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December 30, 2025

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Avatar Fire and Ash (2025)

Let me Begin by stating that I have nothing but admiration for James Cameron and his technical accomplishments with the Avatar films. From the very first film back in 2009 up through this most recent film, Cameron has been pushing the outside of the envelope reaching for greater and greater cinematic experiences to make movie going worthwhile. As far as I’m concerned an Avatar movie deserves to be on the biggest screen that you can find with the best sound system available and ideally in 3D. That’s because the Craftsman Behind These films are at the Apex of their talent.

I have to admit however that the Avatar films don’t hold my interest as far as storytelling is concerned. They are interesting enough while I’m watching them, and create enough suspense to engage me for the three hours or so, that they take up. On the other hand I have never felt the need to rewatch the films in any setting other than a theater. Unlike a film series like the Lord of the Rings, these stories do not feel essential. They are entertainments rather than universals. As a consequence I don’t find myself invested in waiting for the next movie to come out. It took more than a dozen years for the first sequel to show up, and I was fine with that. It’s only taken about 4 years for this second sequel to show, and to be honest I wasn’t even sure I was interested in seeing it. I’m glad I did because I enjoyed the spectacle, I just can’t seem to warm up to any of the characters or care much about what happens to the cultures being presented here. I’m not sure if that is a storytelling fault or simply result of the genre that is being developed, although I am strongly anticipating the third film Dune franchise.

Fire and Ash, continues the story of the navi and the metamorphized Jake Sully. I mostly don’t remember how it is that this human became a navi, and the fact that antagonist characters do the same thing is also somehow outside my frame of reference. And once again I don’t really care. The film is mostly a series of chases and battles fought in the lustly designed environments that have been created on the planet of Pandora. The jungles and oceans of that world are visually stimulating and filled with creatures and Flora that are spectacular to behold especially in 3D. Is one of my friends jokes the planet deserves to be in 3D because the characters are barely 2D.

Like the previous versions of the film series, fire and Ash feels like it comes to a stopping point, and then adds another 40 minutes. You are going to get your money’s worth no matter how unnecessary it is for the films to be as long as they are. Because of the plot line repeats itself so often in the same movie there’s not a lot of suspense about the story only about how the incidents that occur in the story are going to be resolved. From my point of view that’s not a great way to stay engaged with characters or long-term story arc,

One thing that I am grateful for in this new addition is the presence of antagonists who are not merely human exploiters but are instead, Renegade Navi who don’t really subscribe to the same Planet mysticism as the residents we’ve already met. I’m not quite sure why they can reject the authority of the planet, because they have the same ethernet port hanging off of them that our Heroes do. There is a little bit of mumbo jumbo about how this tribe was abandoned by the great mother, but we don’t really know what took place, and why the fault should have been laid in the center of the planet. They do however have some cool new designs including a headdress that probably is a form of cultural appropriation that Cameron and manages to get away with.

A smart person will never bet against James Cameron when it comes to box office success. This movie appears to be doing as well as the previous sequel and although there has been some talk of pausing the planned 4th and fifth films, can’t see that happening. I was a little surprised that the lamb community was not interested in a show on this particular film, which might have left me believing that there was going to be a serious drop off in interest. It certainly isn’t the case with the General Cinema audience, so maybe it’s just a function of the time of year.

As I’ve already said, the film is worth seeing if you are seeing it in a theater on a big screen with the purpose of enjoying a mass entertainment. If you’re looking for anything else however there are plenty of superior options. As most of you who’ve read these posts before probably know, I almost always want a movie to succeed, even those that let me down occasionally. Avatar fire and Ash is entertaining enough, but outside of the technical craft and look of the film, I think it’s flatlined.

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December 21, 2022

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Avatar: The Way of Water

You have probably already heard some of the comments, “Never doubt James Cameron”, ” Cameron delivered “, and  “the most amazing cinematic journey” by James Cameron to date. When it comes to visual splendor and technical excellence, Cameron is “The King of the World”.  Now when it comes to the narrative, that may be another thing entirely. The director is sometimes criticized for simplistic story telling and cringe worthy dialogue.   I don’t think those are always true faults but they will certainly not be swept away by this film, which continues to wear it’s heart on it’s sleeve, and go for the most direct approach to your emotions possible. 

“The Way of Water” is set a decade after the events of the first film, still on Pandora, so maybe the delay in arriving is appropriate. The lead characters played by Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana are in the story, but the main protagonists, especially in the second act of the film, are their children,  Neteyam and Lo’ak; their biological daughter, Tuk; and adopted daughter; Kiri. They are forced to flee into hiding in a new environment with the distant tribe of  Metkayina reef people. This creates a new cross cultural story, with adolescents acting more human than you might expect from the Na’vi. This is the section that will probably give critics of Cameron’s storytelling, the ammunition they need to launch their attacks. Teens get jealous and act capriciously to prove themselves. Kids get alienated from peers that they don’t see as like themselves, I guess growing up is the same all over.

Relocating from the forest to a seaside location gives Cameron the chance to invent more creatures and environmental twists and he runs with that opportunity. Tulkun, an intelligent and pacifistic cetacean species, is the most interesting of the new inventions. I do think this is a place where Cameron can use alien species in a non-human form, to make the future stories more creative. Like the connection with the planet itself in both films, the relationship between the tulkun and the Na’vi gives a moral center to the actions of our heroes. The “skypeople” are the hunters, the tulkun are the buffalo, being hunted only for one thing, and physically cast away once that has been acquired and the Metkayina are the Indians, shaking their heads at the horrible waste. Unlike the buffalo however, our game here is sentient and understands the threat and conveys the fears that go along with it. Cameron’s allegory is not very subtle. 

Once again, the visuals are the thing that can most sell a James Cameron story. The tech weapons used by the invaders are inventive upgrades from the earlier film. The adaption of the mech suits to a water environment is clever and you will see the creatures it is based on immediately. The characters move in an underwater environment because the motion capture was done underwater. The actors and director should get all the praise they deserve for the innovation and hard work that this took. I saw the movie in 3-D and I think it was screened at the 48 fps for some sequences. I did not have any of the reservations that I experienced when looking at the Hobbit movies of a decade ago, but this is a hyper-stylized world with very few human characters, so the images my slip by a bit more easily. The 3-D effect is well worth the effort, and I don’t always think that is true. 

This movie looks amazing and you should see it on the biggest screen you can find, in 3-D. In the long run, this is the kind of film that may save cinemas, but only for the epic quality of their visuals. Traditional dramas may get relegated to streaming if these are the only kinds of movies that people will go out to see in a theater. The basic war adventure parts of the movie create some terrific action beats, and Cameron tops himself as well as cribbing from himself in a couple of spots. James Cameron should always be respected when it comes to the visualization of his stories, but the stories 
continue to be the least innovative part of his film-making.