If being lazy, I could do a simple “cut and paste” job of my review for the 2022 release, Avatar: The Way of Water.  Yes, the plot is different, but my thoughts and sentiments are very similar.  I’ll be creative through and try to say the same thing by using different terminology.  Let’s start with the broader franchise and toast the achievements of director James Cameron.  Whether you liked the first two movies or not, you can’t ignore their societal impact given they have globally grossed a combined $5.3 billion USD.  That makes them #1 and #3 on a list of the highest grossing movies of all time (Avengers: Endgame sits in between them).

A significant contributor to their success is the quality of animation.  Cameron and his team have the luxury of working with an insanely high budget ($400 million in this case) but the hundreds of visual effect artists still need to step up and deliver.  They’ve done that… and then some.  The state-of-the-art motion capture technology, the use of 48 frames per second (instead of the usual 24), the array of bright colours, and the 3D experience – it adds up to a movie you must see on the big screen.  The fight sequences are clear and easy to follow.  It puts other action movies to shame which are often grimy, chaotic and over-edited.

Narrative remains the weakest element.  I loved the 2009 original but with these movies stretching out beyond the three-hour mark (this one is 197 minutes), the subplots feel increasingly familiar.  You’ve got the same heroes fighting the same villains and making the same choices in putting family above all else.  The five-person writing team have tried to spice things up by introducing a new, not-so-friendly Na’vi clan headed by a cutthroat female leader, Varang (Chaplin).  It changes the previous dynamic which was centred on good aliens vs. bad humans.  This shows the Na’vi can be ruthless, power-hungry jerks too!

Varang is comfortably the best addition to the franchise.  With a distinctive red paint on her forehead, she’s an excellent, scene-stealing villain thanks to her controlling, manipulative personality.  She’s incredibly untrustworthy which makes it hard for anyone to negotiate in her presence.  The “bad guy” from the previous flicks, Colonel Quaritch (Lang), returns but his storylines are becoming repetitive and stale.  He’s the classic example of a protagonist who often gets the upper hand but then, to prolong the runtime, loses it because of a dumb decision.  The same could be said of the human characters who resemble comic book caricatures.

I suspect Avatar: Fire and Ash will be another huge hit and Cameron, now 71 years of age, will get the green light for two more movies to close out the series.  He’s good at what he does!