Why Avatar: Fire and Ash is Just Okay But Predictable

Courtedy of 20th Century Studios

James Cameron’s third movie in the Avatar series, Avatar: Fire and Ash, is finally out, starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Sigourney Weaver, and Oona Chaplin. Jake Sully and his family are grieving the loss of his son from Avatar: The Way of Water, only to deal with Colonel Miles Quaritch and the humans, and an aggressive Na’vi tribe called the Mangkwan. James Cameron said this was meant to be part of Avatar: The Way of Water, but he had to split the movie into two parts. The Avatar movies have been praised for their action, visuals, 3D, special effects, and motion capture, but have also been criticized for their screenplays and run-times. How does Avatar: Fire and Ash hold up?

Avatar: Fire and Ash once again has stunning visuals. Pandora looks incredible, as do the Na’vi and other creatures of Pandora. The motion capture doesn’t disappoint, especially in the underwater scenes. James Cameron waited for new technology to come out to make sure these scenes came out well. The action is entertaining and doesn’t disappoint. The movie’s score sounds great, and Cameron’s directing is top-notch as always.

The Sully family is once again the main focus, and their character arcs are handled well. We see Neytiri grieving her son and developing a rivalry with the leader of the Mangkwan, Varang. We see the human character Spider figuring out his place in Pandora and dealing with his father, Quaritch, hunting him down. We see Lo'ak has his coming-of-age story. The new tribe introduced, the Mangkwan, are great antagonists, especially Varang, who is insane. The themes of war, rage, and grief are presented well.

Avatar: Fire and Ash is a lot longer than it needs to be. It’s around three hours and fifteen minutes. Some scenes drag on. The fact that James Cameron wanted to make this one single movie with Avatar: The Way of Water is insane. The main flaw of Avatar: Fire and Ash is that it’s a predictable story that feels similar to the previous Avatar movies, with scenes similar to scenes from the previous movies. There are scenes that look like they were from Avatar: The Way of Water. The third act has another final confrontation on a boat that is damaged. The movie rinses and repeats quite a few times. For example, one group of characters will be in peril and kidnapped, only to be rescued. Then, another character gets kidnapped only to be rescued. Then, there will be another character who needs to be rescued many scenes later.

There are some new ideas, like the Mangkwan and Spider gaining the ability to breathe in Pandora without a mask. The Mangkwan, at some point in the movie, felt pushed to the side to make room for more of the Jake Sully vs Colonel Quaritch conflict. The movie briefly has the two work together against the Mangkwan, and I thought that would have been great for this movie. The movie does have Quaritch ally with the Mangkwan, and that worked for a while, but they never fully tap into the consequences of the Mangkwan working with Quaritch and the people of Earth, and how that’s bad for both sides. Instead, they sideline those potential conflicts for things we’ve seen a bunch of times in this franchise.

Avatar: Fire and Ash is not a bad movie, but it does nothing new outside of the visual effects and motion capture, and that’s disappointing because, as a fan of James Cameron, I expected more. I love that James Cameron wants to push the boundaries with new technology. At the same time, they need to improve the plots. Pandora has so many tribes and creatures. It’s so big with endless possibilities. At some point, people will get bored if they haven’t already. The characters are great, and the action is exciting, but the Avatar series needs to change things up. The Mangkwan and their conflict with Jake Sully and his family would have been a lot better to focus on the same conflict we’ve seen in the other two movies that is getting stale. The only new thing about the conflict with the RDA is that they now want Spider because he can now breathe without a mask. As mentioned before, there was an opportunity to change it up with Quaritch and Jake Sully teaming up and continuing their conflict later, but they moved away from that before it could gain legs. I know James Cameron has plans for Avatar 4 and 5, so hopefully, he taps into more conflicts with other Na’vi tribes.

Overall, Avatar: Fire and Ash is visually stunning, and it touches on serious themes. It’s great to watch in 3D, and the character arcs progress well. At the same time, the story is not unique outside of a few new elements. The movie will drag in the third act, similar to Avatar: The Way of Water. I recommend seeing Avatar: Fire and Ash in 3D or IMAX.

My final grade for Avatar: Fire and Ash is a B-. If you’re a fan of the Avatar franchise, go see it. What are your thoughts on Avatar: Fire and Ash? Let us know in the comments below.