Avatar: Fire and Ash is a gorgeous spectacle of titanic proportions

Avatar: Fire and Ash – A Visual Knockout with Lacking Ideas

Meanwhile, the third chapter of James Cameron’s sci-fi epic, Avatar: Fire and Ash, has finally arrived, and it’s a visual knockout. However, it lacks new ideas and feels like a formulaic sequel.

Unsurprisingly, the new movie is even more of a visual spectacle than its predecessors, thanks to advancements in motion capture technology. But, whereas The Way of Water felt like the beginning of a new adventure, Fire and Ash plays more like a predictable follow-up that doesn’t offer much in terms of compelling characters or fresh storylines.

A Familiar Story with a New Setting

Set shortly after The Way of Water, Avatar: Fire and Ash once again focuses on human marine-turned-Na’vi patriarch Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his wife Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) as they navigate an emotional crisis within their family. However, the story feels stale, and the characters are struggling to find their place in the world.

The clan is in a state of collective grief after the loss of countless lives, and Jake and Neytiri’s pain stems from knowing that their eldest child died to save their youngest biological son Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) and Spider (Jack Champion), a human adopted into the Sully family.

A Colonialist Fantasy Baked into Avatar

One of the more compelling aspects of Fire and Ash’s central family drama is the way Neytiri’s anger at all of humanity (including her husband) underlines the colonialist fantasy baked into Avatar. Neytiri and Jake’s beef is far more interesting to watch than the situation with Varang (Oona Chaplin), the pyromaniac cult leader of the new Mangkwan Clan.

The clan’s obsession with fire and hallucinogenic drugs make for some fun visuals and explosive set pieces. However, compared to the depth Cameron and co-screenwriters Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver have given to the franchise’s other Na’Vi clans, the Ash people are written surprisingly flat and often disappear from the movie for long stretches of time.

A Technical Marvel with a Stale Story

Fire and Ash continues to make it stunningly clear that Cameron is one of the few filmmakers working who truly understands how to craft films that benefit from being seen in 3D. Pandora has never looked more gorgeous and like the place you would want to explore.

However, the stories being told about the planet’s human and Na’Vi inhabitants are beginning to feel more than a little stale. Fire and Ash is a technical marvel, but at its core, it feels like Cameron is still recycling a lot of the franchise’s basics.

A Good Place to Stop?

To really keep this franchise exciting and like a story that could continue for a few more films, Cameron needs to come up with something beyond shiny MacGuffins and chosen ones communing with Eywa as only they can. But if that’s all there is to Avatar, the Fire and Ash might be a good place to stop.

Avatar: Fire and Ash also stars Cliff Curtis, Bailey Bass, Kate Winslet, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Edie Falco, Jemaine Clement, Matt Gerald, and David Thewlis. The movie hits theaters on December 19th.

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