Film Review: ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ is Another Visual Treat From James Cameron But Narratively Spins Its Wheels

Three films in, as well as a little more than ten hours spent watching, and James Cameron‘s Avatar franchise has had varied expectations each time out. Initially, Avatar was a phenomenon, showing audiences that movies could still look different, transporting everyone to Pandora. The sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, had to build upon the first one while still showing folks something new. As I wrote in my review at the time here, its success was proof never to bet against Cameron. So, we all went into the third flick, Avatar: Fire and Ash, with some degree of confidence that he’d knock this one out of the park as well. Well, the highs are still certainly incredibly high. At the same time, repetition and wheel spinning has set in, making for the first in this franchise that had some degree of boredom attached to it.

Avatar: Fire and Ash is not the longest film ever made, I factually know that to be the case. However, there were points during the movie where you could not convince me otherwise. That’s the trouble I had here with this third installment. When it’s good, it’s very good. For the first time though, the negatives were almost running neck and neck with the positives. That keeps me from doing anything close to the raving that I was able to do with Avatar: The Way of Water. Quality wise, this is similar to the first Avatar, just with less of the novelty factor at play.

In the aftermath of the prior film, we pick things up with former Marine turned Na’vi leader Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), his Na’vi warrior wife Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), and the rest of the Sully family. They’re grappling with grief and loss after the death of Neteyam at the conclusion of the last movie, while still living amongst the the Metkayina Clan. The dynamics between the family, including children Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) and Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), as well as adopted kids Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) and the human Spider (Jack Champion), continue to evolve, especially for Spider, as his biological father Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) still looms out there.

This time around, the Sully family encounters an antagonistic Na’vi tribe, the Mangkwan Clan, also known as the Ash People, led by the fiery Varang (Oona Chaplin). Quaritch also encounters Varang, finding an unlikely ally. Providing her and her tribe guns, he has his sights set on finally taking Jake down. The cost of doing so? Well, that could be devastating for multiple clans on Pandora, as well as the aquatic life we came to know last time.

The motion capture cast gains a strong new addition with Oona Chaplin, who gives Varang a distinctive nature. She’s the most violent Na’vi we’ve ever met, and when Chaplin gets to break bad with Stephen Lang, some fun villain sparks fly. They’re the performance highlights, without question. Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldaña are once again solid, while the kids, outside of Sigourney Weaver, are fine, if forgettable. Supporting players once again include Jermaine Clement, Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, Joel David Moore, Giovanni Ribisi, Kate Winslet, and more. Of course, you don’t come to one of these pictures for the acting, but everyone is doing their part.

Co-writer/director James Cameron is certainly at home playing around on Pandora. This time, the screenplay is credited again to Cameron, alongside Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (Josh Friedman and Shane Salerno also get Story By credits), very much continuing the prior installment’s narrative. The thing is, Cameron the director is going off, while Cameron the writer is spinning his wheels. Anytime there’s new technology to show off or a creature of some kind (the whales with ear piercings and the squids are the highlights for me), he’s at his best, taking your breath away. Along with cinematographer Russell Carpenter, there’s no one doing visual blockbuster cinema like Cameron. At the same time, the narrative barely moves forward, several sequences feel like they already happened last time, and by the time the credits role, it’s baffling to think that over three hours produced this little momentum towards advancing the story. It’s part of what makes the running time such an issue this time around.

Avatar: Fire and Ash has enough in its favor to clearly warrant a recommendation. It’s almost certainly going to win the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects in a walk, too. However, the days of this franchise being in the thick of the Best Picture race probably should be coming to an end. The series is just no longer Oscar fare like that. If there are further installments, I’ll see them. If this is the end of the line for these characters, I won’t shed a tear, either. So, while you still shouldn’t bet against James Cameron, the cracks are starting to show.

SCORE: ★★★