Summary
We return to Pandora for far too long and see the testament of one man’s ego.
I am calling this now Avatar 2 won’t make anywhere near the same amount of box office as the first film, mainly because this is infinitely worse as a film. It never needed to exist and that comes through in technicolour here. It is the sort of film that will be talked about on release weekend and then immediately forgotten about next week.
The film is on for way too long, and spends far too long exploring the world and spending a tedious amount of time with the new kids, all of whom have as much personality as a plastic bag, honestly the second act wherein nothing happens at all is basically torturous and the sort of thing I imagine even Guantanamo would say is cruel and unusual.
They bring back Stephen Lang’s character from the first film, for reasons, and normally I am a big fan of Lang but here he is given nothing to do. He has a very basic alpha male rivalry with Sam Worthington’s character, and a new son to contend with. Again the relationships and inter character drama is nothing new and show that as a writer James Cameron is way past his heyday even with other writers helping to boost things up.
The only people who are praising this film are people who are impressed by it from a technical approach, and in this regard I think this film is nothing much to be impressed by. The CGI looks about as good as some recent videogame cutscenes, and the use of 3D reminds you how glad you are that that gimmick died off last decade.
Finally the environmental message is just as ham-fisted as it was last time around.
Overall, a testament to why creatives can’t be given unlimited creative control. Let’s hope the 3rd film is the last.
1/5
Pros.
The water effects are pretty neat
Cons.
It doesn’t need to exist
It is way too long
The story is terrible
They waste Stephen Lang
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Another Millennial Reviewer 