An Inconvenient Sequel

One decade after Davis Guggenheim’s Oscar-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth made Al Gore the stone face of the white-collar environmental movement, the near-president brings his Powerpoint clicker back for the follow-up. Directed by Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk, An Inconvenient Sequel focuses less on the ecological scare tactics and persuasive presentational elements of the first film, instead forming a loose-knit look at Gore’s life as a highly impersonal public figure. Since An Inconvenient Truth premiered back in 2006, Gore has been delivering updated versions of his presentation, as well as training the next generation of leaders to squint their eyes and solemnly nod. There is no compelling reason for this film to exist, other than to promote hashtags. Gore acknowledges early on that there is an unbridgeable ideological divide with climate change deniers, so An Inconvenient Sequel amounts to a monotonous minister preaching to a bored choir.