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Challengers (2024)
So much build-up for so little payoff
This was my first Luca Guadagnino film, so I'm not sure if any of these criticisms can be explained by "it's just his style" but who knows. The trailer makes the movie look fun, and while there are humorous moments, these are few and far between.
We have two young tennis players - one successful and the other is not for various reasons - both in love with the same woman who seems to jump between them in what makes for a complicated love triangle. Add in electronic music played loudly over scenes where not much is happening, gratuitous nudity (so many penises), and neverending slo-motion in an overlong running time and you have Challengers.
I liked Zendaya when she was playing the role of mature mother and retired tennis professional, but she all too easily slips into an angsty teen who feels too young to play the character.
My favourite moments were the two male leads just hanging out (they had more chemistry than Zendaya with either one), but I wasn't exactly sure what the seemingly homoerotic moments added to the story.
Despite the above points, this movie held my interest and had me wondering exactly where it was going. When it landed, however, I felt cheated of 2 hours by watching a movie that thought it was smarter than it really was. Severely lacking payoff.
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
Disappointing to say the least
To say I was excited for this movie is an understatement. Although the first Avatar was massively popular when it was released in 2009, over time people have been more critical of the film but my opinions never really changed. Avatar 1 isn't the greatest movie ever but it's certainly not the worst and it deserves more credit than just being "Pocahontas with blue people". I can't say the same for the sequel which is truly a disappointment.
We left the first movie with Quaritch dead, the military being expelled from Pandora and Jake permanently being transferred to his Avatar body. The sequel could've gone down so many routes but instead James Cameron chooses probably the least imaginative path to travel: years pass by before Quaritch is back conveniently in Avatar form and is hell-bent on vengeance against Jake Sully. Nothing else motivates his actions (even the matter of Quaritch being a dad is a side note) - Jake is his sole focus and he's happy to spend a fair bit of military resources to get his revenge.
Meanwhile, Jake is playing the family man and leader of his clan facing the arrival of new human militia in Pandora when he hears about Quaritch being back and decides to escape to the sea where a different Navi clan resides. What follows is almost three hours following the Sully family by the sea with mostly gorgeous visuals but empty storytelling and plot points that are clearly just set-ups to the many sequels already in the works. Jake's adopted daughter has inexplicable powers, his son befriends what is basically a whale, and the movie then spends a fair bit of time showing the viewer how hunting animals is bad.
Not once does Jake reflect on the fact that he was once human and the movie never discusses the internal conflict that may arise since Jake is fighting humans for the most part. His relationship with Neytiri is also barely visited, and Zoe Saldana is criminally underutilised and reduced to simply shouting or crying for majority of her lines.
The movie forgets about the human vs Navi conflict which is no doubt happening in the forest areas of Pandora, and glazes over the fact that there's a new resource in town which is coveted for its powers to make humans immortal (this is genuinely only mentioned in a throwaway comment). Instead we are stuck in this fight between Jake and Quaritch which builds up to a lacklustre finale that makes you again realise how small-scale this movie is, even with a $300mil+ budget.
Whilst there are some shots which are truly beautiful, after three hours at sea you'll likely wish you were back in the forest again experiencing the weird and wacky wonders the filmmakers previously thought up for Pandora.
All in all, this movie was not worth the wait and it'll be a long time until I watch it again. If not for James Cameron's name I most likely would have rated it much lower.
The master of sequels dropped the ball with this once. Here's hoping the next 17 sequels are better.