Avatar: Fire and Ash
review by Bobby Blakey
In 2009 director James Cameron destroyed the box office with the release of Avatar that to this day is still the highest grossing film of all time. There have been talks of him bringing new chapters to the story since its original success and groundbreaking effects. In 2022 the second chapter Avatar: The Way of Water hit theaters to high acclaim and now the highly anticipated third entry Avatar: Fire and Ash is in theaters, but does it bring more to the world of Pandora or is it a return journey not worth taking?
Avatar: Fire and Ash follow Jake and Neytiri's family grapples with grief after Neteyam's death, encountering a new, aggressive Na'vi tribe, the Ash People, who are led by the fiery Varang, as the conflict on Pandora escalates and a new moral focus emerges. This latest entry features returning and new cast including Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Oona Chaplin, Cliff Curtis, Britain Dalton, Trinity Bliss, Jack Champion, Bailey Bass and Kate Winslet.
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I must admit that I was never a big fan of the original film when it came out. It’s strange because its everything I love in sci-fi and for whatever reason just didn’t connect with me. That being said after revisiting it and the second film I have a newfound appreciation for it and really enjoyed the Way of Water. Heading into this latest chapter and once again revisiting the previous films I was back on board and ready to take it all in. The result is excellent, but not without its flaws.
One of the things I do really love about this franchise is the ongoing evolution of the characters and the world building around them. This latest chapter is no different, bringing more depth and story to them all while keeping things familiar. Getting more clarity to some of the mysteries that began in Way of Water while not all that surprising helped to flesh some things out here and strengthen the bonds across all the players in various ways. Jake and Neytiri
are front and center, but the stories have evolved past them letting others step forward to shine.
Even the Tulkun which are essentially whales, get more story time that began in the previous film. I loved the deeper dive (pun intended) to these characters and their importance to the tribes and overall story. All these films have an ongoing theme of environmental preservation, and the whale hunting nature continues while making them fully fleshed out characters that are both engaging and heartbreaking in their journey.
Visually the film is unsurprisingly impressive and fully immersive in this world. The hi-def rate is off putting at times because it is just so clear and perfect that it sometimes doesn’t feel like a movie at all. After a few minutes you adapt to it and then fully feel like you are in Pandora for the journey as you are meant to be. I can’t say the same for the 3D sadly. I am not a fan of 3D anyway but in animation and even films like this tend to work better. Here it fully does its thing but too well, making it sometimes hard to focus with the depths making things blurry and hard to watch. It felt more like work trying to watch it in this format and took away from the beauty that was created so highly recommend seeing it in 2D if possible.
There are plenty of new elements to enjoy and wonder at but the rehashing of a lot of the same themes does make it feel less inspiring at times. The final act is pretty much a retread from the last film despite it doing a lot of new things and taking the battle to a bigger scale. It is still an impressive undertaking, but you will feel like you are having déjà vu for most of it and would have been cool to get something altogether new for it.
In the end I very much still enjoyed the film and think it remains one of the most impressive and intricate worlds created on film. It screams our world in lots of ways and still is fully its own. It makes for an excellent entry into this insanely cool world even with all the retreading of the storylines. Yes, it is a long runtime with a little over 3 hours but never felt like it as it moves briskly and with purpose.
I know there has been talk of making 5 films in the series, but this one is the perfect ending to the series should Cameron decide to let it rest. Even so I will be more than happy to return to Pandora anytime and if we do, just hope there is some new direction to marvel at.
Decide for yourself and take another journey to Pandora with Avatar: Fire and Ash in theaters now from 20th Century Studios.
