Brief Story Line
Years after the event of the first movie, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington - Hacksaw Ridge, Everest etc) was living with his wife Neytiri (Zoe Saldana - Amsterdam, Star Trek Beyond etc) and their children, the eldest Neteyam (Jamie Flatters - The School for Good and Evil etc), the second son Lo'ak (Britain Dalton), their youngest daughter Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss) and their adopted daughter Kiri (Sigourney Weaver - A Monster Calls, Working Girl etc). They were also very close with a human child called Spider (Jack Champion) who was not able to return to earth when they left Pandora earlier.
Unfortunately their peaceful life only lasted a while as the sky people came back to start colonizing Pandora. With this threat, Jake had to cooperate with another Na'vi clan led by Tonowari (Cliff Curtis - Reminiscence, Doctor Sleep etc) and his wife Ronal (Kate Winslet - Mare of Easttown mini series, The Reader etc).
So what would happen to Jake and his family? You can find out in this movie.
End of Brief Story Line
Wow! That was the first word that came to mind after seeing this movie. I got to be honest, I was actually a bit doubtful whether I would fully enjoy this one since it has been too long since I saw the first movie back in 2009. Despite my wife and I saw it two times back then (both the usual format and in 3D), but we have forgotten most of the story. I know that I could always see it one more time on Disney+ before seeing this, but I was too lazy to get to it.
Anyway, after being given a bit of refresh course in the early part, slowly I could remember more. It was a bit challenging at first to get to know all the characters, since the faces looked a bit difficult to differentiate due to the similarities. However, after a while we were finally able to become more familiar with them. The story also became more exciting when the new threat came to Pandora, especially when it was related to the character from the first movie. And the action was quite intense and really awesome.
In the middle of the movie, the pace slowed down a bit. Amazingly though, this time I did not feel the film to be less exciting even though it was not totally intense. Somehow I felt that the story was kept intriguing likely because the characters were all engaging. The children of Jake Sully were interesting with their own personal issues, like Neteyam as the eldest child, or Lo'ak who was eager to impress, and Kiri who felt like an outcast. Those people from other clan were not just support but also formed an integral part of the story (except during the important scenes where they somehow "disappeared").
Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana were still convincing in their roles. Although the rest were pretty much unrecognizable, especially Kate Winslet and Sigourney Weaver (when portraying Kiri) but they still left a good impression. Aside from those names, some of the original cast also reappeared like Stephen Lang (Braven, Don't Breathe etc), Joel David Moore (Dodgeball: a True Underdog Story etc) and several new cast such as Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie TV series etc), Jemaine Clement (The BFG etc), Bailey Bass as Tonowari & Ronal's daughter Reya and few others. In term of story, critics were saying it was a bit thin and some even say it was unoriginal. For me and my wife though, we felt it was well told. I actually felt the story telling was very good as we were still able to concentrate and did not feel bored (which says a lot as both of us are easily bored).
Now the visual effects were absolutely breath taking. All the scenes looked realistic and almost all of them did not look like they were computer generated. And making this movie into 3 hours long with so much effects in it would definitely require huge budget (I read that it cost a whopping USD 350-400 million). Fortunately that budget really did pay off, especially with such extraordinary visuals. The sound effects were just great and I was really satisfied that our theater really had the Dolby Atmos effect. The action sequence was definitely the highlight. It was intense, suspenseful, and totally entertaining especially during the climax scene that was very gripping and enjoyable. It even got some emotional and dramatic moments as well. Btw, there was no mid or post end credit scene in here.
Overall my wife and I were totally entertained by this film. We were in awe with how creative and imaginative James Cameron was in making this. Aside from being the director, he also co-wrote the movie with Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Josh Friedman and Shane Salerno. But the main man was definitely Cameron who already had a story in mind for 5 movies. One thing that amazed me was even though this is a second film, it did not feel like a filler for an ultimate finale and it felt really strong as stand alone. Heads up that the third movie was already made together with this second, which meant it would not take so long for us to see it. I was also inclined to see it again in 3D just to have the experience. So if you want to see a movie that was really grand with nice story telling, great visual effects and some intense action and even drama, this one is certainly for you. It is definitely something worth to see in the cinema as the experience would be different than if you see it on TV screen.
Mike's movie moments rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
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