/1eS8y6b8DD

— James Cameron (@JimCameron) December 6, 2022

In a previous statement over the summer, Cameron noted that the film is over three hours in length, and said that if anyone needs to get up and use the bathroom while it’s running, they are welcome to do so. “I don’t want anybody whining about length when they sit and binge-watch [television] for eight hours,” Cameron told Empire magazine. “I can almost write this part of the review. ‘The agonizingly long three-hour movie…’ It’s like, give me a f—— break. I’ve watched my kids sit and do five one-hour episodes in a row. Here’s the big social paradigm shift that has to happen: it’s okay to get up and go pee.”