Director: James Cameron
Writers: James Cameron, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver
Stars: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver
Synopsis: 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.
While watching Avatar: Fire and Ash, you cannot argue that you get more for your dollar, technically speaking, when it comes to buying a movie ticket for the James Cameron experience. The latest chapter, unfortunately, the hump-day version, being the third of five installments in the trials and tribulations of the blue, lush alien moon known as Pandora, has jaw-dropping visuals and stunning special effects, and is a wholly immersive cinematic experience.
However, from that standpoint, when it comes to the wooden dialogue, story, and plot points, James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire and Ash is a beautiful snoozefest. Yes, the famed filmmaker’s computer-generated imagery (CGI), along with a few action scenes, are gorgeous and transformative. However, the storylines are recycled, the plot is predictable, and the dialogue is cringeworthy. However, Cameron does breathe new life into the Avatar villain universe.
Sure, if you love the Avatar franchise or crave some big popcorn bucket of cinematic showmanship, I won’t stand in your way, but prepare yourself to be massively disappointed.
The story continues to follow the Metkayina clan after the tragic events of Avatar: The Way of Water. Since the death of their son, Neteyam (Jamie Flatters), Jake (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoë Saldaña) are trying their best to keep their family together. It doesn’t help that the constant reminder of his death is walking around. That would be Spider (Trap House’s Jack Champion), whom they adopted and who Neytiri sees as the catalyst for Neteyam’s demise.
The death has caused a rift between Jake and Neytiri, as she abandons the guiding life force known as Eywa. For reasons of his safety, due to the lack of functioning oxygen equipment, which honestly feels more like a contrived plot point to move the story along, Jake decides that, despite Spider’s relationship with the rest of his children, most notably Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), he will need to move Spider for his own protection.
Of course, instead of just sending Spider on his way by pulling a Jack Conroy, Jake has the brilliant idea of making it a family trip. So, he arranges for everyone to come along, convincing the captain of the merchant ship that they may need extra reinforcements for what are Pandorian pirates. Let that sink in: Jake wants to put his family in danger? I suspect Pandora will have social workers as a profession in the next film.
Of course, if they just send Spider on his way, there is no real story to tell. If they keep Spider, it could turn into a heart-warming family drama with grief counselors. But no, the contrived plot in Cameron, Rick Jaffa, and Amanda Silver’s script assumed no one questioned Will Robinson before he found his family floating off the coast of New Guinea, so why should they? And to their credit, this creates the movie’s best scene, a breathtaking aerial battle led by Varang (Treason’s Oona Chaplin), leader of the volcano-dwelling Mangkwan clan.
The entire family is scattered across the region. Then, we add Stephen Lang’s classic over-enunciating, exaggerated, and cartoonish Quaritch, seeking revenge against Jake and his family, especially that troublemaker, Spider. Of course, without the addition of Varang, the story would remain redundant, repeating the same plot points since the first Avatar. This leaves the film with less emotional impact than you would expect, and frankly, demand. No matter how vibrant the visuals are, it is only a beard for the money grab.
Avatar: Fire and Ash is too long and self-indulgent, merely using tribal, social, and animism as a backdrop, the first time I have felt that way when it comes to the first two installments’ world-building. I make that point because the most interesting part of the film, the Mangkwan clan, is given no depth or substance to learn about their own true origins. Why not embrace the new clan instead of just rehashing the old ones?
Instead, you get a long, endless journey that is beautiful but never ends, doesn’t know when to stop, goes off in too many directions, and offers familiar endings. Yes, Avatar: Fire and Ash offers more bang for your buck, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t demand more for your dollar and your time.
You can watch Avatar: Fire and Ash only in theaters starting December 19th!
