My review for the last Avatar movie was something along the lines of, “Good film, but maybe James Cameron is running out of ideas.” The newest installment, Fire and Ash, only confirms those misgivings. While still visually stunning, beauty can only take the viewer so far, and the writer/director continues to trot out the same plot lines over and over again.
This film picks up where the last ended. Jake Sully and his family have settled in with the Metkayina people after having fought off the latest incursion by the humans. A rift has grown between Jake and his wife Neytiri, as Jake is in favor of arming the people with guns from the humans as better protection, but Neytiri feels that in doing so, they are straying too far from her religious beliefs in Eywa. Their son Lo’ak is haunted by the death of his brother, for which he feels responsible, and the family’s adopted daughter Kiri feels cut off from Eywa for an unknown reason. The bad guys are still around too, led by the clone/resurrected avatar of Colonel Miles, who just can’t seem to stay dead. He finds a new ally to help him hunt Jake Sully: the Mangkwan clan. A group of Na’vi who worship a volcano and have spurned Eywa, they are militaristic and would love to get their hands on the humans’ guns and advanced weapons. Miles has another goal too, because he has learned that his human son Spider, who has been raised by Jake and the Na’vi, has been given the gift of breathing Pandora’s air by Eywa. If Miles can get Spider back to the human settlement to be studied by its scientists, perhaps they can engineer a way to allow all humans to breathe the air without masks, greatly aiding their campaign on the planet.
As I said at the start, way too many plot elements from the first two films are recycled. We see Neytiri and her people crying out for Eywa to protect the planet, asking the animals to come aid the people in the fight against humans. The battles in the skies between the flying beasts and the human ships is a near carbon-copy from the first film, with the same moves shown again. We even get Jake Sully having to seek out and ride Toruk again, to show that he is chief of chiefs and to unite the tribes (again) to fight back against the humans. I feel like I’ve seen this all before.
Again, the film is gorgeous and a true spectacle, but the story is not fresh. Cameron wants to do 2 more Avatar movies, but he really needs to go back to the drawing board and come up with something new and exciting. ★★★
Jons Movie Takes 