Starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Sigourney Weaver, Cliff Curtis, Kate Winslet, Jamie Flatters, Britain Dalton, Trinity Jo-Ali Bliss, Jack Champion and Bailey Bass

Written and directed by James Cameron

Disney, out now

 

A decade after winning the war against the RDA, Jake (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) have an extended family. Their own kids Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) and Tim (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss). Their family is rounded out by Spider (Jack Champion), a human child left behind on Pandora, and Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), the daughter of old ally Doctor Grace Augustine. Their lives are untidy and happy. Until the RDA return with Quaritch (Stephen Lang) and his marines resurrected as avatars…

The spectacle here is flawless and multi-layered. The oceans of Pandora are even more beautiful than the jungles, and the village Jake and Neytiri seek shelter in expands the world in some jaw-droppingly beautiful ways. The ecology of the oceans and in particular the relationship that Tonowari (Cliff Curtis) and Ronal (Kate Winslet)’s people have with the Tulkuns is fascinating. A sentient race of whales, the Tulkuns bond with the Na’vi and the friendship between Lo’ak and an outcast Tulkan is one of the movie’s surprising highlights. Likewise the staggering visuals of the ocean scenes, especially the flying fish cavalry charge that heralds the start of the third act-long action sequence that closes the movie.

There’s some surprising emotional dimensions too. Worthington’s older Jake is a pleasingly flawed and complex leader and the interplay between Sully and Quaritch is really well done. The movie is at its strongest when it’s interrogating the definition of family, whether through Quaritch’s past actions or through the different ways Neytiri views her children. All of this works, as does the long running time. Dalton, Flatters and Champion are great too as is Weaver who does a great job of playing a teenager.

It’s by no means a smooth ride however. Curtis and Winslet are wasted, with Winslet in particular asked to play ‘’pregnant, angry’ and not much else. Saldana is even less well served and gets some absolute clunkers of lines and a character shift whose context feels like it was left on the cutting room floor. This second one is especially frustrating as it ties in with the movie’s biggest flaw: Spider. Spider has arguably the most interesting plot here as he struggles to balance his human nature with his Na’vi upbringing. Champion is great, likable and conflicted and just a little feral. But the middle of his plot just doesn’t work, or at least isn’t given room to. Spider makes bad choices and we barely get enough context to see why. It’s a shame and it throws you out of the movie at a couple of points. Weirdly so does the film’s fondness for setting up future instalments. It’s annoyingly coy about Kiri’s origin despite it clearly being vital and puts two characters on screen just long enough to register but no further.

Worse it gives far too much screen time to elements of the movie that just don’t work. Brendan Cowell’s whaler Scoresby is intensely persistently annoying and he’s on screen and talking a lot. I don’t think it’s entirely Cowell’s fault either. The character is ‘greedy and violent’ and nothing else and when he gets his inevitable comeuppance it’s not soon enough.

All of this feels bad and it does drag the movie way down. But the core of it, the heart that many felt was missing from the original is worth your time. The environmental message is belaboured but bluntly needs to be, the movie is always beautiful and when the script works it really works.

Verdict: Uneven, frustrating but a hell of a spectacle to round out the year and I’d love to see what a third one looks like. 8/10

Alasdair Stuart