Rating:
Summary: As you'd expect with an "Avatar" film, "Fire and Ash" is another spectacle that absolutely requires the biggest, best 3D screens you can find. Quibbles about the emotional core and the storyline remain, but that's not why you're here. This is essentially "The Way of Water - Part 2", and it has the satisfying conclusion that the previous film lacked.
I remember going to a New Year's celebration in the city a while back. As was the custom back then, there was a theme and a core story behind the spectacle, and while the artists who worked on it behind the scenes deserve special credit for trying to bring a new story every year to the event, let's be honest, people are only going for one thing - the fireworks.
And this is how I've always seen the Avatar films.
I love James Cameron and his film, but you could easily argue that the "Avatar" films are not as "good films" as the "Terminator" films, or "Aliens", or even "The Abyss". Pandora has always felt artificial for me, and as good as the CGI used in the "Avatar" films has been (and they've gotten even better in "Fire and Ash"), you could never convince me they weren't CGI. For me, the mark of a good film is that if you remove all the special effects and action sequences, and all you're left with is the story and character development itself, does it still stand up? The aforementioned films, for me, do. Avatar less so. It's something I touched on in my "streaming review" of the previous "Avatar" film, Avatar: The Way of Water - watching it on home on the small screen (or very small screen, for those streaming on iPads and, egad, phones), you are instantly made more aware of the flaws in the film.
But that's not to say an amazing spectacle (of which the "Avatar" films clearly are), without as strong elements elsewhere, means it's a bad cinemagoing experience. Nobody can say that the sound quality of a music concert is better than listening at home with $600 headphones via the lossless track, or that you don't get to see and hear more by watching the filmed version of the concert, but nobody can also say that the concert experience isn't better. "Avatar" is an experience.
To use a more appropriate filmic analogy that's specific to James Cameron, it's the same way that I think "The Terminator" is a better film (replace the Terminator with just a really strong and determined hitman, and you still get roughly the same film), but "Terminator 2" is the better cinematic experience for me (trucks, miniguns, liquid metal, the helicopter chase ...).
"Avatar: Fire and Ash" continues the spectacle in, if you can believe it, even more spectacular ways. The story continues a year on from where the last film ended. Jake and Neytiri's family are still grieving the loss of a family member, Spider is still conflicted about his feelings towards his "father", and Kiri is still dealing with the revelation that she has a special connection to Pandora and its living network, Eywa. The group comes into contact with a new, aggressive clan, the Mangkwan. New alliances are made, new enemies forged, and old enemies return. In my streaming review of the last movie, I noted the somewhat unsatisfying nature of the previous film's story - and I now see why. This new film is essentially "The Way of Water - Part 2", and I don't think I'm spoiling anything when I say that it offers the satisfying conclusion that the previous film lacked. I mean I would recommend watching the two films back to back if it wasn't a scary 6+ hours. Scary, but satisfying.
Some will argue the story beat is too similar to both previous films (it's closer to the first Avatar for me), but why change a winning formula, especially when it's the spectacle of it that people are after, not originality. Rollercoaster rides all feel samey after you try a few, but people still love them!
It's very likely the next two films will share a similar structure - Avatar 4 and 5 will be part 1 and 2 of the concluding chapter of this story, and so the purported 6-year time-jump makes sense. It's all building up to an epic battle for Pandora, and I'll be here for that when it happens in 2031 (real "Avatar 5" release year, not kidding). If the real world hasn't ended by then.
This is by far the most action-oriented film of the "Avatar" films so far, and the darkest. The former may come as a disappointment for those who place story above setpieces, but this is an "Avatar" film we're talking about, and if you're not after heart-pounding 3D action on a huge IMAX screen, then you're at the wrong movie. I watched a special preview of the film (courtesy of 20th Century Studios/Disney) at Melbourne IMAX in 3D - it felt like this is the way the film was supposed to be seen. Just don't let watching it on your phone after it gets to digital release be the first time you experience this movie, I beg you - you're better off not watching it at all in that case.
The 3D effects are gorgeous, and the CGI is more real than ever. Still, I can't shake the feeling I'm watching video game cinematics at times (the high frame rate screening I watched made it even more so), but it's so immersive that a few times, I actually wanted to pick up a non-existent controller and start interacting with the movie. It's a strange feeling, and I think one that you only get with the "Avatar" films.
Pacing was a bit odd at times, with some parts taking too much time, and others not enough - cuts and transitions feel weird because of this, like a scene may take a long time to resolve itself, but when you expect a smooth and well-timed transition to the next scene, all you get is an abrupt cut, sometimes to the same character many miles, and many days later. I suspect if things were done properly, this would be a five hour movie, so something had to give.
The music is satisfying without being brilliant - the best elements were still the ones provided by the late James Horner, but "Fire and Ash" composer Simon Franglen, who also composed the last movie, does an admirable job.
At the end of the day, "Avatar: Fire and Ash" is everything you would want from an "Avatar" film. If you weren't turned on by the previous films, "Fire and Ash" probably won't change your mind. If you were one of the many who contributed to the franchise's $USD 5.2 billion box office so far, I suspect you'll want to contribute a bit more to this total once again. If you weren't too hot on how "The Way of Water" ended, you should probably watch this because the real ending is in this movie.
There's no post-credit scene after the increasingly out-of-fashion original end credit song (Dream as One by Miley Cyrus),
"Avatar: Fire and Ash" is in Australian cinemas on 18 December 2025. Australian streaming release date: TBA
