Over a decade ago, James Cameron’s “Avatar” films transported audiences to another planet, Pandora, that changed cinema and pushed box office records. Now with “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” the once revolutionary saga takes a step backward. He returns to the world with breathtaking visuals, but much of its wonder feels lost. The film relies on a recycled visually rich setting rather than extensive storytelling.
The original movie, “Avatar,” released in 2009, was known to be ahead of its time. With immense storytelling and groundbreaking visual effects, this movie set a new standard for films using CGI. Fans got attached to the blue species, Na’vi, and the war raging between them and human invaders.
After a long-awaited release, “Avatar: The Way of Water” came out in 2022. Once again, Cameron proved that this franchise is dedicated to breaking records and crafting CGI masterpieces.
Although “Avatar: Fire and Ash” did not prove that to be true. The third installment of these films felt very similar to the ones before. It picked up right where “Avatar: The Way of Water” left off, but the storytelling did not exactly compare to the two films before it. In the first film, Cameron laid the groundwork for the planet, Pandora, and the second movie revealed new additions to the world Cameron created. The third movie had its new additions with characters and side plots to be solved, but it all felt the same.
“Fire and Ash” still follows Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) in his war against the Sky People, who are the humans that are trying to colonize the vast planet. The idea of the film stays true from the first sequel: win the war against the Sky People, so Pandora and the Na’vi can live peacefully.
Just like “The Way of Water,” this third film also has a spotlight on Sully’s kids, Lo’ak (Britain Dalton), Tuktirey (Trinity Bliss), Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), his wife Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) and a big centerpiece of the plot is centered around Miles “Spider” Socorro (Jack Champion). The movie opens with the entire family mourning the loss of Neteyam (Jamie Flatters), the oldest son of Sully and Neytiri.
The action scenes from “Fire and Ash” are all too similar to “The Way of Water.” At points in the movie, it feels like viewers may have already watched this before. While the planet of Pandora is beautiful and offers great opportunities for some stunning scenes, it felt like Cameron became lazy in thinking of new ways this world was able to develop.
The audience moved from the water into the sky, and the CGI was stunning, but that is all it was. The new biomes introduced didn’t add any meaning; it was simply a beautiful facade to distract from the lack of story behind this film. Viewers flew between floating mountains again, and while that is exhilarating and keeps eyes glued to the screen, it served no purpose nor did it add anything to the overall feel of the film.
Hidden behind these action scenes and almost screensaver-like cinematic shots, the storyline surrounding Spider becomes the main plot of the movie. For background, Spider is a human and is unable to breathe without an oxygen mask in the Pandora environment, but due to his constant neglect of a mask, his oxygen keeps running low. Suddenly, a movie about colonization and the fight for land becomes a goose chase to find Spider a mask. It felt like the main idea of the “Avatar” franchise was taken away in this movie.
While the fight for land was still happening in this third installment, it wasn’t as present. Rather, it was a game of who could save Spider.
This quest to save Spider introduced a family dynamic, but it felt overly scripted. It was almost as if Cameron was trying to convince the audience that Spider meant a lot to Sully and Natiri’s family. The dynamic fell short of being authentic, and the almost looping dialogue proved that to be true.
The storytelling behind this becomes too predictable. During this quest, they, of course, run into trouble. Needless to say, the action scenes were not jaw-dropping, unlike the first two films. Though the audience does get introduced to new characters, like the Mangkwan Clan led by the terrifying pirate Varang (Oona Chaplin).
Varang and her clan add some extra developments to the story, and are the driving factor among the intense combat scenes, but that was the only aspect of this film that felt new. Unsurprisingly, Varang wants what every other antagonist in this saga wants: power. Similar to Miles Quartich (Stephen Lang) and how he is still on the same rampage to end Sully and get his son back, so he can win this war once and for all.
The most disappointing part of this film was the character development. Making Spider the main attraction of this film could’ve had its benefits, yet there was no substance behind the character. Simply put, Spider was a scared teenage boy who was trying to survive. That is all the substance hidden behind that character.
It felt like Cameron was directing these big, explosive scenes to hide the lacking dialogue between characters.
Another factor that dragged this movie along is the 197-minute run-time. Understandably so, the “Avatar” movies have always been known for their long run-times, but this one felt unnecessary. It feels like Cameron is trying to one-up himself from the previous film, with “The Way of Water” being 192 minutes and the original “Avatar” sitting at 162 minutes. Nonetheless, the almost three and a half hour movie could’ve fit into a simple two and a half.
The film, however, was not a complete disappointment. Cameron still paid homage to the original theme of colonization and showed the audience how damaging it is. Though Cameron didn’t fully sell this theme through the dialogue, as it was more of a visual experience. The point still came across: colonization becomes deadly and breaks not only people apart, but worlds. Only in the act of war do people (and animals in this case) come together to fight against a greater evil.
While many can appreciate Cameron’s ability for visually appealing films, “Avatar: Fire and Ash” lacks the one thing the other movies shared: emotionally deep storytelling. The franchise is still set to produce two more films after “Fire and Ash,” but Cameron’s recent release may worry some fans about the future.
