Avatar: Fire and Ash

Seriously, I liked Avatar The Way of the Water, but after Fire and Ash it's easy to think that the sequels shouldn't have been made. There's no history, it's literally empty, it's the same history over again but this time with PS6 graphics. The characters literally are making jokes about the script pretty Deadpool-like. Some situations are very much Scooby-Dooed and you will constantly fight your brain because some situations are just too much stupid to be exposed in a 3 hour movie. The real magic in this sequel is how James Cameron achieved to not develop a single character in 3 plus hours.

16 years ago, I was visually impressed by James Cameron's Avatar and it was my first 3D movie in the theatre. The movie also had a very old school kind of emotional drama in it. 3 years ago when I watched Avatar: Way of Water, I was stunned by the amazing visuals in IMAX 3D. Hands down, it was my best IMAX 3D experience. But, I walked out of the theatre with an incomplete feeling because of the unconvincing story and screenplay. I was thinking maybe the third part is going to show us something very new and blow our minds again. After watching Avatar: Fire and Ash my expectations were crushed and how.

When it comes to the technology and all the visual elements in the film, James Cameron hits the home run again. There are some new kinds of action sequences in the first half of this very long movie. But somewhere in the middle the movie halts and goes back to all the sides preparing for the 'big war' again and that's where the movie just starts to feel very repetitive. If you are asked to randomly watch the climax action sequences of this film and the way of water, there are very few differences to notice. Seeing the title of the movie most of us expected a new world to be introduced like The Way of Water but there is not much new in terms of world building. There is nothing much new to the storyline as well with the movie revolving around bad human vs good alien concept. If you think about both this and the previous movie together, it is just about humans coming for resources attacking the Na'vi and the wildlife with barely any changes. The first 90 mins of the movie is very crisp and interesting but after that the movie becomes a difficult watch and also very much predictable. The only saving grace for the movie is its visual effects. The effect when the characters are immersed in water is something you'd only see and experience in a good IMAX theatre.

The other major drawback of this film is its character arc. Apart from one or two characters, almost every character has the same arc in every film. Jake Sully and Colonel Quaritch's battle almost seems like Tom and Jerry at this point. The movie also takes it to an almost funny/friendly side and brings it back to the serious arc without any major reason to do so. While Kiri's character does some interesting stuff in this film, there is a major pay off moment that doesn't feel like one because of how it is portrayed. I was able to think of at least 2 different ways to portray that scene at the spot. Oona Chaplin as Varang is the only stand out performance of this film and her character design is also near perfect. I don't really have a lot to write about other performances and especially that of Jack Champion's Spyder (you can make the assumption).

Avatar: Fire and Ash is definitely a significant milestone for James Cameron in the visual representation of cinema. But it makes you wonder how many of these fantasy rides you want to continue going to if all makes you feel the same at the end.

I've always had a soft spot for the first *Avatar*. When it came out, I was a kid, and it genuinely felt like something special. The world of Pandora was stunning, the creatures and environments felt alive, and the movie delivered a sense of scale and immersion that very few films had managed at the time. Even though many people criticized the story for borrowing familiar ideas, I never really minded. The execution was strong enough that it still felt fresh and memorable.

The problem started with the sequel. Waiting 11 years for *The Way of Water* set expectations extremely high, and while the visuals were undeniably impressive, the story felt far too familiar. It was essentially the same conflict, just relocated to a new environment and wrapped around a stronger family-focused narrative. The film looked incredible, but once the initial visual awe wore off, it became clear that the plot wasn't really going anywhere new.

That's why *Avatar 3* doesn't inspire much confidence for me. From what it seems, the franchise is stuck in a loop: new region of Pandora, new tribe, the same villains, the same themes, and the same structure playing out again. The action scenes are well made, and the CGI is still among the best in the industry, but visuals alone can only carry a movie so far. A great film needs a story that evolves, raises the stakes, and pushes the characters into new territory.

At this point, the *Avatar* series feels like it's relying too heavily on spectacle while neglecting meaningful narrative progression. If the third movie follows the same pattern as the second, it's hard not to expect the same repetition in the fourth and fifth films as well. The world of Pandora is rich and full of potential, but without a stronger, more daring storyline, the franchise risks becoming visually stunning but emotionally and narratively stagnant.

The third chapter of Avatar is stunning, just like the previous ones. Visually it's on another level, with some of the best CGI and world-building you'll see in a cinema. The soundtrack does a lot of heavy lifting too, in my opinion. So the cast does.

But once again, the length hurts . It feels overstuffed and could easily lose 30-40 minutes without losing anything too important. The story itself is fine, familiar Avatar territory, but it drags in places and starts testing your attention.

Worth seeing on the biggest screen possible, and 3D, mainly for the spectacle. Just be prepared to sit there for a while.

Far from perfect and far too long, the flaws in James Cameron's third Avatar outing, Fire and Ash are there for all to see and in reality, far from surprising but as per his first two multi-billion dollar outings Cameron's latest visual feast is still a fun and entertaining blockbuster that deserves to put bums on cinema seats.

Arriving 16 years after Cameron's original Dances with Wolves courtesy of the Blue Man Group box office behemoth dropped into the big screen world, Ash continues on with the pattern the legendary filmmaker set in place with his 3D extravaganza and if anyone is expecting Ash to deliver in the unexpected, they should temper expectations in a major way and learn to just enjoy the ride.

In a world that seems to find things easier to hate rather than like, Ash could become a bit of a punching bag for those wanting to bemoan the fact Cameron hasn't tried to rewrite the rulebook here but the same naysayers are probably just as likely to have enjoyed the likes of Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars or Marvel's plethora of big screen outings, all franchises and brands that have stuck to what works for better and worse and managed to enthral millions of cinemagoers across the decades.

Kicking off right where The Way of Water finished, Ash finds Sam Worthington's Jake Sully and Zoe Saldaña's Neytiri struggling to maintain their edge and freedom in the face of growing adversity, adversity that includes their continued battle with Stephen Lang's Quaritch and new adversary Varang, solid new addition Oona Chaplin who brings a fierceness to her fire queen.

To call Ash's narrative barebones basic would be perfectly acceptable, even kind in many facets and it's a shame that Cameron and his fellow screenwriters Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa haven't managed to fix the series weakish script work but if people can move past the fact it's always likely the original Avatar was an outlier in regards to it's all round winning ways, Ash much like its predecessor provides much in the way of cinematic joys and spectacle.

While failing to maximise the addition of the new fire clan led by Varang, who appears set to become the films secondary focus only to be overshadowed by the presence of Quaritch and the impressive performance of Chaplin, Ash still does a lot of things very well including a great opening stretch featuring wind traders and the increasingly stunning special effects work that brings Pandora to life in mesmerising ways, especially in the intended 3D format.

Releasing at a time and place in movie history where many big-scale films have failed to reach the audience they had hoped for, there's much lying on the shoulders of Cameron and his Na'vi friends to bring joy to the Hollywood universe and cinema chains around the globe, while it's very unlikely that Ash will reach the highs of Avatar or Way of Water, there's enough here to suggest audiences will be happy with what they see and spread the word, encouraging others to make the effort to get back out and partake in the big-screen experience.

Having listened to Cameron's recent commentary regarding his future plans for the Avatar cinematic space there's a high chance we may have seen the last of a Cameron lead Avatar feature and if that's the case, we can be thankful Cameron did so much for the medium he loves even if he never managed to recapture the lightning in a bottle magic he did with his 2009 launch.

Final Say -

Walking a familiar path and dancing to the same beat that's been danced too before, Avatar: Fire and Ash isn't able to reach grand heights but as a fun and visually outstanding big screen spectacle, Cameron proves he is still king.

3 1/2 helpful vines out of 5.