‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ – more of the (spectacular) same

The first theatrical trailer for “Avatar: Fire and Ash” fooled this humble critic into thinking it was an advertisement for a re-release of “Avatar: The Way of Water.,” the 2022 sequel to James Cameron’s record-breaking, science fiction epic.

Only when the title flashed on screen did I realize the trailer advertised the third film, just released in theaters in time for the holidays. I guess I expected more “fire and ash” and less “way of water.”

Anyway, watching the full “Fire and Ash,” all three-plus hours of it, had me feeling the same thing. The movie spends quite a bit of time in the water with the same characters from “Way of Water.” The new villains of the franchise, a Na’vi tribe of “Ash People” who live at the base of a volcano, use fire in their weapons and apply some spare red face paint here and there. But forgive me for wanting to see a bunch of lava or fireballs in that gloriously beautiful 3D presentation we all expect from king of the filmmaking world James Cameron.

To be fair, “Fire and Ash” still delivers some spectacular visuals, and the 3D remains a top-of-the-line theatrical experience that’s worth the premium price. Even with its punishing runtime, “Fire and Ash” manages to chug along with enough striking visuals and action beats to make up for its surprising lack in ingenuity.

Serving as a direct sequel to “The Way of Water” that begins almost exactly where the last film left off, “Fire and Ash” spends worthwhile time with the Sully family in the aftermath of losing their eldest son in battle. Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana, even buried under the motion-capture animation, give soulful, wrenching performances as parents dealing with losing a child in strikingly different ways. Worthington’s Jake becomes much more rigid with his surviving son (Britain Dalton), while Saldana’s Neytiri turns against their adoptive son, Spider (Jack Champion), a human who now lives with Na’vi despite his familial connection to Jake’s longstanding nemesis Colonel Quaritch (Stephan Lang). If none of this sounds familiar, you might want to watch “Way of Water” again, because the movie wastes no time rehashing conflicts.

Spider becomes a key focus of “Fire and Ash” because of some mystical business involving the Sully’s adoptive daughter Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), a Na’vi that shares a biological connection with Weaver’s original character in the first “Avatar.” While Spider’s story remains consistently compelling, Champion’s performance, particularly alongside the film’s motion-capture enhanced performances, still feels wooden and out of place (a minor issue in “Way of Water”). The visual spectacle of “Avatar” just works better the less it tries to insert humans into the Pandora landscape.

The final hour of “Fire and Ash” essentially becomes one massive battle sequence – one that resembles the climactic beats in “Way of Water.” Cameron, perhaps the greatest action director of all time, still knows how to keep it all compelling. Still, one can’t help but feel like “Fire and Ash” is missing fresh spectacle to justify its time and expense.

For most franchise filmmaking, audiences usually know to expect “more of the same.” Perhaps it’s unfair to expect more from Cameron, but here we are.

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Tyler Wilson can be reached at [email protected].

    This image released by 20th Century Studios shows Quaritch, performed by Stephen Lang, in a scene from "Avatar: Fire and Ash."
  

    This image released by Disney shows a scene from "Avatar: Fire and Ash."