AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH

Costing $400 million dollars to make there’s no denying this film, like its predecessors, is visually spectacular and technically masterful. James Cameron has once again succeeded in bringing the Na’vi people to life. Within 72 hours of its global cinema release it had already made back 75% of the production budget and is tipped to gross a billion dollars in revenue by early January. There’s no denying it’s a hit that will be viewed by the masses. That’s where the good news ends. My first issue with this instalment is the indulgent run time. I have a belief that if you can’t tell a story in under two hours, the filmmaker is abusing the good nature of their audience. At 3 hours 17 minutes this is just too long – a movie needs to be phenomenal in all aspects to maintain viewer interest for that period of time, and this fell short. It’s also a carbon copy of the last film with the same plot, same cast, same hero arc, same jeopardy, same creatures, same threats, same battles, same revenge, and same vibe – the only notable addition is a new villain called Varang, the psychotic leader of the Ash people, whose unhinged disciples remind me of the War Boys tribe from ‘Mad Max Fury Road’. Her character is so repulsive she detracts, not enhances. It’s been three years between ‘The Way of Water’ and ‘Fire and Ash’ yet they were filmed simultaneously, along with the first act of ‘Avatar 4’. This was partly done to maintain the ages of the child actors, but seeing a cast who had not aged a day made the gap between releases feel disconnected. Cameron also includes his favourite but overused line of “I see you” (first heard in 1997’s ‘Titanic’ and recycled in every film he’s done since then) and I’m convinced there is an orchestral number similar to “My heart will go on’. More same old. I had ‘Avatar’ fatigue before I went in to this screening and I have it even more now now. The initial concept was mesmerising and I unlike anything I’d seen before. Now it just feels repetitive and like it’s outstayed its welcome. Biggest disappointment of 2025.