Avatar Fire and Ash movie review: James Cameron builds his world on a familiar template

Worthington, Saldana, Weaver, Lang, Winslet and Ribisi return in their roles as the main protagonists on the side of good, bad and, interestingly, grey. The technical aspects are flawless as glimpses of the actors come through in their rendering as the humanoid blue-skinned, lithe-limbed Na’vis, particularly Worthington as Jake Sully or Toruk Makto, which in Na’vi translates to ‘Rider of the Last Shadow’.

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Zaldana as his wife Neyteri is less of a warrior princess now than a bitter mother, mourning about her son who died in the last Avatar – The Way of Water – with hate brewing in her about the “pink skins (humans)”. That also transfers into her feelings about Spider (Champion), the human child who has accepted their family as his own.

Yes, Cameron remains very much rooted in his imagination of Pandora as a world inhabited by tribal-like clans with their innate “wisdom”, particularly about Nature and how to work with it, who are threatened by the evil, greedy, exploitative White man. The latter is after the elusive ‘amrita (yes, it is exactly what you are thinking)’, which is worth millions of dollars.

You have to wonder how many millions though, given the investment being poured into it, with a ship full of scientists and soldier-types permanently parked in Pandora for the hunt, sending out recce missions armed to the teeth at frequent intervals, and brushing off the toll in terms of men and machines with equanimity.

The one person who single handedly shakes that equanimity, enlivening Fire and Ash, is a villain with sex, spice and all things vice – Varang (Chaplin), the chief of the Mangkwan clan. The Mangkwans are the ‘Ash people’, and Varang has “controlled how to make fire” – hence the film’s name.

Varang is explicit in her desires, be it looting the Na’vis, acquiring guns that can kill faster, further and more, than her deadly braid and blade, and bedding Quaritch (Lang), who is still revenging against Jake for breaking their “Marine code”.

Varang and Quaritch, who brings many a laugh to the proceedings, make exciting allies and a torrid pair, and you want to see more of them together than the Sullys, their largely predictable duels, the family’s familiar arc, and some tedious dialogues.

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Which again goes to prove that even as there is perhaps no better auteur at creating a world, putting it in danger from the sky or the seas or saving it like Cameron, he may want to heed Jake’s advice: “This world goes much deeper”, and it may be time to “see differently”.

Avatar Fire and Ash movie cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Oona Chaplin, Britain Dalton, Jack Champion, Kate Winslet, Giovanni Ribisi
Avatar Fire and Ash movie director: James Cameron
Avatar Fire and Ash movie rating: 3.5 stars