Avatar: Fire and Ash is the newest film in the beloved franchise by legendary director James Cameron. Photo: 20th Century Studios.
The Avatar films are pop culture juggernauts that draw millions of fans and billions of dollars.
Even with the second film in the franchise arriving more than a decade after the first was released, it eclipsed $2.3 billion at the worldwide box office, placing both films in the top three highest-grossing movies of all time.
With the two films clearly resonating with fans, it was understandable that many have been eager to revisit the planet of Pandora once more and see what the legendary director James Cameron has to offer with the newest instalment, Avatar: Fire and Ash.
Fire and Ash is a direct sequel to 2022’s The Way of Water. It picks up what feels like moments after the ending of the second movie, with the Sully family looking for ways to fight back against the human invaders following a huge battle.
The family is grieving the loss of Neteyam, Jake and Neytiri’s oldest son and is conflicted by whether it is safe to stay at the water-based Metkayina tribe while protecting the young and human Spider.
Eventually, while on the run, they encounter Varang and the volcano-dwelling Mangkwan clan, who raid and pillage other Na’vi tribes. The Mangkwan join an alliance with the humans looking to colonise Pandora in return for their guns and weapons.
There is plenty more to the going ons in Fire and Ash, but I feel that’s probably all you need to know for what I’ll be diving into.
Fire and Ash is not a bad movie; in fact, a lot of it is very impressive. But it is a frustrating movie.
The biggest issue is the absolutely mammoth run time, sitting at just 197 minutes or three hours and 17 minutes. With ads, this is just over three and a half hours.
It is an effort to get through this thing, especially when sitting in an upright chair with not a lot of give in a packed cinema.
The film doesn’t slow down either. It is so quick to move from set piece to set piece with very few moments to breathe and process what was seen on screen.
Secondly, a lot of the movie is shot in 48 frames per second, double that of standard film.
It is jarring and if you’re not expecting it, you’d think it was a video game cutscene. With that said, the film looks incredible. It is impossible to comprehend that almost everything in this movie isn’t real.
It’s all CGI and it is breathtaking. If you put a photo of the water from this film vs real life, you would not be able to tell the difference.
The issue, even despite the groundbreaking effects, is that the frame rate is so glossy that you’re not paying attention to how good it looks and instead how unnaturally smooth everything feels.
For the PS5 gamers out there, it’s like preferring performance over quality mode for the first time and trying to adapt to it.
Combined with the run time, it really does play on the eyes, even if you are only watching it in 2D.
From a story perspective, it’s a lot of the same. Na’vi are good and humans are bad. The addition of Varang is fun and her witch-like presence is fascinating. The issue is that she’s not as present as you’d like her to be, even being the main character on the posters.
Some developments are a bit goofy, especially with the human characters and the dialogue does leave a bit to be desired, but that’s not the reason you come and see these movies.
Ultimately, Avatar: Fire and Ash is an exhausting spectacle. Movies don’t look any better, but the frame rate and the runtime make it really tricky to stay invested for the three and a half hours it asks of you.
Avatar: Fire and Ash is currently showing in cinemas across the country.
