Everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. No, it’s not that Avatar but the story is the same. David Ho reviews Fire and Ash, the latest instalment in James Cameron’s Avatar series
Fire and Ash comes hot and heavy after The Way of Water in 2022. It’s a swift threequel considering the gap between the first and second Avatar film took 13 years.
The story
For those that need a primer, the story of Avatar takes place on Pandora, an Earth-like moon. It’s inhabited by smurf blue humanoids known as the Na’vi. Unfortunately, humans have arrived on their home in search of rare minerals. One of the ways Earth’s Resources Development Administration (RDA) infiltrates the planet is by having humans telepathically inhabit genetically-engineered Na’vi bodies. Hence, the franchise’s title of Avatar.
In the first film, reluctant recruit Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) rebels against the RDA’s colonising ways and helps the Na’vi in expelling their forces from Pandora. He also ends up staying on Pandora permanently in his Na’vi form with his new love, Neytiri (Zoe Saldana). The story played much like Disney’s Pocahontas but in space.
Then, The Way of Water takes place 16 years after the first film. Sully and Neytiri are leaders of their tribe and parents to two sons, two daughters, and a human hanger-on. The return of the RDA forces them to flee and relocate where the aquatic Metkayina clan dwell. But the RDA’s pursuit of them has tragic consequences.
For Fire and Ash ‘s release to follow The Way of Water so closely is no coincidence. It picks up in the aftermath of the previous movie, with Sully and family reeling from the price of war. Their attempts to relocate puts them squarely in the cross hairs of RDA forces, as well as the savage Mangkwan tribe.
Review
Now that the exposition is over, let’s dive into it. Fire and Ash bears the hallmark of every Avatar movie to date. It provides an immersive and cinematic world that is worth experiencing in 3D. Each water ripple and tendril of smoke pulses with life. Pandora’s refined and realistic environments bursts to life in every frame.
Cameron and co are sure to pick up some technical awards for their efforts here. The world building and advanced facial motion capture, especially underwater, blends live action and animation like no other. At over three hours long, it is a visual feast that will have you leaving the buffet completely gorged.
The action also keeps us on our toes. We are treated to dynamic and gripping battles on all terrains: on the ground, up in the sky, and down underwater. The last bit feels like a very long drawn-out version of the “Under The Sea” sequence from The Little Mermaid with more violence, but that’s not the complaint we have.
The complaint we do have is how the Avatar franchise re-treads the overarching plot points across all its films. As complex as the world gets, it still boils down to a predictable good vs evil dynamic. Plus, it always seems to end with a huge finale battle that involves the flora and fauna of Pandora. Even as the world expands in Pandora, the narrative remains stuck in a loop. If you’ve seen one Avatar film, you’ve basically seen them all.
That said, we do appreciate some of the nudges in character developments. Sully and Neytiri’s struggles with grief are quite grounded in reality. The return of antagonist Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang) and new addition Varang (Oona Chaplin) serve as perfect mirrors to them and their inner turmoil.
Chaplin (yes, she’s the granddaughter of Charlie) steals every scene she is in as Varang, the leader of the bloodthirsty Mangkwan clan. Whether she is in battle or doling out alien blow, Chaplin gives us a character that ups the ante in any situation as soon as she enters the frame. Clearly, she is the fire that blazes the brightest amidst the ash.
She also gives Lang’s Quaritch something to bounce off on. Quaritch has always been a serviceable, but not wildly memorable, villain. But together, the evil duo’s tension and chemistry heats up the screen. Cue the comparisons and memes about MAGA men and their ethnic wives.
The rest of the cast feels more like avatars (pun intended) for ideas, rather than fully fleshed out characters. The teenaged Kiri’s (Sigourney Weaver) attempts to find her place in this world is well-intentioned and priming her for bigger things. Yet, there is very little that makes the audience emotionally invested in her journey. At least Spider (Jack Champion) becomes less annoying and more endearing this time around.
But when it comes to blockbusters, you’d be hard pressed to find one as beautiful and immersive as the Avatar universe. It is as astonishing as it is exhausting. With so much to wrangle, it’s impressive that Cameron and co have managed to keep things cohesive. But they have done so at the expense of moving the needle very slightly on the main arc, like some of his other sci-fi franchises.
With Avatar 4 and 5 already in the works, we hope to see a change in the main narrative beats at least. We hear Michelle Yeoh has signed on to play a Na’vi and that the fifth instalment will take place on Earth. So we are hopeful that James Cameron has more to tell and that we are simply in the middle chapters of the story.
Verdict
When it comes to grandeur, Fire and Ash burns bright. But once the smoke has cleared, it’s hard to shake the sense of déjà vu from previous outings. This slightly dulls the impact. That said, this provides the same escapism we loved from previous Avatar films.
Images courtesy of Disney
