Eye-Popping Avatar: Fire and Ash is an Entertaining Pandora Retread
James Cameron continues his visually opulent tales of the planet Pandora with the gargantuan action science fiction melodrama Avatar: Fire and Ash, and, as incredible as it all looks and sounds, this is the first instance where I felt like his gargantuan trilogy was repeating itself. Picking up soon after the events of 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) determines it is no longer safe for his family — most notably his surviving children Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), Lo’ak (Britain Dalton), and Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss) — to remain with the Metkayina clan. Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang) and his Na’vi avatar soldiers will come for them. When they do, it is certain he will show little, if any, mercy.
While wife Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) isn’t certain Jake’s decision is the right one, she agrees anyway, especially as it means they can drop off the human member of their family, the child of the deceased human version of Quaritch, Spider (Jack Champion), to their Sky People allies like scientist Norm Spellman (Joel David Moore). However, during their travels through the planet’s scenic skies with the Tlalim clan and their kindly chief Peylak (David Thewlis), they are attacked by the Mangkwan clan, led by the bloodthirsty witch, Varang (Oona Chaplin).
Events only get increasingly frenetic and crazy from there, as Jake, Neytiri, and their children bounce back and forth across Pandora trying to avoid Varang, Quaritch, and everyone else that human colonial military leader General Ardmore (Edie Falco) sends their way. Marine biologist Dr. Garvin (Jemaine Clement) plays a key role in all this chaos, as does cutthroat Tulkun whaler Captain Mick Scoresby (Brendan Cowell). Corporate stooge Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi) is also once again on hand, lusting to loot as many of Pandora’s rich natural resources as he can, while Metkayina clan leaders Tonowari (Cliff Curtis) and his extremely pregnant wife Ronal (Kate Winslet) again find themselves and their people as the last line of defense against the Sky People’s worst machinations.
As convoluted as all of that may sound, for an epic that runs a staggering 197 minutes, the whole thing is strangely bereft of major narrative dynamics. While there is a central conversation between Jake, his son Lo’ak, the Metkayina clan, and the overly communicative Tulkun about whether or not violence in the defense of one’s civilization is morally just, this sequel is still nothing more than an escalating series of chases, captures, and escapes, and not too much more than that. There’s also a side mystery involving Kiri’s mystical connection to Eywa and how that aids Spider in his time of perilous need, but to avoid spoilers, the less said about that subplot on my part the better.
It’s all as visually rapturous as ever, and Cameron remains one of the best executioners of pure adrenalized action spectacle who has ever stepped behind a camera to choreograph and orchestrate it. The world of Pandora continues to look and feel like nothing else I’ve ever seen, and the director’s utilization of seamlessly immersive 3-D is absolutely spectacular. Not to get too technical, but it also seems as if Cameron is inching even closer to cracking High Frame Rate (HFR) for theatrical exhibition, the dreaded “soap opera effect” almost completely absent from this otherwise eye-popping adventure. The Na’vi have never appeared so tactile and corporeal, and the line between practical sets and locations to their digitally crafted counterparts and augmentations is borderline seamless.
Yet, as thrilling as all of this may be, there is no avoiding how much major set pieces, most notably the film’s explosively elongated climax, are far too reminiscent of the finales from both Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water. Captain Scoresby and his Tulkun killers are back at it again, and they’re guarded by another mechanized fleet of warships, this time led by General Ardmore herself. Jake and Neytiri are up to the challenge of facing off against them, and they’ll organize all the Na’vi clans of Pandora together as one to stop the Sky People in their tracks if they have to.
The wild card, of course, is the presence of Varang and her Mangkwan clan, the main question being whether they’ll align themselves with Quaritch or instead continue to go their own way as Pandora’s most bloodthirsty cadre of thieves, raiders, and assassins (not that the answer to that question will surprise anyone). Even then, ultimately it will all still boil down to the two former humans inside their Na’vi avatars, Jake and Quaritch as determined as ever to do one another in, seemingly no matter what the cost to those closest to them.
Is it all still entertaining? Most assuredly, but not nearly as intimately or in as long-lasting a fashion as Cameron’s previous two Pandora adventures were. It’s hard not to get the sensation that the Oscar-winning auteur is finally growing tired of his colorful deep-space world born from classic Hollywood Westerns and given an interstellar spin. As much as I did enjoy Avatar: Fire and Ash (a set piece involving Neytiri and Spider breaking Jake out from the Sky People’s base of operations is particularly outstanding), I’m ready for Cameron to move on to telling new stories far removed from this one. Here’s hoping that’s exactly what he’s going to do.
– Review reprinted courtesy of the SGN in Seattle
Film Rating: 3 (out of 4)
