I still remember sitting in the theater in 2009 watching James Cameron’s “Avatar” and being amazed at the cinematic achievement on display. While the storytelling may not have wowed me, the visuals that Cameron created for the alien world of Pandora were like nothing I’d ever witnessed onscreen before.
It remains one of the only 3D movies I’ve ever seen that warranted spending nearly three hours with uncomfortable glasses on my face, on top of the prescription glasses I wear every day. Subsequent years have made “Avatar” seem slightly less impressive from a technological standpoint, but Cameron’s belated sequels have made its storytelling seem economical and sophisticated in comparison.
Sitting in the theater watching the new “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” I was still impressed by Cameron’s commitment to technological innovation, but that relentless drive for new filmmaking techniques now feels hollower than ever. With a running time of 197 minutes, “Fire and Ash” is the longest of the three “Avatar” movies, and it’s easily the most tedious to watch.
‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ is a retread of a sequel
The biggest narrative problem with “Fire and Ash” is that it spends more than three hours barely moving the overall franchise plot forward, with a story that’s largely a copy of 2022’s “Avatar: The Way of Water.”
Once again, it focuses on the extended family of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), the formerly human Marine who’s now in the body of an alien Na’vi and partnered with native Na’vi Neytiri (Zoë Saldaña). And once again, Jake and the Na’vi battle the planet’s human invaders without either side making much progress, leaving the same storylines to continue into Cameron’s planned fourth and fifth “Avatar” movies.
Even the specific plot devices and set pieces of “Fire and Ash” mirror the structure of “The Way of Water.” Following the events of the second movie, Jake and his family are still living with the water-dwelling Metkayina clan and grieving the death of their teenage son Neteyam at the hands of humans.
They’re still raising their other teenage son, Lo’ak (Britain Dalton), and their young daughter, Tuktirey (Trinity Bliss), along with two teen adoptees connected to Jake’s former colleagues: Na’vi Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) and human Spider (Jack Champion). All of the kids end up in peril at various points in the movie, in similar ways as in “The Way of Water,” with similar results.
The main villain is still Col. Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), a Na’vi-human “recombinant” with the memories and identity of the diabolical human commander who was killed in the first movie. The human operation on Pandora still aims to drain the planet’s resources, and the final battle again takes place on the water as human agents attempt to cull the whale-like animals known as Tulkun.
Jake’s kids are all still extraordinarily annoying, especially the hyperactive Spider, who becomes the focus of a central storyline about potential human-Na’vi bonding.
One new villain makes for a welcome addition
The major difference between “Fire and Ash” and “The Way of Water” is the introduction of a new Na’vi clan, the Mangkwan, led by the vicious Varang (Oona Chaplin). While the Na’vi have previously all been presented as variations on the “noble savage” stereotype — minor internal disagreements aside — the Mangkwan are ruthless and violent, and Varang has no problem teaming up with the humans if that means getting to take out other clans and assert her dominance.
Chaplin brings a sense of menace and danger to her performance that balances out Lang’s mostly cartoonish portrayal of Quaritch, whose single-minded obsession with getting revenge on Jake becomes increasingly tiresome. The Mangkwan have a more monstrous, horrific look than the other Na’vi, and Varang’s minions look like alien variations on Nosferatu. They’re ridiculous and exaggerated, but at least they’re something new.
‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ looks like no other movie
There’s no question that Cameron is pushing more technological boundaries than any other filmmaker, and the strides he’s made in performance-capture techniques just since the first “Avatar” are pretty amazing. Even so, it’s not quite convincing seeing Weaver play the teenage Na’vi clone of her human character from the first movie, and some of the personal qualities of the acting are still lost beneath the CGI, especially from Kate Winslet as the wife of the Metkayina chieftain.
Cameron also continues to push the world-building, revealing new aspects of life on Pandora, including the nomadic Wind Traders, who travel the planet via airships and will be more prominently featured in the fourth and fifth movies.
“Fire and Ash” spends more time with the Tulkun, including fan-favorite character Payakan, who strengthens his bond with Lo’ak but remains too silly to be affecting. Cameron further expands the undersea world of Pandora with nasty-looking squid-like creatures, and some of the underwater scenes recall the documentaries Cameron has made about ocean exploration.
One of the reasons that those scenes resemble nature documentaries is because they’re presented (at least in certain showings like the one I attended) at a high frame rate, which is meant to give the images a hyper-real look but only makes them look faker. A fantastical sci-fi movie should not look like a sports broadcast or a science presentation, and the ultra-sharpness of the visuals in “Fire and Ash” is consistently distracting.
‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ is a simultaneously overwhelming and underwhelming epic
The sheer scope of the movie is all-encompassing, and its bloated length is part of Cameron’s effort to immerse the audience in the Pandora experience. Yet it’s less like watching a movie than like taking a really long, aimless amusement-park ride. It’s easy not to notice the cringeworthy dialogue and the paper-thin characterization when you’re being bombarded by cutting-edge graphics.
For viewers who just want to surrender to that senses-shattering experience, “Fire and Ash” may provide some satisfaction, but my only feeling at the end of three-plus hours was exhaustion.
“Avatar: Fire and Ash” opens December 19 in theaters
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