Avatar: The Way of the Water is further proof that no one does better than James Cameron

If you expected Cameron to save all the best staging and choreography for the fight between Jake and Quaritch, you're wrong. This honor belongs to Payakan; a Tulkun cast out of his kind and the Metkayina due to his willingness to retaliate against the Sky People. Payakan bonds with Jake Sully's second oldest son, Lo'ak, who also feels like an outcast and a disappointment to his father throughout the film. After Jake's children (Lo'ak included) are taken hostage in the process of rescuing Payakan's life, the Tulkun steps in and shows the Tulkun hunters what's what. The space whale's sheer mass doesn't stop Cameron from crafting unique storylines for the creature to play its highly entertaining role in combat, and the action also ties into the film's themes and character relationships.

James Cameron understands how to give some truly wicked characters a chance, especially Captain Mick Scoresby (Brendan Cowell), the leader of the Marine fighter ship, who is seen happily hunting down and killing a female Tulkun and her calf in the middle of "The Way of the Water". Payakan, who has already lost a fin to Scoresby (along with his soulmate and many other Tulkuns), gets poetic justice by using the captain's own boat to remove his arm, in a big, crowd-pleasing moment.

But while unexpected secondary characters have time to shine, Cameron doesn't forget main characters like Jake and Quaritch, whose battle constantly shifts locations and leaves viewers on the edge of their seats. Although the film's third act is one long action sequence, it never loses its flair as it constantly changes scale and pace.