Film Three hours of meaningless spectacle
It's been thirteen years for this movie. Apparently, James Cameron wanted to wait until the technology was good enough for the underwater capture. In all of that time, Cameron never learned how to write a decent script to match the effects.
The movie is ungodly pretty, and there are some stunning visuals to be sure. But all the stunning visuals in the world doesn't change a plot that meanders, drops story beats at the drop of a hat, and has Loads and Loads of Characters, far too many to keep track of. I saw the movie less than an hour ago and I can't remember any of the names outside of Sully, even the bad guy I keep calling Qidditch even though I know its wrong.
The Evil, Inc. dudes and bad guys are really the only ones with any semblance approaching a personality, and all of the aliens blend into each other. There's some sort of new Macguffin, some sort of space whale brain juice that never really comes up once it disappears.
All in all, the story is a meandering, hopelessly overdone and confusing wreck, albeit an incredibly pretty one.
Film Entertaining despite its flaws
About thirteen years ago, I saw James Cameron's Avatar in theaters. The action was good and the visual effects were spectacular, but the plot was cliched at best. The sequel, Way of Water, is similar in many regards, and while I'd hesitate to call it a very good movie, it's still an entertaining one.
The plot is standard sequel fare. After the humans, the villains of the first film, are thwarted in their attempt to colonize the distant planet of Pandora, they return in greater numbers, forcing protagonist Jake Sully and his family to seek shelter with a sea-dwelling tribe of Na'vi(the natives of Pandora).
It becomes obvious early on that Cameron didn't plan for AWOW, as a number of plot elements- the first film's Big Bad Quaritch and his men having their minds implanted into Na'vi avatars, Quaritch leaving behind a son, and the late Grace having a daughter born from her Avatar- weren't even mentioned in the first film.
In addition to most of the surviving cast of the first film returning, there are more than a few new characters in AWOW, from Jake and Ney'tri's kids to an entirely new tribe of Na'vi. It's rather difficult to keep track of all the newcomers, especially since many of them are similar-looking Na'vi, and the story drags a bit when exploring their various subplots and character arcs.
AWOW expands on the world of Pandora, showing a tribe of Na'vi that are almost as foreign to Jake and Ney'tri as Ney'tri's people were to Jake when he first arrived. Unfortunately, the humans who are invading Pandora are still almost cartoonishly evil, and this time, there aren't any people like Jake and his friends to balance things out.
Without spoiling anything, not much is resolved in this film, and some plot threads remain unresolved. It's clear that the war with the humans is far from over, which can cause viewers to wonder what the point of the three-hour runtime was.
As critical as this review is, there were quite a few things I liked about AWOW. The visual effects are as stunning as ever, especially now that the film shows the oceans of Pandora as well as the forests. This, in turn, leads to some entertaining action scenes, especially with the new parts of the world established in the sequel.
All in all, AWOW isn't necessarily a well-written movie, but it's still an entertaining one, so I recommend seeing it in theaters while you can in order to get the most out of its effects.