00:00Avatar, Fire and Ash review the best, most emotional Avatar yet with all the talk of how
00:05little cultural impact the Avatar series has had, they still turn out to be massive blockbusters,
00:11true event films. And we should expect nothing different with Avatar, Fire and Ash.
00:16Sure, parts of it might feel like additional footage from The Way of Water edited into its
00:21own movie. But Cameron infuses so much heavy emotion and personal stakes into this third
00:26entry, he managed to give fans the best Avatar yet. What is Avatar, Fire and Ash about?
00:33Taking place shortly after the end of The Way of Water, Fire and Ash finds Jake Sully,
00:38Sam Worthington, Neytiri, Zoe Saldana, and their family are still grieving after the death of
00:44Netiam, killed during the battle with the invading RDA. Their mourning is cut short however when they
00:50are faced with a new threat, this time from Pandora natives. The Manquin or Ash people attack them
00:56while on a journey with the Tealallam clan, the Wind Traders. The threat only gets worse as the
01:02Ash people form an alliance with Quaritch, Stephen Lang, and the Resources Development Administration,
01:08RDA. The Sully family, along with their newfound family, the Metkin orif clan, must once again
01:14prepare for another fight for their lives and for the future of Pandora. Avatar, Fire and Ash review
01:20if you followed early reactions from preview screenings, you likely saw several mentions of
01:25the fact that Fire and Ash feels and looks very similar to its predecessor, The Way of Water.
01:31Similar story beats, similar setting, similar stakes. And on the surface those complaints aren't wrong,
01:37but if you look just a bit deeper, it makes sense. No one has ever accused James Cameron of being subtle
01:44when it comes to the messaging and themes in his Avatar movies. Whether it's environmentalism,
01:50colonialism, war, family relations, the commentary is fairly by the numbers. But it's consistent and
01:56Cameron clearly wants to hammer these points home to the audience. And part of what he wants to convey
02:01is that these cycles keep repeating. War keeps happening.
02:05We, the collective we, keep harming the environment. The rich and powerful will always try to become richer
02:11and more powerful. Are these worthy themes to focus on? Sure they are.
02:17Does it make for the most exciting movie when a decent chunk of it feels like a rehash of the one
02:21that came before it? At times, yes. But hey, this is still James Cameron we're talking about here.
02:27You never doubt Big Jim. Even with a less than story, Avatar, Fire and Ash still manages to be the
02:35best of the trilogy. The biggest reason for that is the collection of characters and their individual arcs.
02:40This is what most interests me. Jake and Neytiri and their family and the rest of the Navi are
02:47fighting for their lives with the fate of all of Pandora at stake. It's about as large scale as you
02:52can get. And yet, Cameron and co-writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver find a way to weave in personal
02:59and emotional journeys for every major character, with it all tying back into the larger plot. And this
03:05is likely what will make or break fire and ash for audiences. Thankfully this is the best character
03:12work in the series by far, and it starts with the Sully family. Everyone is grieving Netiam but nobody
03:18really knows how to process it and move forward. Jake is still influenced by being a former human and
03:24marine which clashes with Neytiri's more traditional Navi way of processing grief. Jake's actions also make it
03:30difficult for Laak Britton Dalton, who feels personally responsible for Netiam's death.
03:36Realistically, Laak is still just a kid. He feels like he let down his family, specifically his
03:42father, in the worst possible way. All he wants to do is prove himself to his father. There's a really
03:48effective father-son story woven into everything else going on. It's all a very human experience.
03:53Neytiri has the most complex feelings about all this. She hates the sky people but her husband
03:59used to be one. Her kids have human DNA running through their blood. How does she reconcile that
04:05fact? That brings us to Kiri Sigourney Weaver, Jake and Neytiri's adopted daughter.
04:11She desperately wants to know more about her birth, her father, her connection to Aiwa. She has such strong
04:16faith in Aiwa which stands in stark contrast to the Ash people. It's again, a pretty simple and
04:22straightforward exploration of faith and religion. Some see hardship and run to God, in this case
04:29Aiwa, for answers. Others see it and lose their faith like Varang and her people. But with so much
04:35emotion behind Kiri's and the Ash people's stories, it makes up for the mostly surface level examination.
04:42Led by Varang Una chaplains, the Ash people have gone through incredible hardship with their home
04:47having been destroyed by a volcanic eruption. They prayed to Aiwa, begging for her help.
04:53But when nothing happened to stop the destruction, they turned their backs on her, choosing to live
04:58in open rejection and resentment of her. We learned that historically they were more hostile than other
05:04Navi clans, but this was the final nail. While we see there is tension and conflict between other clans,
05:11the actions of the Ash people are the first time we see open aggression from one clan against others.
05:16The Ash people as a whole, and Varang in particular, are the most interesting additions to the Avatar world.
05:23In a story whose broad strokes feel so familiar, their inclusion is everything. Their continuing
05:29conflicts with the other Navi clans in the fourth and or fifth installments would be more than welcome.
05:35By having the Ash people ally with Quaritch, Cameron can also explore a new side of the Colonel.
05:40Stuck in his Navi form as an Avatar recombinant, Quaritch starts the movie still firmly on the
05:46human and RDA's side. But his partnership with Varang makes him reconsider the way things are,
05:52and what his life has now become. It's the most interesting version of Quaritch yet.
05:57His inclusion in the Way of Water felt forced and uninspired, but now it was worth it for how Fire and Ash
06:03further develops him. Unfortunately, we can't talk about Quaritch without talking about Spider, Jack
06:09Champion. If you thought Spider was a divisive character when the Way of Water came out just
06:15you wait. Spider is a bad character, he's written poorly. Champion is bad in the role being outacted
06:21to almost hilarious levels in nearly every scene. If he were a minor character it might be easy to write
06:28off. But he is a central focus in Fire and Ash, for some, this might derail any goodwill.
06:35But with all the other characters being so rich and fully developed, the spider of it all can be
06:40overlooked to a degree. At 197 minutes, Cameron uses the time wisely. Where the Way of Water meandered a
06:48little too much, Fire and Ash is much more purposeful with every minute. There are so many storylines,
06:54both separate and interconnecting, but you're never confused about what is happening. Fire and Ash
06:59employed a six-person editing team, Stephen E. Rivkin, David Brenner, Nicholas de Toth,
07:05John Rufois, Jason Gaudio, and Cameron, and they had their work cut for them. The result is beyond
07:10impressive, making a movie with so much happening so easy to follow and feel so crisp and quick,
07:16despite the long runtime. And finally, of course, this is James Cameron, this is Avatar,
07:22so you know it's going to look and sound as good as, if not better than any other movie out there.
07:27That's been a hallmark of the series. Even those who have been more lukewarm on the series or
07:33outright dislike it, will admit the visual effects and production design are second to none. And that
07:38continues with Fire and Ash, Pandora is as gorgeous as ever. Even though we aren't introduced to much new,
07:45at least compared to the Way of Water, it's still a visual treat coming back to this world.
07:50The fights and battles are epic, the sound and score are great. From a technical standpoint,
07:55it's everything we've come to expect from Cameron. Is Avatar, Fire and Ash worth watching?
08:01While the broad story beats might feel too familiar, Cameron and company make Avatar,
08:06Fire and Ash the most emotional entry in the series. Combined with the expected visual feast
08:13and next-level production value, it's also the best in the series to date. It's hard to give a
08:18blanket recommendation for any third movie in a franchise. But if you were even mildly entertained
08:24by Avatar and the Way of Water, then Fire and Ash is a must-see. The usual suggestions follow that it
08:31must be seen on the biggest screen you can find, even find a 3D showing. Not every movie is as enhanced
08:38as the next by being seen in the theater. And even fewer are worth seeing in 3D, but that's the James
08:44Cameron difference. The Avatar movies are the only movies where I would actively seek out a 3D showing.
08:51Movies like Fire and Ash are what the theaters are for. Avatar, Fire and Ash opens in theaters December 19th.
08:58The Avatar movies are the only movies where they are both in the movie.
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