‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ review: Third film is another looker, little more
I’m going to peel back the curtain.
I was seated in a theater’s auditorium, 3-D glasses on my face, as an advanced screening of “Avatar: Fire and Ash” began. From the start, I was distracted by the visuals — not because this third “Avatar” was as dazzling to the eyes as the two franchise entries that came before it, but instead because something was very wrong with them. A few shots were clear, but much of it was blurry — the vast majority of the backgrounds were a muddy mess — and the 3-D simply wasn’t working.
There is no way on Earth — or, as it were, on Pandora — that this was how visionary filmmaker James Cameron’s latest science-fiction epic was designed to look.
After a good-faith, hourlong effort to get past this, I left, deciding I wasn’t paying close enough attention to the story and that I’d rather see the movie as it was made to be seen, even if it wasn’t for a review, when I could.
Fortunately, calls were made, emails were exchanged, strings were pulled, and two nights later I was back at the same theater — albeit in a different and larger, more technologically capable auditorium — for take two of “Avatar” three, with the promise that the problem had been solved by the staff.
From the start, I again was distracted by the visuals, this time for (mostly) the right reasons. It remains the case that no one does the kind of jaw-dropping 3-D, motion-capture-fueled filmmaking that Cameron pulls off. The director of films ranging from “The Terminator” to “The Abyss” to “Titanic” offers these three-hour “Avatar” experiences that pull you into the action as close to literally as is imaginable.
I will note, though, that Cameron’s use of a variable frame rate may be an issue for some viewers. I found certain scenes seemingly shot with the higher rate of 48 frames per second, as opposed to the standard 24, to look unnatural.
Still, most of what’s on the screen — and floating in front of it — is so wowing that it’s easy to lose yourself in the razzle dazzle to the point where you have to remind yourself to pay attention to the story.
The good news, if you want to call it that, is that the story is a snoozer.
“Fire and Ash” picks up shortly after the events of 2022’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” and fails to move the overall narrative begun with 2009 megahit “Avatar” forward in any interesting way.
Even with its bloated runtime, there isn’t enough room for all the characters — humans, aka “Sky People”; the Na’vi, the blue, tall and lean natives of the planet Pandora; and recoms, or recombinants, the new breed of transgenic human-Na’vi hybrid warriors created by the Earth’s Resources Development Administration — crammed into the screenplay by director Cameron, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. (That trio, plus Josh Friedman and Shane Salerno, are credited with the story.)
Mainly, though, we again spend our time with the Sully clan, led by Marine-turned-Na’vi leader Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his wife, fierce Na’vi warrior Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña). Along with their biological children, son Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) and younger daughter Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), they care for adopted daughter Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) and Spider (Jack Champion). Spider is the human son of Jake’s arch nemesis, Quaritch (Stephen Lang), the colonel in charge of an elite team of recom soldiers, who’s treated largely like a brother by the children.
The Sullys continue to live in the planet’s lovely reefs and among the Metkayina Clan, led by Tonowari (Cliff Curtis), and stand ready to defend the region alongside Tonowari, his pregnant wife, Ronal (“Titanic” star Kate Winslet), and their children, Tsireya (Bailey Bass) and Aonung (Filip Geljo).
To defend the people he loves, Jake is willing to turn back to manmade weaponry, but Neytiri has no interest in guns, holding fast to her long-held beliefs even as she now lives apart from the Omaticaya Clan and the humans with whom it’s aligned.
“All I have here is my faith!” she insists, with Jake subsequently reminding her that she also has his love and that of their children.
The increasingly angry Na’vi woman seemingly has no love for Spider, and when the masks he needs to breathe Pandora’s air become an issue, she and Jake decide he must be returned to the Omaticaya stronghold. The children are furious, but agree to the compromise that the whole family will take him there, instead of just sending him away with the Tlalim Clan, aka the Wind Traders, peaceful nomads who travel by awe-inspiring, sail-equipped airships.
Along the way, the Sullys make a new enemy, the Mangkwan Clan, aka the Ash People. Led by Varang (Oona Chaplin, “Game of Thrones”), they saw their way of life ravaged by a volcano, for which they blame the deity Eywa, believed by other Na’vi.
Varang is very interested in the weaponry of the Sky People — “Show me how to make thunder!” she demands of Jake as she holds a hefty automatic rifle — and eventually cozies up to Quaritch, the two baddies entering into what could be seen as a marriage of convenience.
As “Fire and Ash” bangs on (and on and on), hostages are taken (and rescued) and battles unfold, the climactic one centering around the RDA’s interest in amrita, a potentially game-changing substance that can be harvested from Pandora’s sophisticated whale-like species, the Tulkun.
Even when projected correctly, this movie is highly unfocused from a storytelling perspective.
Cameron and company attempt to mine something rich from the father-son dynamic between Jake and Lo’ak. The latter blames himself, as does his father, regretfully, for the death of his older brother, Neteyam (Jamie Flatters, who appears briefly in “Fire and Ash”). Disappointingly, the arc of a young man learning to believe in himself and earning his father’s trust is warmed-over mush.
The same goes for the personal journey taken by Kiri, who begins to question her seemingly special connection to Eywa.
Some cuts would have helped. Trim a scene or two here, lose a minor character or three there. By the third hour, “Fire and Ash” feels as if it may never end.
And, ultimately, this third “Avatar” feels a lot like the second. Despite the title “Fire and Ash,” Cameron remains most interested in the way of water — not exactly surprising given his passion for deep-sea exploration. Regardless, I expected a fresher story than this one, which seems to set up, well, yet another similar movie. (Time will tell if this very expensive film earns enough at the global box office to justify the making of the fourth of five planned entries.)
I’ve tried to rewatch the other “Avatar” movies at home, and even with them being streamed in 4K on a good TV, I invariably lose interest. For me, these movies are one-time experiences, rather spectacular ones that depend highly on 3-D and a massive screen.
If you’re planning to see “Fire and Ash,” find the biggest screen you can and fork over the extra dough for 3-D. And if you find something meaningful in the story, consider that a bonus.
‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’
Where: Theaters.
When: Dec. 19.
Rated: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, bloody images, some strong language, thematic elements and suggestive material.
Runtime: 3 hours, 15 minutes.
Stars (of four): 2.5.