GalacticScholar

I saw the first film 12 years ago. It had some good elements but was rather generic. But I was told that the plot here was less predictable and was curious to see how it would turn out.

For one thing, the villain is just the same as in the last movie but cloned. And they weren't exactly an amazing character to begin with. The humans in general are just generic villains with no depth.

But the good aspects of the film are the explorations it makes into the titular way of water- the sea people, the aquatic animals, the environment and how the protagonists interact with them. One of the best aspects is the cutting edge visual effects and how they portray the ocean of Pandora. You can tell that the ocean itself is what James Cameron wanted to focus on in this film.

I also liked some of the new characters such as Kiri. She is probably the most interesting character in this series so far. There are other new characters but none of them are fleshed out that much.

Aside from the new creatures and environments there was some cool new technology not present in the first film.

So overall the main thing I disliked about the film was the conflict aspect. It was nothing more than a rehash of the whole "invaders vs natives" plotline from the first film that has been done to death already. Also the climax was rather overlong. I still liked it, but if it had focused more on the sci fi aspects such as new creatures, cultures and environments it would have been a lot better.

The story of 8 people from around the world who become psychically linked. The strongest aspect of this series would have to be the characterization. All eight sensates have different backgrounds, personality traits and motivation. And while they start out totally disconnected from each other, as they interact psychically and use their differing skills to help each other, they slowly become dependent on each other. The main antagonist, Whispers, is very intimidating but he's never given much of a backstory or motivations. We never really get a very detailed explanation for why Whispers is helping the BPO, or why they want to hunt sensates in the first place either. The supporting cast is great as well. Despite the large number of characters, they are all very well developed with personalities and motivations for even the most minor characters.

The story has a somewhat slow paced beginning, but I don't mind this, as it is somewhat necessary to deliver exposition on all the characters. Once it gets going, the main plot is about the sensates learning more about their new powers, their subspecies and their enemies. Unraveling the mysteries is exciting. All of the subplots about the sensates as individuals are interesting as well, as they all involve each sensate growing as a person. My only problem with the plot is that due to the series being wrapped up in just a 2.5 hour special means it's obvious there are some plotlines that were cut short.

There are also some romances between characters that happen abruptly and with little development, in a "love at first sight" way. The dialogue can be pretty cliched also. Take this for example. "The moment I saw you I knew I wanted you. And somehow I feel that you want me too." The series can also focus for too long on scenes where the plot does not advance and it just shows the sensates doing things while psychically connected, like the karaoke scene and these really cringy orgy scenes.

Those are my main criticisms but I still enjoyed this series and recommend it to anyone who likes the style of storytelling where multiple storylines run at once, while having an overarching narrative.

The strongest aspect of this film is the plot. The con devised by the protagonists is incredibly elaborate and rather than being explained at the beginning, the viewer learns it by watching it play out. This allows it to cleverly surprise the audience several times and only at the end do we fully understand it. Another strong aspect is the production design. The sets and costumes manage to create a beautiful and fully authentic picture of the 1930s and the film could probably stand on its imagery alone. The protagonists Hooker and Gondorff are both likable but the character who really stands out is the antagonist, Doyle Lonnegan. He has a quiet, aloof demeanor and lives a straight edge lifestyle but is shown to be utterly ruthless and his actor, Robert Shaw, gives an intimidating performance. A lot of entertaining side characters can also be found, particularly among the con artsits. Another noteworthy aspect is the dialogue, which is rich with slang and colloquialisms from the time period. Some might find it a bit confusing, while others will like it. The ragtime music, though anachronistic for the time period, is another strong point and does a great job of setting the mood. Overall, though I'm not sure if I would consider it one of the greatest films ever made, I thoroughly enjoyed this and recommend it to anyone.