@Courtesy of 20th Century Studios
After Avatar (2009) and Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) became two of the biggest boxoffice successes in history of movies, James Cameron didn’t have to prove absolutely anything with this third chapter. And he knew it perfectly.
This is the reason he decided to slightly go back to the origins of his cinema. After the breakthrough cult-movie The Terminator, his first feature-film, Cameron chose to direct one of the best sequels ever made, Aliens. Going in a completely opposite direction compared with the first, stylized Alien by Ridley Scott, his movie was an action-packed sci-fi that was based on the perfect screenplay for such a genre-product. The script in fact didn’t waste a single moment in “showing” all the money of its production.
On the contrary, Aliens was the best possible expression of Cameron’s way of writing and directing. Avatar: Fire and Ash under many aspects goes back to that gritty, sharp way of storytelling, at least in the first part that is by far the best. The plot and the mise en scene in fact proceed at a speed unknown to the previous ones, making this third movie effective in a different way. As we already wrote, James Cameron seems to enjoy the process more and allow himself to go back to the roots of his idea of cinema, instead of showing at any cost how vast and wonderful the universe he created is.
@Courtesy of 20th Century Studios
The second quality that makes Avatar: Fire and Ash highly entertaining is the new antagonist Varang, wonderfully played by Oona Chaplin. Both the character and the performance are filled with fury, charisma and a raging energy that are unknown to Miles Quaritch, making the new entry the perfect nemesis to Neytiri. When Varang is on screen, the cinematic power of Cameron’s movie is without any doubt elevated. And again we go back to Aliens, more precisely to the Queen that Ellen Ripley finally faces in one of the most iconic showdowns ever seen in the history of cinema.
In Varang we can see some of that savage, destructive energy belonging to the monster. And that was absolutely necessary, because among the three movies the main characters haven’t changed that much, meaning that are becoming more mono-dimensional, especially Jake Sully and Quaritch himself, in this movie reduced to a simple punch-line joker that wants to fight at any cost but without showing any logic reason or narrative arc.
@Courtesy of 20th Century Studios
In order to be another gigantic box office success, Avatar: Fire and Ash needs to be an “event” like the first previous two movies have been: here the 3 hours and 17 minutes of its length. Here the larger-than-life final battle, as always full of incredible special effects and incredible stunts. Those same viewers that loved Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water won’t be disappointed. Neither will Walt Disney Studios be, once the millions and millions of dollars will start flowing in their bank accounts from all over the world.
And that’s ok, since we are talking of first-class entertainment, and with James Cameron directing it couldn’t have been otherwise. Plus, if you know the director’s filmography, you can understand how he took this third installment a little less seriously, maybe just in a more relaxed way, and enjoyed coming back to that kind of straight-to-the-point storytelling that made him achieve such high results like Aliens and Terminator 2 – Judgment Day. In many ways, Avatar: Fire and Ash is a distant cousin of Cameron’s first movies, just made bigger and bigger because now that’s what the audience demands from the filmmaker. If this chapter owns the scale of a blockbuster, in the core it is a B-Movie, in the best possible way. James Cameron’s way.
@Courtesy of 20th Century Studios
Rate: B
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Here’s the trailer for Avatar: Fire and Ash: