Warning: This article contains spoilers for Avatar: The Way of Water.

Jake Sully, ladies and gentlemen. Well, actually, James Cameron’s new Avatar film offers much more than the embattled human-on-Pandora storyline, continued from the 2009 smash-hit. Set more than a decade after the events of the first film, Avatar: The Way of Waterindeed follows the Sully family (Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana, returning from the original film), but we care more about the trouble that follows and surrounds them. From there, it’s battles on battles in a fight to stay alive as they set foot in a new part of Pandora. Also starring in this continually hopeful box-office hit are Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Edie Falco, Jemaine Clement and — the rumors are true — Kate Winslet.

With the long-awaited Avatar: The Way of Water now finally released everywhere after 13 years in Cameron’s tedious 3D production process, it may come as a surprise to many that the next sequel in the franchise is not nearly as far away (95% done, in fact). As we await the third installment, we took a closer look at what worked in this year’s sequel. Despite mixed reviews, Avatar: The Way of Water certainly had its moments, after all…

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5 Hardcore Action Moments in the Final Battle Sequence

     20th Century Studios

First, let’s skip to the third act, where we experience Cameron-sized payback to satisfying effect. The extensive ending sequence in which Jake, Neytiri, and their seaside friends make their stand is exhilarating filmmaking. Also, was anyone else getting Titanic vibes as that grand ship went down? Cameron sets up an exciting standoff between the whaling vessel — where Quaritch (Lang) and the marines have captured several Na’vi children, including Lo’ak — and Jake, Neytiri, and the Metkayina, each astride their various avian and amphibian compatriots. It’s a stalemate at first. Should the Na’vi advance, Quaritch will most certainly kill their kids.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

There are certainly some R-rated moments as violence ensues, and it’s during this epic battle that we’re reminded just how talented the Terminator director can be when it comes to staging hardcore action sequences. One could argue The Way of Water was a bit of a slow burn until this third-act standoff ensues. But the payoff is certainly satisfying.

4 Clever Return of Stephen Lang’s Character

     Lightstorm Entertainment

Going back to square one, the action of The Way of Water begins about a decade after the end of the first installment: the American-born Jake Sully (Worthington) has cast his lot with the extraterrestrial Na’vis, having kept his blue Na’vi form, taken up residence with them on the lush moon of Pandora, and married the Na’vi seer Neytiri, with whom he has had several children. The couple’s foster son, Spider (a standout Jack Champion), a full-blooded human, is the biological child of Jake’s archenemy, Colonel Quaritch, who was killed in the earlier film. Now, Quadritch has returned — but in the form of a Na’vi, whose mind is infused with the late colonel’s memories. (He’s still a colonel and still played by Stephen Lang.)

This first-act reveal of Lang’s return to the franchise is particularly fun because it gives us the one and only chance in The Way of Water to see Giovanni Ribisi. In a video that the new Na’vi version of Quadritch has to watch to familiarize himself with his new body, we see Parker Selfridge make a quick appearance and offer a few wise-cracks that only Ribisi could pull off in such an otherwise serious film.

3 Jemaine Clement, Ladies and Gentlemen

“I’ve loved Jemaine’s work for years and I’m really pumped that he’s joining our cast as Ian Garvin, one of my favorite characters,” Cameron once said in a statement via Variety. The acclaimed Flight of the Conchords actor has been a fan-favorite across multiple projects over the years, and we can’t wait to see what he brings to the third Avatar film. He doesn’t have a whole lot of screentime in The Way of Water, but the film effectively sets up potential for his morally distressed whale hunter persona to make big moves in the franchise’s future.

2 Those Epic Underwater Scenes

“Thematically, it’s still about the environment,” Cameron recently told fellow director Robert Rodriguez via Variety, regarding the film’s theme. “It’s about what I call the struggle between the takers and the caretakers. The indigenous people are caretakers. They’re the ones that have the power in our world right now to reconnect us with a vision of nature that’s more protective and cooperative and harmonious. If we don’t adopt that attitude, we will die out. It’s that simple.”

The Way of Water was shot in 3D, and to say that “those ocean sequences are immersive” is an understatement. Once Sully’s Na’vi family touches down in their new environment to kick off the film’s second act, Cameron doesn’t waste any time filling the screen with visually arresting sea creatures. The film is best in these moments, as it’s an excuse for Cameron an excuse to introduce us to a whole new world of Pandoran enchantments. We all know the filmmaker is obsessed with the deep sea, and it all comes to a head in this second Avatar installment.

1 Payakan Saving the Day

And speaking of underwater — meet the franchise’s new fan-favorite character. It’s important to note that much of the film was shot underwater, for which the cast underwent rigorous training. To prepare, co-star Kate Winslet reportedly held her breath for over seven minutes, for example. Of course, CGI is responsible for Payakan, a young whale-like creature who befriends one of Jake Sully and Neytiri’s children after saving his life. After going against the tulkun way by killing the whalers who killed his mother, Payakan was seemingly outcast from its clan. But in the film’s third act, the enormous sea creature finds his purpose by seeking ultimate revenge to save the day yet again. In that aforementioned standoff with the villainous whale hunters, Payakan whips himself into a frenzy and begins smashing nearby rocks and corals before charging upward toward the vessel housing the bad guys. Anyone who sees this in theaters can attest to how audiences cheered when Payakan resurfaced here — literally. It’s reason enough to see The Way of Water on the big screen.