The colossal 'Avatar' franchise continues its planetary expansion with the third chapter, 'Avatar: Fire and Ash', but the latest instalment struggles to find a compelling emotional core beneath its multi-billion-pixel spectacle. Directed by James Cameron, the film arrives in UK cinemas on 19 December.
A Narrative Lost in Spectacle
Despite volcanic world-building and thunderous action sequences, the film is critiqued as a 'gigantically dull hunk of nonsense'. The plot follows the continuing saga of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) as they confront a new elemental threat: fire. This introduces the Mangkwan clan, led by the witchy Varang, portrayed by Oona Chaplin, who forms a strategic and bedroom alliance with the resurrected, vengeful Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang).
The narrative sees the Na'vi facing the 'spirit of fire and ash', a philosophy of destructive dominance, while the human 'pink-skins' continue their colonial exploitation. The film sets up another mighty struggle, reliant on the intervention of massive undersea creatures to level the playing field, a familiar trope from previous chapters.
Visual Splendour and Emotional Vacancy
As ever, the visual achievement is immense. The film's digital universe is rendered in infinitesimal detail, a testament to Cameron's pioneering technical ambition. However, the review notes that this hyper-detailed, motion-smoothed aesthetic can feel detached, comparing it to a 'making of' featurette projected on a cliff face.
Human characters, such as General Ardmore played by Edie Falco, are said to seem bizarrely out of place, 'as if Photoshopped in'. The film attempts to inject drama through an Abraham-and-Isaac-style crisis for Jake and a Reichenbach Falls-like confrontation, but these moments are deemed insufficient to rescue the film from being a 'vast, blank edifice'.
Future of the Franchise
The film concludes by setting the stage for further elemental chapters, presumably dealing with earth and wind. Yet, it leaves audiences with a sense of colossal inertia. The review concludes that 'Avatar' remains 'gigantically uninteresting and colossally impervious to criticism', a dazzling technological marvel that placidly repels deeper emotional engagement.
Avatar: Fire and Ash will be released in Australia on 18 December and in the UK and US on 19 December.
