The third ‘Avatar’ film offers dazzling visuals, endless battles and a familiar moral universe stretched thin over 197 minutes.
By James Verniere/Boston Movie News
A well over three-hour movie in eye-gouging 3D, again? Is James Cameron crazy? The short answer is, yes. “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” the third installment in the five-installment-long series (or so they say), is a very long haul for a science-fiction film that is really a modernized version of what used to be called, however incorrectly, cowboys-and-indians, not unlike the fare Cameron grew up watching.
It all began in 2009 with the first “Avatar” sensation, in which the series’ hero, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), receives his Na’vi body (tall, buff, cyan-skinned, four-fingered, cat-eared, long-tailed, braid-sporting, non-technological). Then came “Avatar: The Way of Water” in 2022, in which Jake and Na’vi warrior wife Neytiri (Academy Award-winner Zoe Saldana) take their children to live with the Na’vi water dwellers known as the Metkayina. Like its predecessor, “Avatar: Fire and Ash” features a screenplay by Cameron, Rick Jaffa, Josh Friedman, Amanda Silver and Shane Salerno, which consists of capture, rescue and escape scenarios played over and over and over again. It ain’t Shakespeare, folks. These scenarios are combined with lengthy views of the moon’s natural computer-generated splendor, named Pandora, both in the air and under the sea, featuring computer-generated Pandorans flying on computer-generated winged creatures and soaring underwater on the backs of svelte, finned beings. Is this a contender for best animated film?
In addition, the Na’vi communicate with ancient giant sea creatures, recalling Moby Dick’s brethren, and refer to them as “brother” and “sister.” It’s all very Mother Nature, complete with a great mother goddess named Eywa. The villains of the piece are the humans, of course, including the Na’vi-bodied human Col. Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang of “Sisu: Road to Revenge”), who behave very much like the corporate entity in the “Alien” films and want only to ravage Pandora. Quaritch and his Na’vi-bodied team are “recombinants.” Also among the many characters is sidekick-sized Spider (Jack Champion), Quaritch’s boring human son, who must wear a face mask and breathe oxygen while living with his adoptive Sully/Na’vi family and whose “cute” favorite word is “shit.”
In this installment, we learn that not all Na’Vi are good. The Metkayina have a Na’vi enemy known as the “Ash People” led by the evil, sexy, witch Varang (Oona Chaplin, granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin, no less). Varang is the evil mirror image of Neytiri. They hiss at one another. Hot.
In this installment, we are reminded that metal weapons are forbidden to Pandorans, who believe that they are poison and prefer bows and arrows, knives and spears. Part human Sully, however, wants to use assault rifles and other human weapons against the Na’vi’s enemies. This “dilemma” is only another of the plot’s dopey elements. Here’s another one. In an early scene, Jake also convinces Neytiri to send Spider back to the humans and arranges for the entire family to accompany him on a journey with “wind traders,” people who soar in the air aboard massive rope-ringed wooden vessels. The commander of the “wind traders” is played by the great English actor David Thewlis.
At times, “Avatar: Fire and Ash” resembles a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on a big screen. The plot at times recalls John Ford’s “Drums Along the Mohawk” (1939) and Michael Mann’s “The Last of the Mohicans” (1992). Cameron is heavily into pomp, circumstance and loincloths. I lost count of how many times someone urged another to “Go, go, go.” Enormous creatures are joined by enormous machines to fill the screen for the final battle. The ancient leviathans return. Cameron has the lasting glory of Peter Jackson’s majestic “Lord of the Rings” films in his sights. But Jackson had Tolkien and Howard Shore, and these “Avatar” films fade like the acrid smoke of burning algorithms.
Na’vi girl Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) tries using forest magic to allow Spider to breathe Pandoran “air.” Spider and his recombinant father share a decidedly Luke Skywalker-Darth Vader vibe. Somebody uses the expression “flying monkeys.” People threaten to take “scalps.” Neytiri grieves for a dead son and hates humans, but makes an exception for husband, Jake. Edie Falco returns as an evil general decked out in Weaver’s “power loader” suit from “Aliens” (1986). The squid from “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” (1953) has a hundred brothers and sisters. Neytiri looks rad in war paint. What’s that smell?
‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’
Rating: PG-13 for violence, bloody images, profanity, sexually suggestive content
Cast: Zoe Saldana, Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver,
Director: James Cameron
Writers: Cameron, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Josh Friedman, Shane Salerno
Running time: 3 hours, 17 minutes
Where to Watch: In theaters
Grade: B-
Boston Movie News 