Avatar: Fire and Ash. Bigger but not better.
by Brandon Norwood
Image courtesy 20th Century Studios
When James Cameron makes a movie, it is a must-see no matter what. Big Jim is the king of spectacle. So here we are with the third entry of the Avatar saga, Fire and Ash. A movie I'm seriously struggling with.
One year after the events of the second film, The Way of Water, Neteyam's death weighs on the Sully family heavily. With Miles "Spider" Socorro's (Jack Campion) presence causing problems for Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), Jake (Sam Worthington) and the rest of the Sully family accompany him for one last journey to a safe haven for Spider. On the way they're attacked by the Ash People: a group of dangerous N'avi who ally themselves with the RDA and Colonel Miles Quaritch, which brings Jake face to face with the consequences of his decisions thus far.
Image courtesy 20th Century Studios
Those of you who aren't familiar with my thoughts on Avatar can listen to the reviews I did with Jeff on the first two movies. I don't want to waste time (yours or mine) with a long-winded recap. Short answer is I recently came around to this saga when the first was re-released back in 2022.
Now here we are with my most anticipated film of the year after being floored by The Way of Water. Not gonna lie, when credits rolled I thought this was the best one yet. But after sitting on it for a few hours and really letting the movie permeate, all of my initial feelings when watching it came bubbling up. Especially after talking with other critics about it.
The main issue here is that so much, both plot and structure wise, is repeated from the first two films. In the two weeks since I've seen this, Cameron has admitted that he split the second film into two movies. That makes so much more sense. Does that forgive the film for being repetitive? No. Absolutely not. But damn if everyone who told Big Jim their concerns are now found valid.
Image courtesy 20th Century Studios
With the repetitive nature of the movie, I was disappointed by the giant third act set piece. It's literally the first two mixed together. I thought the third act of The Way of Water. was some of the craziest and most audacious I've ever seen. Here, while there's a lot of this I still loved, a real big cloud of "been there, done that" hangs over it.
What really sucks is this is the longest in the saga thus far with a runtime of three hours and nineteen minutes. It's excessive y'all. This could've easily been two and half hours. Every single one of these films have outstayed their welcome length wise, but here it was egregious.
With all of that out of the way, this is visually insane. I don't know how he keeps on outdoing himself; with the skin texture and facial performances translating from the motion capture to the final product. When these N'avi characters emote, you can not only see it, but feel it as well. It's been three years since the second film and somehow not only visually is it better, but the 3D is more immersive and the High Frame Rate when used is much smoother.
Image courtesy 20th Century Studios
The performances definitely get better as we move on. Campion as Spider aside, everyone is doing great with what they're given. I would like to point out that Cameron's dialogue has always sucked (The OG Terminator and True Lies pop immediately into mind) so the complaints I've been seeing about that have me rolling my eyes hard.
I do like the emotionality in this film. Grief and consequences are weighing heavy on everyone in this film which leads to hate on all sides. All these characters have lost something and are either broken or bitter. Or both. I'm glad that Cameron decided to address this head on as part of the journey instead of what a lot of modern mega-blockbusters do which is to acknowledge it and push it to the side, because "they" don't want their mega franchises to address that. You can still have an emotional journey on a rip-roaring adventure. Spielberg is the king of that shit.
The Ash People led by Varang (Oona Chaplin) are one of the best new elements here. I wish we got MUCH more than what we're given with them. Their reasoning for being villainous makes sense, but it would've hit harder if we spent a little more time with this clan and gave Varang a little more pathos.
Image courtesy 20th Century Studios
Peylak (David Thewlis) , leader of the Wind Trader clan, is an intriguing new character that I wish we got more of than the brief sequence he's in. The Wind Traders in general are so cool and it's a real shame they're under utilized. The best action sequence of the film (which has some fucked up elements from the Ash People) is with the Wind Traders. Honestly, I could watch a whole two hour movie with just the Wind Traders.
All of this is to say: see it. No one is doing it like Big Jim. I'm excited to see this again to see if it plays better on a rewatch. There's shots in this where I'm floored on how Big Jim is lighting the specific shot. We've come a long way from the first film. And while I'm let down by this, I was still thoroughly entertained and am eagerly anticipating the fourth entry which the entire cast and crew has been hyping up to be an absolutely insane movie. If anything, Big Jim going bigger in scale and scope in terms of world-building and the action set pieces is something to always look forward to.
Avatar: Fire and Ash. Opens December 19th in theaters via 20th Century Studios through Disney.