Written by: James Cameron, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver
Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Oona Chaplin
Rating: [3.5/5]
Running to the same well time after time eventually will yield lesser results. An eventuality that can only be held away by adding something captivating to these trips to said well. If anything, James Cameron continues to demonstrate he can get it done with sequels and he does it yet again with Avatar: Fire and Ash. A film that bears many similarities to its predecessor but provides so much to enjoy where we can easily forgive it.
Still grappling with the death of Neteyam, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his family must prepare for the trials that lie ahead as they face the reality of humans coming back once again to attack. Things get further complicated that while they escort an envoy of traders, they get attacked by the volcano-dwelling Mangkwan clan led by Varang (Oona Chaplin).
After a nearly 11-year wait between the first Avatar and The Way of Water, we only have a 3-year gap between Fire and Ash and its predecessor. A wise decision given the intertwined narrative between them. Here we have no long time gap, but rather a continuation where we find these characters mourning a loss that just transpired in the previous film. Therefore, we continue the story of the Sully family and their seemingly unending journey of avoiding the clutches of these humans trying to take over Pandora and Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who whether in human or Na’vi form will not rest until he captures Jake Sully. If this sounds familiar, then you would not be mistaken, which gets at this film’s biggest flaw that may underscore a larger issue James Cameron faces with these films.
By the fact that they have the same characters in the same world, it’s inevitable that sequels will contain similarities, but the degree in which distinct elements repeat between this film and the previous one becomes head-scratching. This mostly transpires in the final act, where it felt like I was watching The Way of Water all over again, where Jake Sully needs to fight off Quaritch while he holds one of his family members hostage on a burning boat. For a man who knows how to build incredible set pieces, it proves strange that Cameron could not find more creativity in this arena, but perhaps it demonstrates that he’s running out of stories to tell within this universe as he has run the gamut of it all by now. What remains in the arc of Jake Sully at this point other than die? Not sure, it raises major questions of where the narrative will go if the fourth and fifth installments ever see the light of day.
With that out of the way, Fire and Ash brings so many fantastic new elements to the fray that more than make this something worth seeking out. It’s a given at this point, but the visuals are, once again, out of this world. From the moments in the water, the skies, and on the colorful land, everything still looks incredible to watch and take in. That has never failed in any of the other films. However, where this film well and truly shines comes from the addition of a Na’vi villain into the fray and the impression she leaves left me wanting much more as we get introduced to Varang.
In the first two films, the constant villain has been the United States military industrial complex as it seeks to continually expand its borders, with Colonel Miles Quaritch as the face of it all. Refusing to kill off this character and having the same type of evil stuff from the military will start to get old, which ensured the eventuality of a villain already existent in Pandora to step in, which we get in Varang. When I say this character is a firecracker, I mean it, as she brings this confident, scary, and sexual energy to her. A force to be reckoned with that even manages to impress someone like Quaritch in the way she handles herself. I could watch an entire film with her as a lead villain, which makes it unfortunate we do not get enough from her in this feature. Oona Chaplin enters this film with well-established characters and immediately makes Varang my favorite amongst them. Even considering all the visuals and the touching familial storyline with the Sully family, Chaplin as Varang remains the brightest and shining light of this film.
While some cons exist in this film serving as a direct continuation of its preceding film, Fire and Ash has the positives in continuing to forge the touching dynamic of the Sully family as it stands out as one of this film’s greatest attributes. The journey each of them go on serves as what should continue to propel these films forward should they continue. Everything involving the humans ultimately feels like beating a dead horse as we continue to run in circles in this particular arena. None of that ultimately matters given that here we receive such an entertaining film that also gives us a great villain in Varang that displays that James Cameron still has his fastball.
Films with Josh 
