This had pretty much all the failings of its predecessor. Which means I still really greatly enjoyed it. Such a weird movie. Stunned by the beauty of the water, of course, but also by how long we just linger in the water with the characters. A lot of times films will have some very impressive shots but keep them short and sweet, or few and far between to stretch the budget. Clearly money was no object and James Cameron was like “screw it, let’s just play in the water for an hour”.
The action and tension is 100% a vehicle for more cool water scenes. And that’s fine! And the movie is clear that that’s the case. The whole engine/catalyst behind the events of the movie is pure popcorn sci-if cinema. Because it all just gets us back to playing in the water with our cool new alien friends. :)
