Avatar: Fire and Ash Finds Pandora Running on Fumes

Avatar: Fire and Ash

★ ★ ½

Avatar: Fire and Ash is the second sequel to the original Avatar, released in 2009. That film was groundbreaking as a visual effects masterpiece, spawning a wave of 3D releases. While it was visually spectacular, the story was routine and tired. But in 2009, we really felt transported to the faraway planet called Pandora. Visionary director James Cameron created this planet with cutting-edge motion capture technology. His use of 3D was an expansion of cinematography, rather than mere gimmickry, and enhanced the already breathtaking visuals. It felt real.

Avatar was always intended as a trilogy, but the plan later expanded to five films. The fourth and fifth films will greatly depend on box office numbers. Fire and Ash quickly surpassed its $400 million budget globally, so it looks like at least one more trip to Pandora is in our future.

Oona Chaplin as Varang
20th Century Studios / Lightstorm Entertainment

But something happened with the first sequel, The Way of Water, that carried into this film. The visual effects felt less real and played more like high-end video game cutscenes or cinematics between game levels. Pandora is still a beautiful place, but its shine is fading. There’s little here that takes us beyond the original film, and the once groundbreaking visuals have lost their luster.

Like the original and sequel, we’re given a basic storyline. The humanoid creatures that inhabit Pandora are called Na’vi. Humans have long established military and science facilities on the planet. Humans can’t breathe Pandora’s air, so masks are a must. Unless you have an avatar, a lab-created Na’vi body humans can download into and walk among the natives.

Sigourney Weaver as Kiri
20th Century Studios / Lightstorm Entertainment

The hero of the first two films, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his wife Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) try to keep their biological kids safe. Those kids are Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) and Tukirey “Tuk” (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss) and adopted daughter Kiri (Sigourney Weaver). There’s also a human boy named Spider (Jack Champion), an honorary family member.

The plot is simple and underwhelming. The Sullys must live up to their family motto “Sullys stick together; Sullys never quit.” The kids will test that at every turn, while Jake and Neytiri navigate delicate relationships with fellow tribal leaders and thwart the human threat. The humans work for a government corporation called the RDA (Resources Development Administration) who mine resources to take back to Earth. The RDA is ruthless and brutal. They don’t care what they destroy or who they hurt in the process. The military forces are led by Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) who takes pride in accomplishing the mission, no matter the cost.

Britain Dalton as Lo’ak and Bailey Bass as Tsireya
20th Century Studios / Lightstorm Entertainment

There’s also a new bloodthirsty tribe of Na’vi known as the Mangkwan Clan, or Ash People. They shoot flaming arrows and don’t mind killing fellow Na’vi at all. In fact, their leader Varang (Oona Chaplin) is surprisingly quick to join forces with Col. Quaritch. They seem to be written into the story just to make things a touch harder for the Sullys.

In the first film, the RDA was mining unobtanium, a fictional element capable of incredible energy used for supercomputers and to power interstellar, faster-than-light travel. In Way of Water, it was the planetary whales, the Tulkun, harvested for their brain fluid, which stops human aging. Here, they’ve discovered that Spider can breathe Pandora air. The RDA wants that too, because then they could pillage the planet’s resources without limitations.

Stephen Lang as Quaritch
20th Century Studios / Lightstorm Entertainment

Fire and Ash is still entertaining but doesn’t further the franchise with real purpose or meaning. It’s just more of the Sullys fighting the RDA, getting into trouble and relearning the lessons they should have learned from the last outing. Because of this, character growth is mostly stagnant. Pandora’s still a beautiful place, even if it now feels more of a digital world than its original film presented. The sci-fi action is still fun, even if the screenplay seems to be fine with retreading the same tires as the previous two.

Cameron is known for making films with breathtaking visuals and effects. If it doesn’t exist, he’ll invent tech to make his vision a reality. He did it in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, bringing the shape-shifting liquid metal killing machine to life. The original Avatar was an undeniable visual feat. But this, and the previous sequel, don’t carry the torch forward, comfortable within the boundaries already made. Which leads me to ask: is this really the best they’ve got?