more avatar… settled on calling her manon . ive crafted some more in my mindspace… shes a wildlife biologist for the rda but kind of hates it so she just does fuckall every day . and collects pandoran taxidermy . shes useless but i like her
It was clear James Cameron had to treat the third installment as if it were the last in the series given that an absurd amount of money was needed to break even, let alone enough to warrant other movies so I would say he played it very safe in this film. Unlike the Way of Water that raised the stakes and made the risks that characters took as ones that could have dangerous consequences, Fire and Ash lacked that aspect completely. At no point in the movie was I concerned for the well-being of the main cast and in terms of progressing the story, things were left at the same point in the previous movie.
That is not to say this movie is worth a skip, as the characters had pivotal development and growth in their narratives especially considering where they started from in the second movie.
The cinematics, vfx, soundtrack and visuals were an absolutely stunning experience and I didn't know that this third movie could outdo Way of Water in that department.
Quaritch really shines in this film, his scenes are one of the most engaging segments and he has become a really interesting antagonist instead of his general one note archetype from before. His complexity is actually brought into and expanded upon now that he is no longer biologically human but Na'vi so his development finally has nuance. The relationship with his archnemesis, Jake, finally has dimension to it beyond "you betrayed our military's hyper-violent colonisation of this planet after I went out of my way to help you in exchange." Which, for the first movie was completely fine. The second movie planted seeds for something more and the third movie delivered. The two are forced into working together, trusting one another at times, and are not able to tussle it out like in the previous installments. Seeing that brought something new to the board, a dynamic that became one of the highlights of Fire and Ash. That being said, expect another epic fist fight, I personally can't really get tired of those two having a 1v1.
Jake, Neytiri & Lo'ak's responses to the loss of Neteyam are in such stark contrasts with eachother that it truly encapsulates how differently grief manifests. The film wasn't afraid to show the rawness of what trying to cope can look like, and in my opinion too many people are pointing the finger at Jake for being "too harsh" and/or "a bad father". Personally I found that he embodied the 'ugly' side of grief, how one can say or imply something they dont actually believe out of a moment of anger.
Spider and Kiri's respective journeys were done well, but I find some of the choices made to be strange (mainly Kiri kissing Spider)
Neytiri stole every scene she was in. No notes.
All in all, the love was there and you can see what James Cameron was trying to do, but he lacked the time needed to get where he wanted the characters to be. Don't skip this movie, but go in understanding that at least 2 other 3 hour movies had to be condensed into one, or what should have been multiple novels were converted into a single film.
Below I've listed a list of personal issues I had with the movie as a whole
☆Varang gets sidelined, and her backstory/clan is not expanded upon. She becomes the designated "girlfriend" of Quaritch.
☆Windtraders existed as a plot device to try and get the Sully's from point A to B, only to end up shot down and a fair few of them killed so as to introduce Varang.
☆Loak had no meaningful reaction to his Ikran dying and Kiri's scene when hers died had the bare minimum.
☆If Jake and Neytiri knew it was Lyle that killed Neteyam, they make no mention of it and Lyle suffers zero consequences for his act. In fact there isn't much focus on the RDA essentially being what killed Neteyam, and instead its on Loak. Because he insisted on rescuing Spider who is very much a family member to BOTH boys involved ("Sullys Stick Together") this becomes a point of contention between Neytiri and Jake and rather than Lyle/the RDA being part of the blame, too much focus shifts to Loak. It would have come across alot better if there was a balance between blaming Loak and blaming the RDA but the movie doesn't focus much on the latter as much as it should have.
☆Ronal, Tonowari, and Tsireya are sidelined. Aonung maybe gets a few lines. Roxto only has one. I think.
☆The kidnapping trope wasn't abandoned and is instead constantly happening. At this point they should rename Tuk'tirey to Took'tirey. Also she had no development. She might as well be a background character.
☆For a movie that has "Fire and Ash" in the title, there's more whales and water in the actual story. It should be considered Way of Water part two.
☆No scene of a character opening their eyes included despite being the iconic ending shot in the previous movies.
