Cameron did it again. Pretty amazing spectacle, a definite experience. The story is still corny, the characters barely there, but improved on from the original. The dialogue is not as ham-fisted.
The guy still knows how to shoot action shots. Everything is in frame, you don’t get lost while it’s going on and he gives you these money shots at the right time where you just kind sit in awe of his craftsmanship.
It’s kind of hard not to do the compare/contrast with recent Marvel movies and be embarrassed at how bad they look compared to this movie. But it just shows the level of care and time that goes into this vs those Mcburgers.
You can break the movie into three acts, almost by the hour. First hour is the set up, second hour is like an underwater Nat Geo documentary, last hour is a huge action set piece calling back to all his previous films. You would think the last hour would be the best, but it was probably the weakest for me. Some people loved that hour the most, so ymmv.
So, much like the original, it’s worth the ticket … but I have no desire to ever watch it again.