Avatar: Fire and Ash
James Cameron recycles the same themes and plot points from the first two films as the Na'vi face the invaders from Earth and a new enemy from within.
Digital dreams
Concept art by Steve Messing, courtesy of Walt Disney Studios.
by JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
There’s no two ways about it: Avatar: Fire and Ash is a miracle of cinematic artistry. The director and visionary James Cameron has pushed the possibilities of his medium to new extremes, creating a sort of cinematic hybrid that defies both belief and gravity. On each rung of his remarkable career, Cameron has introduced a technological first that boggles the mind, be it on The Terminator, The Abyss, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Titanic or Avatar. Or Avatar: The Way of Water. And now he’s back pushing the envelope with the tenacity of a cinematic seer. He doesn’t do things by halves and announced Fire and Ash fifteen years ago, started production on it in 2017 and spent three years shooting the thing before embarking on the ferociously complex special effects, nudging the budget to over $400 million. So one can appreciate that every frame was exceedingly precious to him, which is why the completed product is three hours and 17 minutes in length.
But a word to the wise: if one is going to invest 197 minutes of one’s life in following the latest Avatar rollercoaster, it will probably be a good idea to devote another 192 minutes to watching The Way of Water immediately beforehand. And see Fire and Ash in 3D or on ScreenX – it will blow your mind. At least, it will blow your mind for some of the time. There are a lot of characters with odd names and pointy ears and long-limbed bodies that look designed for a cosmic catwalk. It’s hard to differentiate between them, except for Spider (Jack Champion), who looks nothing like a spider, has pale skin and is half the height of his adopted family, the Na'vi.
Fire and Ash is really a variation on the same theme, where the indigenous Na'vi are being hunted down by a savage off-shoot of their own species, the Mangkwan, while their natural habitat is being obliterated by the aliens (us), after the latter destroyed their own forests and oceans on planet Earth. All this is a commendable leitmotif, albeit the same one explored in the first film (when Cameron was way ahead of the environmental curve, observing that trees had the ability to communicate with each other). Here, the director nudges his eco-message further by introducing mycelium into the narrative mix, in which different species can connect through a network of hyphae (fungal filaments). This is now a proven fact and the subject of one of the most mind-blowing, best-selling books of popular science, Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake, published in 2020.
Indeed, all this is creditable stuff, but the film’s excessive length and hackneyed plot developments mire the magic. It’s terribly violent and the dialogue is crude and implausible, sitting at odds with the stunning visuals (Brendan Cowell as Captain Scoresby: “Come on boys, let’s make some bangs!”). Still, the new villain of the piece, the Mangkwanian witch doctor Varang (Oona Chaplin), is a colourful, scary creation, a visceral counterpoint to the aliens’ no-nonsense commander General Ardmore (Edie Falco). Had James Cameron had the courage to slice off an hour or two, the merits of his third chapter might have resonated more strongly.
Cast: Zoe Saldaña, Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet, Oona Chaplin, Cliff Curtis, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Edie Falco, David Thewlis, Jemaine Clement, Giovanni Ribisi, Brendan Cowell, Jack Champion, Britain Dalton, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Jamie Flatters, Dileep Rao.
Dir James Cameron, Pro James Cameron and Jon Landau, Screenplay James Cameron, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, from a story by James Cameron, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Josh Friedman and Shane Salerno, Ph Russell Carpenter, Pro Des Dylan Cole and Ben Procter, Ed Stephen E. Rivkin, David Brenner, Nicolas de Toth, John Refoua, Jason Gaudio and James Cameron, Music Simon Franglen, Costumes Deborah L. Scott, Sound Christopher Boyes and Hayden Collow.
Lightstorm Entertainment-Walt Disney Studios.
197 mins. USA. 2025. UK and US Rel: 19 December 2025. Cert. 12A
