PRAISE: I know immersive, thrilling adventure is guaranteed with Writer and Director James Cameron at the helm. In this third chapter of the Avatar series of movies the Sully family is dealing with grief in their own ways....individually over the death of son, brother and friend Neteyam. I immediately felt the raw emotion of the characters. The motion capture is still perfect. Capturing all the expressions of wonder, pain and heartache. The various characters and actors have wonderful stand out moments. Especially between Sam Worthington as Jake and Zoe Saldana as Neytiri. Then theres Stephen Lang as Quaritch and Oona Chaplin as Varang. Varang is the leader of a cult-like group of Na’vi warriors known as the Mangkwan. She is a blend of Hera, Proximus Caesar and King Edward I. The dynamic and bond between Varang and Quaritch is uneasy, edgy and seductive and i enjoyed every minute of their time together on screen. Chaplin is outstanding as Varang. Capturing the spirit of a character that feels she's owed more than what life has given her and will get it by any means necessary. Theres always been this uneasy bond of encouragement and hate between Jake Sully and Quaritch and i liked how it was handled in the movie. Cameron doesn't hold back on the wonder, new discoveries that are laced with spirituality and connection to higher powers. He along with writers Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa display how grief and a lust for revenge can turn the warmest heart cold. The SFX are great and battle scenes are well done making me feel like I was in the middle of them. Along with all of the action are strong messages about racism and what real family is and sacrifice. With so much going on in the movie with various characters and their goals which for some are sinister and some noble the three hour plus run time is necessary and justified.
PROBLEMS: Into the third hour the movie enters been there and done that mode almost to the letter. That was disappointing because theres so much more that could have taken the place of something repetitive.
Scale of 1 to 10 an 8½
stall em out.
