Avatar: Fire and Ash

James Cameron has been of cinema’s greatest adventurers. Allowing audiences to escape into the realm of new worlds and immersive stories, Cameron has been a filmmaking pioneer for a majority of his eclectic career. Having reshaped industry standards for filmmaking numerous times over, his 2009 epic Avatar continued the trend and became the highest-grossing film of all time in process. A project that Cameron spent decades working on, his immersive, photo-realistic vision of the alien planet of Pandora was a shifting moment for cinema not since, well, Cameron’s Titanic. Capturing the same magic with his follow-up Avatar: The Way of Water, which was shot back-to-back with this film, it’s clear his distinct level of imagination and filmmaking craft continues to be unparalleled on pop filmmaking. Yet, the third film in his Avatar franchise is a more frustrating experience than expected. One that still holds a ton of greatness, but suffers from familiarity and repetition.

Courtesy 20th Century Studios

Shortly after the events of The Way of Water, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) are mourning the loss of their eldest son Neteyam (Jamie Flatters). Their marriage has suffered greatly as a result, leaving their family in a fractured state. Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) blames himself for the death of his older brother, while having to now share the responsibility of helping his parents look after his siblings, Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss) and their adoptive human son Spider (Jack Chapion), whose real father is the Sully family’s ultimate nemesis Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang, in top form). As the family looks to relocate Spider from increasing pressure following the sky peoples attacks, lead by the reincarnated avatar of Quaritch, their quest upended when they run into a rival Na’vi tribe. Varang (a chilling Oona Chaplin) is the head of the Ash Clan, who resides in a dormant volcano and raids of Na’vi groups. Her clan revels in inflicting pain on their victims and themselves. When she forms an alliance with Quaritch, working on behalf of the colonizing sky people, lead by General Ardmore (Edie Falco) and returning villain Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi), they lead an all-out assault against the Sully’s and their Metkayina clan. The Sully’s will need to unite all walks of life on Pandora, including their original forest clan, the whale species known as the Tulkun, and others to stop the incoming assault and free Pandora of their reign.

What’s immediately clear about Avatar: Fire and Ash is its lack of revelatory “wow” factor. Given that thirteen years had passed in between the first film and its sequel, versus the mere three years between Way of Water and Fire and Ash, the lack of technological advancement is fairly unavoidable. That said, Cameron’s third film in the franchise is a cinematic experience unlike anything else… except for the previous two films. Fire and Ash is as fully immersive and dazzlingly constructed as an any blockbuster you’ll see this century, but Cameron’s story conception finds himself spinning his wheels, recycling many plot points and character arcs to often frustrating effect.

Cameron’s first Avatar film was a truly distinct film, transporting audiences to a world full of unique characters, creatures and worlds that had never been seen before, despite its fairly simplistic narrative. It was a transformative piece of cinema from one of modern Hollywood’s most ingenious filmmakers. Cameron recaptured that magic with the long-awaited Avatar: The Way of Water, reintroducing audiences to the world of Pandora, while further enhancing and enriching the vision he originally created. His sequel was comparative to his Terminator sequel T2: Judgement Day in that he vastly expanded the scope of his initial story, providing more depth and thematic complexity than previously given. Cameron showed audiences new sides to Pandora with new clans of Na’vi, namely the Metkayina, who live among the oceans, alongside new ecosystems and species of alien creatures. The Way of Water also provided some of Cameron’s most emotionally piercing material to date, making it a cut above his revolutionary first film. Fire and Ash plays more like the second half of the story told in Way of Water, but with more repetitive story beats. It’s as if the Oscar-winner copied off his own homework for this third installment. Yet, the inherent power of the story being told and the sheer magnitude of Cameron’s vision elevates the narrative’s unfortunate familiarity.

Courtesy 20th Century Studios

Without sounding redundant, Fire and Ash is absolutely fucking stellar to bask in. The sweeping scale of which Cameron is working in is its own achievement. His third Avatar film is just as rich in its world-building and technological filmmaking as you’ve come to expect. Yet, the element of surprise has been somewhat evaporated given the (comparatively) short time between sequels. Fire and Ash is as technically breathtaking as its predecessors, but the lack of new directions taken does slightly hinder the overall experience. The use of high frame rate takes some adjusting to this time around and isn’t utilized as smoothly as it was in Way of Water. It does eventually enhance the experience, paired exquisitely with the Imax 3D format, but not without some jerky moments early on. This, paired with the retreading of previous story beats and overall lack of discovery, makes the film less of a seismic adventure one might expect from Cameron.

Very few filmmakers are as adept at staging action as Cameron, who crafts some of the franchise’s most rousing, adrenaline-fueled spectacle in the final hour. The third act is essentially one breathless set piece after another that showcases the filmmaker’s knack for intricate staging and robust sense of imagination. It becomes a wonder just how detailed Cameron is at taking every element of the vast world he’s created and melding them all together to work in tandem.

One of the brilliant new additions to the film is Oona Chaplin’s sinister and seductive new villain. Varang is something of a flip side to Neytiri, if she didn’t have a family by her side to help reign in her rage and emotional impulses. Chaplin’s performance is entrancing, utilizing a balletic physicality that sets her apart from any other character in the franchise. Her unfazed cruelty is highly imposing, making her a perfect fit alongside Lang’s terrific Quaritch. Chaplin and Lang have a simmering sexual tension that makes for some of the film’s best moments. A particular sequence, involving a ritualistic drug trip is precisely the tinge of weirdness you might hope Cameron would lean into more often. Zoe Saldaña is once again the raw emotional anchor that centers these films. Despite winning an Oscar for her turn in Emilia Perez, her role in the Avatar films remains her most layered and moving work.

Courtesy 20th Century Studios

Avatar: Fire and Ash is another stirring, visually arresting experience from James Cameron, but represents a narrative step down from the previous films. Cameron remains atop the list of cinematic pioneers, but Fire and Ash’s  whiff of familiarity in its story structure and character arcs robs it of fully achieving its highest potential. It is an astonishing technical marvel, but it is the weakest of the three Avatar films.

Avatar: Fire and Ash is now playing in theaters.