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There’s no question that director James Cameron knows how to direct an event movie, a blockbuster film that uses sound and imagery to their full potential. He has delivered masterpieces like Aliens, the first two Terminator films, The Abyss, and, of course, Titanic. With Avatar, he developed groundbreaking filmmaking technology innovations to create a truly magnificent alien world for us to be immersed in, best experienced in 3D IMAX cinemas, regaling us with an epic adventure in a foreign world. The first two films in the franchise opened our eyes to how cinema can transport us to new places and make us feel them, all while sitting comfortably in a movie theater with popcorn and a cold drink in hand.

In Avatar: Fire and Ash, we continue to see Cameron pull us further and deeper into the world of Pandora and the adventures of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his family with the Na’vi, Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña).

He once again brings us to through the skies and beneath the water, deep into the forests (or is it jungles) of Pandora, and shows us the natural habitats of various Na’vi tribes as well as the antiseptic, metallic human settlement in the planet. The humans, through its enforcer Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) continue to hunt down Jake and his family for leading the Na’vi against them in the previous movie, while helping the rest of the human settlement try to mine and exploit the planet’s resources for their own gain.

A lot of what is happening in this movie is merely echoing what has happened in the previous installments. Similar themes continue to be explored though it doesn’t say anything really new. Where it expands is tracking the emotional struggles that Jake’s family is going through as they are grieving after the loss of one of their child, Neteyam, in Avatar: The Way of Water. Jake and Neytiri aren’t the inseparable couple they once were in the first two films, and Jake’s human way of dealing with grief goes counter that with the Na’vi way. He estranges himself with his children, especially Lo’ak (Britain Dalton), who he cannot bring himself to believe that he blames for Neteyam’s death. At the same time, their adopted child Spider (Jack Champion), the only human born and raised in Pandora, living off an oxygen mask, has become a source of anger and frustration for Neytiri. She wants to see all humans destroyed, and despite raising Spider as one of her own, he has become a stark reminder of how they’ve taken everything from her.

The first hour of the three-hour-and-seventeen-minute epic adventure finds the main characters acting out of character. They’ve taken the loss to heart, making reckless choices – especially the Na’vi children – and are on the verge of completely unraveling as a family. It isn’t easy to watch, but luckily, the visual world of Pandora is still quite an exquisite view from Cameron’s lens. He now opens up for us the idea of Na’vi traders, traveling by air ships pulled by flying whalelike creatures. Aside from traders, Cameron also introduces to us the Mangkwan clan, a fierce tribe of Na’vi who have cut their ties with Eywa and are deadset in turning other Na’vi tribes into ash. The only character who seems collected enough to root for from start to finish is Spider, who seems to act rationally in the face of all this emotional turmoil. Consequently, his continued relationship with the Na’vi, particularly with Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), brings him to a dramatic event that turns everything over its head and puts the focus onto him.

Once again, Cameron proves he knows how to fill a screen. On 3D IMAX, the film is a stunning spectacle from start to finish. He plays with frame rates so that in dramatic moments, intimate moments, the film looks like a movie, but it shifts to a higher frame rate during action sequences and air or underwater sequences to try and become more immersive. At first, it can feel jarring, but after a while your vision adjusts, and you take it as normal. Cameron is a classic filmmaker, so the direction is clear and flows easily. You know where everything is and there’s an order to the action sequences, making them thrilling and interconnected – especially the massive battle sequences toward the end.

For three hours and seventeen minutes, the film, as one reviewer puts it, “is never boring.” But the script by Cameron, Rick Jaffa, and Amanda Silver (with story credits going to Cameron, Jaffa, Silver, and Josh Friedman, and Shane Salerno) is the weakest part of the movie.

While the film adds layers and textures of racism (this time from Neytiri’s side as she lets her grief get in the way of her relationship with Spider) and makes surprising character dimensions with Quaritch, the film doubles down on themes they’ve already presented in prior installments. Its portrayal of teen angst and rebellion is overplayed and has been done so many times before that it never really feels fresh and new.

The most interesting new dimension, the Mangkwan clan and their fierce and impressive leader Varang (Oona Chaplin), doesn’t get the full attention it deserves because it’s a shared antagonist role with Quaritch and the humans. Varang and the Mangkwan feel like they should have their own film in the series, not sharing it with Quaritch and the rest of the corporate, greedy humans. 

Despite my extreme resistance to the script, I find that Avatar: Fire and Ash is still a fun film to watch, especially with a packed audience because it’s old-school event filmmaking at its core. There are scenes that got the whole audience clapping and cheering. It was meant to be awe-inspiring and to be marveled at, a real event on the big screen. 

My Rating: 3.5 Stars

Ready to return to Pandora? Check showtimes and catch Avatar: Fire and Ash on the biggest screen near you to see the world come alive in all its epic glory.