3.5 out of 5 stars (above average)
Avatar: Fire and Ash had a tough task to win me back after its predecessor got waterlogged in worldbuilding. 2009’s Avatar remains an entertaining blockbuster with a solid story, good cast, and gorgeous visuals even though its 2nd half is comically backloaded with gunfire, and 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water expands the world but is more concerned with how hot it looks than developing its characters. With 3 years and hundreds of millions of dollars, Avatar: Fire and Ash thankfully refocuses on those characters that captivated us all those years ago and provides engaging ideas alongside its immense spectacle, even if some of those ideas get lost in a sea of explosions by its end.
Human marine-turned Na’vi Jake Sulley (Voiced by Sam Worthington) and his wife Neytiri (Voiced by Zoe Saldana) are mourning the loss of their older son in battle at the end of the last movie. Their remaining younger son Lo’ak (Voiced by Britain Dalton) blames himself for his brother’s death and his relationship with Jake is seriously on the outs. Meanwhile, their teen daughter Kiri (Voiced by Sigourney Weaver) is bonding with human ally Spider (Jack Champion) and grappling with her inability to connect to the spirit world without having seizures. Did I mention their younger daughter Tuk (Voiced by Trinity Jo-Li Bliss) is also here?
The Sulley’s fractured family is tested when the gung-ho marine-turned Na’vi General Miles Quaritch (Voiced by Stephen Lang) once again comes calling wanting Jake’s head on a pike with the full support of the human military. Forced on the run, our heroes encounter a new enemy in the form of Varang (Voiced by Oona Chaplin), the leader of a fire-based Na’Vi tribe whose eyes burn in blood as much as the spears of her adversaries. Along the way, new discoveries will be made by all that will either change Pandora forever or leave relationships, and the planet, burning in Fire and Ash.
Avatar: Fire and Ash did one of the best things a sequel can do: Realize where its predecessor went wrong and avoid those mistakes. This film thankfully spends a large amount of its whopping 3 hour and 15 minute runtime on developing its characters, their relationships, the story (refreshingly breaking away from the formula of the previous 2) and themes of family, bigotry, spirituality, and grief. The action sequences are plentiful as is required for a blockbuster, but I appreciated the film for caring about telling me a story with these people rather than always rushing to the next fight sequence. It’s also refreshing that the tone is more serious for a blockbuster given its underlying ideas while still having some well-placed levity.
The biggest visual pleasure of Avatar: Fire And Ash comes from watching the actors’ facial expressions and body movements. The Na’Vi characters are entirely computer-generated using motion capture technology (meaning everyone acts the scenes out live while wearing heavy suits that pick up their every movement and expression to be late digitized on their Na’Vi models), but the actors’ physicality gives each one a feeling of weight and presence onscreen and the drama is played as seriously as if they were all playing regular humans. Whatever issues the movie has, it reaffirms James Cameron as one of the best directors today at seamlessly marrying great acting performances with cutting-edge technology.
Though Sam Worthington’s Australian accent still comes and goes as it desires, his overall performance is still strong. However, Oona Chaplin nearly steals the movie as the threatening Varang with her excellent delivery, facial expressions, and animalistic movements. She’s the best villain the series has had and I hope we see more of her in a future installment if one is produced. Zoe Saldana devours meatier material this time with Neytiri’s arc and the previously irritating Jack Champion is enjoyable as Spider. I spent a large chunk of Fire And Ash ready to add it to my “Best of the Year” list for its engaging story, focus on character progression, and great execution of its themes… and then the last 45 minutes happened.
As great as Avatar: Fire and Ash is, it runs into the Big Blockbuster Problem of not knowing when to pack it up. There’s a great action sequence near the end that I was sure Must be the final hurrah, the emotional high point to end the story, only for that to happen and the movie go on for another 45 minutes with its Actual climax. To its credit, the emotion and character beats there are great, but I wish the film had consolidated both into one just to tighten up the pacing. The idea of grief is sadly buried during this section before concluding for a wrap-up and 76-year-old Sigourney Weaver is a little hard to buy as the voice of a teenager, but the things this movie gets right far outweigh its missteps for me. I hope Varang gets the center stage next time and that film 4’s climax doesn’t overstay its welcome, but this 3rd entry proves there’s still fire left in this franchise. Avatar: Fire and Ash improves on its predecessor with a strong story, more character development, and great ideas underlying its spectacular action even if its epic length feels overextended by the 9th inning. If you enjoyed the previous 2 films, See It.
Rated PG-13 for Intense Sequences of Violence and Action, Bloody Images, Some Strong Language, Thematic Elements, and Suggestive Material