Avatar 2 finally hit cinemas in December, around 13 years after the release of the original film in 2009. Avatar (2009) is still the highest-grossing movie of all time, which led to many high expectations for the sequel from critics and audiences as they have been waiting over a decade for James Cameron's follow up.
The film follows Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Ney'tiri (Zoe Saldana), who have now formed a family. In this second film the sky people are still out to destroy Pandora and now the safety of Jake Sully and his family, so Jake must do everything that he can to keep his family safe. This means that him and his family must leave their home in the trees and move to a different area of Pandora by the sea, where they find sanctuary with the reef people on the seaboard of Pandora. However, safety does not last long as the sky people track them down determined to kill Jake.
Before going into the cinema to see this film I had seen many critics giving it bad reviews, but I did not want those to affect my own opinions on what I thought about the film. In my opinion I thought this film was amazing, the VFX and special effects were beautiful and they really transported you into the world of Pandora. Within this film James Cameron uses a lot of establishing shots (a shot that is used to set up the context for the scene ahead, and show us where the action will be taking place); in Avatar these are shots of the water, animals swimming and flying, the nature on the island...
When reading some reviews some have said that it was long and boring, with a lot of the same stuff happening and repetitive shots, but I disagree and think that these establishing shots were used for an important purpose- they showed us that the main character of Avatar was Pandora!
The first film is about how they are trying to save Pandora from the humans, and in this sequel we now see more to why Pandora is worth saving. We see the beauty in every small detail and creature on this planet. Everything in this film (the script, music, shots..) are all used to sell us on the beauty of Pandora.
I think Cameron is using this second film to create a foundation story that he wants audiences to care about, as he is planning on making three more films in the series! This means that even though this film is long where not that much happens in terms of the plot, we are welcomed into the Sully family seeing the humorous dynamic of the Sully children as Jake and Ney'tiri struggle to keep their four children under control. Even though this film is very long (3 hours and 12 minutes long!!) I thought that it did not feel like 3 hours, I didn't get bored (just had to move around a bit to stop my legs going numb); and I was immersed by the stunning visuals and action sequences that Cameron is so well known for perfecting. Now I look forward to seeing where James Cameron takes the story next in the third film coming out in 2024.
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