"Avatar: Fire and Ash" is a visually stunning and thematically dense film that explores complex issues of grief, identity, and the ethics of violence, building upon the foundations of its predecessors while introducing new character dynamics and narrative threads. Despite some perceived repetition, the film's iterative approach deepens character arcs and thematic exploration.
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There's no time for cute little intros
today because we have almost three and a
half hours of movie to talk about.
Avatar Fire and Ash is finally here.
Some people love it. Some people think
it's just a rehash of the first two
movies. I don't agree with that, and
I'll explain why. It has a 65% on Rotten
Tomatoes, but a 91% audience score. This
is the biggest, messiest, most
action-packed and biblical Avatar yet.
And in many ways, the most ambitious,
the darkest. It's about grief and guns
and religion. It's about identities and
ideologies shifting like tectonic
plates. It's about whale court. Anyone
can come on here and say the action in
these movies is sick and they're
beautiful. Things that are very true,
but we already know we're getting into
the nitty-gritty today. So, if you don't
take Avatar seriously, you might think
this video is a little crazy. But I want
to hear everyone's thoughts, good or
bad. We will be talking spoilers today,
obviously. So, if you haven't seen
Avatar Fire and Ash yet, what are you
waiting for? Go see it and then come
back and let me know what you thought.
But you have been warned. You know, I
feel like we can take the Avatar movies
for granted sometimes. It's not easy to
make three of the highest grossing
movies of all time, and James Cameron is
doing it in a way that movies have never
been made before with stories that are
as broadly accessible as they are
thoughtful and entertaining. It feels
like fewer and fewer blockbusters these
days have this sort of emotional and
thematic depth or even try to. And it's
well known by now that The Way of Water
and Fire and Ash were originally
conceived as one epic film, but it was
just too much movie and had to be split
up. Articles are coming out now about
how Cameron completely changed the
ending of Fire and Ash in post-prouction
to not have the Na'vi wielding guns. And
I think that explains a lot about what I
love a little less about this one. And I
will say for everything that we talk
about here that I think is incredible,
even at over 3 hours long, it's somehow
so dense that I wish we had more time
with or it focused more on certain
things. But we'll get into all that. The
biggest complaint I've been seeing about
Fire and Ash that I wanted to discuss
first is that it's just a rehash of The
Way of Water or the first two films. And
while there absolutely are a lot of
beats that appear similar on the
surface, if you don't disengage once you
recognize something and really consider
what's happening in the story, it reads
to me less redundant than iterative
because these dynamics are evolving as
the stakes and character motivations
are. The emotional and narrative context
are completely different, and they
reveal things about the characters
because we've been there before.
Examples of this are like Spider being
captured and held by the RDA. Again, at
first, I was like, uh-oh, this is just
like The Way of Water. And I know not
everyone loves Spider. My poor boy
Spider, he's trying his best. But this
moment is actually about Cororic. It
directly mirrors the scene in The Way of
Water where Korage 2.0 offers Spider his
dog tag. But the difference is that in
uh the way of water, Cororic states very
plainly that he is not Spider's father.
He's not Miles Coritch. He just has his
memories. But in Fire and Ash, Cororic
is reconnecting with or or really
discovering his humanity and his desire
to be a father to Spider. He also tells
Spider about his mother briefly, and
we'd never heard about her before. And
Spider asks for the dog tag only to use
it to escape, which shows us again where
he's at with his feelings towards his
dad. And we find out there are burgers
on Pandora, which is very important
information. So yes, characters being
captured might be a default way to get
them in a room together and create these
moments. And who knows if when they
split the way of water and fire and ash,
they had to sort of split the arcs in
half and repeat some things. But I think
it's disingenuous to say that all of
these things are exactly the same and
the direct comparison is actually used
in a really clever way to bring things
to light through juxaposition. Another
example is like how Loachok in the way
of water gets stuck out in the ocean
because he gets abandoned by his
friends, but in Fire and Ash, he is
actually taking the initiative to go
seek Pyon out. They look the same and
the differences are subtle, but they're
there and I think they're meaningful.
People have also cited the final battle
as being too similar, and I agree it's
slightly disappointing that it's a
similar setting. And I think a big
reason for that is that there's an
effort here to bring a lot of things
full circle. We're completing the arc of
the Tcun changing their thoughts on
violent resistance. And unfortunately,
if the Tkun are part of the battle, it
has to happen in water. We get Jake
becoming Turk Mockto again. And the
finale is almost a combination of the
first film in the way of water and that
the Tcun are at the center of it, but
now we have all of the clans and all of
the Tkun fighting together. It
definitely would have been neat for
there to be a big showdown where the ash
people live with the volcano in the
background or something like that. I
think this aspect specifically has a lot
to do with the way of water and fire and
ash originally being one story. Who
knows how they were reconfigured, but
fire and ash very much feels like a part
two and continuation of the way of water
and it was meant to be that way. What I
haven't mentioned about the climax
though is this giant solstice vortex.
That's new. And it not only offers this
intimate fight between Jake and Spider,
and we'll get into them, but it also
fits into the film's central thread of
violence and metal weaponry in an
interesting way because the vortex like
sucks up everything that's made of
metal, all the guns, shrapnel from the
boats. And what I found myself wrestling
with the most after seeing it is what
this film has to say about violence and
how it's worked into the character arcs.
Of course, all three Avatar films are
grappling with the ethics and different
ideologies of resistance, and Cameron is
very aware of that. It's the center of
the series. But as I said before, he's
talked about how he completely changed
and reshot the ending of the film
because originally Jake Sully was going
to quote unite Pandora's remaining clans
and arm them with automatic weapons,
setting the stage for a gun-heavy final
showdown. But Cameron later decided this
wasn't the right direction to go in,
saying that arming the tribes and
pitting them against each other is
actually the wrong thing. That was part
of the North American genocide of
indigenous people. I can't have Jake
doing the same thing. It's really
fascinating and this is where I feel
like we can start to see the seams of
the waring sentiments of Avatar. Like
getting further into the films maybe
presents an issue because the Na'vi and
Pandora and Awa are supposed to
represent an ideal of violence by
necessity in the circle of life. But
that's not always very cinematic and
it's not always realistic in instances
of oppression and colonization. Now that
the stakes are even higher than in the
way of water, Cameron needed to create a
believable situation where the Na'vi
face off against the RDA and all of
their technology and the Na'vi don't get
wiped out. But I'm almost surprised that
the Na'vi using guns was Cameron's
original plan because I agree with him.
The metal weaponry of the RDA has always
been presented as a poison to the world
of Pandora. And especially in a film
where the new antagonists, the Ash
people, are worshiping these weapons and
siding with the RDA, no one wants to see
the Na'vi that we love armed and
changing their way of life to be more
like the sky people. That will really
leave a sour taste in your mouth. And
Cameron has mentioned that with Awa on
their side, what the Na'vi and the
creatures of Pandora are able to do is
its own force to be reckoned with. And
we see that once again in the new ending
of Fire and Ash. So, it seems obvious to
me that Awa and the Na'vi being so in
tune with each other and and using that
more natural collective form of
resistance is the right response
thematically and ideologically to the
RDA and the Na'vi who have turned their
backs on Awa and are now embracing that
poison weaponry. It feels natural that
that would be the antithesis to what our
main characters are doing. So, while I
think Cameron made the right decision
and he recovered pretty well, you can
still sort of feel that it wasn't the
plan while the screenplay was being
written. The residue is still there in
what they edited out and reshot.
Apparently, Jake becoming Turk Mockto
again was not originally planned. And
it's one of those things that doesn't
feel very complete to me because Jake is
refusing to become Turk Mockto because
there's too much bloodshed and you
become the beast as he says, but he's
actively trying to militarize the Na'vi.
And then in the final battle, you don't
really see any indication that becoming
Turk Mockto is making Jake go too far or
something like that. All those remarks
don't really turn into anything. It's
one of the smaller arcs here that I
think gets lost in the colossal runtime
and the changes that were made. It kind
of breaks my brain like thinking about
the specifics of it all and how it must
have been reworked because the guns is
not just a change to the story. It's a
change to the thematic throughine of the
film. Every character arc here has
something to do with their relationship
to violence. These have always been war
films and about children during wartime
and the importance of decisions and
actions as an individual and a family
during that. I'm tempted to say that
Natiri has the strongest or at least the
most complete feeling arc in the film.
And I think it's because of how closely
intertwined her emotional journey is
with those central themes of grief and
not just violence, but hatred and
resentment and how that can motivate
those things. She's actually at the
center of two of my favorite sequences
in the film that are at the low of her
arc and her coming out of it. One is the
conversation that she has with Jake and
their tent about how she hates humans or
pinkkins. This was a jarringly dark
conversation where we learn that her
resentment has turned into straight up
racism in a way that Cameron lays really
bare. Jake asks her sort of rhetorically
if she'll always hate part of him
because he's human. But she says
outright that if her kids mess up, she
thinks it's because of the human of in
them. And of course, she's never
accepted Spider as part of their family.
And she's the first one to say that she
would kill him in an instant if it meant
protecting her real family. She's
leaning really hard into her faith to
cope with the death of Natam. And
despite all this, you still completely
empathize with her because when you
think about it, Niti is the only Na'vi
person in this scenario who has been
there since the beginning. She really
has lost everything and you really feel
the weight of that and how she's just
completely internalized it and turned
inward to these really resentful
feelings. And that all eventually
culminates in the scene that many have
already compared to the binding of Isaac
from the Bible. It's one of the many
moments in this film that feels like
it's pulling from uh biblical influences
where Jake starts to agree with Natiri
that spider needs to be killed to
prevent the sky people from uh learning
how to breathe on Pandora. I could not
believe that Cameron did this. And while
I do agree with people that Jack
Champion's performance can leave a
little bit to be desired in certain
moments, props to him though because he
is the only liveaction performance in
moments like these and and that's tough.
Uh I think it works anyways though. And
Nati simultaneously washing the the
paint off of her face from disguising
herself as part of the Ashclan and
having an almost baptism in in the river
to seeing blood on her hands and running
to tell Spider, "I see you." It is such
a beautiful conclusion to her arc and
cathartic moment to see her let go of
her hatred and say, "We will find
another way." I do think it'd be a
little awkward being Spider knowing that
they were both cool with killing you at
some point, but that's family, right?
It's the holidays. Another nice detail
of all of this is that Nati uses the
like bomb arrows that Jake made for her
that she previously refused to storm the
RDA base and break him out, which is
possibly the best action scene in the
film. and definitely one of the most
mindblowing and distinct of the
franchise. I like couldn't believe what
I was seeing. But I also think it's one
of the most nuanced depictions of using
tactics like that when necessary, but
not relying on it as your own only way
of fighting or or letting that violence
seep into your heart. That's why I love
that she adopts the ash get up in that
sequence and washes it off afterwards.
So much of this film has to do with
identity in a way that is both physical
and spiritual and how all of these
people who are Na'vi or human or both
are interacting with each other and
trying to make sense of or like claim
their place in all of it. This is maybe
most tangible in another favorite
dynamic of mine, the one between Jake
and Korage 2.0. They've always been
foils to each other, but it goes in such
an interesting direction here as
Cororic's journey continues to mirror
Jake's in the first film. Steven Lang
gives a crazy good performance in this
as Cororic, by the way. And they're all
great. I mean, Sam Worththington and Zoe
Sana have gone uh unrecognized on a
larger scale for far too long, and I
think they're all doing some of their
best work in this one. But anyways, Jake
and Koritch are similar in like the
obvious ways. They're both uh they both
were human marines who have become
Na'vi, so they've been trained to
operate under this same sort of code as
they navigate the world of Pandora. But
they're also similar in ways that I'm
not sure they are even completely
consciously aware of. Just as Jake was
in his brother's avatar and felt a bit
like an impostor, Quorage 2.0 is in a
Na'vi body with memories that are only
sort of his and forced into this
position with the RDA that he's now
becoming disillusioned with as he leans
more into his existence as a Na'vi, just
as Jake did. He has his little fling
with Veron. His son is at home on
Pandora and he sees potential for a life
there beyond the one where he's a dog
for the RDA. Because he can't live on
Earth, he's only a Na'vi now. And from
the beginning of this movie, Korich
could barely give a about his
mission. He's constantly compromising
it. Uh because of his care for Spider
and his desire to connect with Jake as
the only other person alive who really
understands what he's going through.
It's played as a gag and it's a good
one. But him sort of softening around
them and you know coming out of Veron's
tent all decked out in the ash people
body paint and accessories. It's all
also a really important reflection of
how his self-perception and identity are
shifting in a pretty profound way. We
can tell that the moments where Jake
speaks directly to him about opening
your eyes to what Pandora can offer you.
And a little side note on that, I do
think it's one of those things that
feels weird because Jake is at once
trying to arm the Na'vi, but is also
very aware of the virtue of their way of
life. It's kind of exemplary of like the
inner conflict of the film. Um, but that
all resonates with Quoric and you even
end up sort of rooting for the guy to
give it all up and go and live with the
Na'vi. But that would be too easy. So
instead, he throws himself off of a
vortex rock and we do not see him die.
So who knows what the future of Koritch
will be. I don't think he's dead
personally, but we'll see. And we can't
forget about all of the kids. Of course,
Lowok definitely has the most going on
here. He is the narrator of the film,
which is very important because Jake has
previously been the only one to narrate.
Um, and it opens with him talking about
grieving Natam and how he blames himself
for it, which really sets the tone for
the whole film. Again, it's easily the
darkest of the three. And when Loach
holds a gun to his chin, it's one of
those startling moments that you just
don't expect to happen, but it really
makes clear how hard he is taking this
and how much he feels he needs to prove
himself to Jake because, as we see, Jake
still sort of blames him for Natam's
death, too. That is something that I
thought was resolved in the way of water
that gets opened back up here. But I'm
okay with Jake still struggling with
that, too. I mean, it's it's been like
barely any time since the way of water.
And so, it's almost like, you know, two
steps forward, one step back. And I
think the more relevant part of Loach's
growth here is him becoming a leader,
not only to his siblings, but convincing
the Tkun to fight back. And I find it
interesting that he's influenced by both
of his parents for these things. He
really wants to use guns because to him,
that's a symbol of the power and
strength that he idolizes in his dad.
And to me, it was a hearttoppping moment
where we see him use a gun to kill for
the first time, especially because it
was other Na'vi when they're running
away from the Ashclan. But he also fixes
Nati's bow for her and feels connected
to his ancestors and the Na'vi way of
life through that. I think he's
ultimately becoming more like Jake and
he wants to be, but especially
considering how important the
character's relationships to violence
are, I found that noteworthy. like Lok
could end up becoming a leader who
brings those two things together because
of who his parents are. I actually
thought this film would be centered more
around Loachok, especially with the
narration of the beginning because with
the time jump that's supposed to happen
between Avatar 3 and Avatar 4, it seems
like there's meant to be a sort of baton
handoff from Jake to someone. So, who
knows who's going to be really at the
center of the story going forward. I
don't think the Kiri reveal that she is
Awa's child was much of a surprise to
anyone, but I really liked that she's
trying to reach Awa through the film and
that she can only get there with Spider
and Touqu's help. Um, I love that she
and Spider kiss. I like was secretly
wanting that to happen. Um, and the Awa
reveal was crazy. What in the Avangelion
is Cameron doing? I feel like I feel
like we still learned nothing. Like you
still you can't even tell if the big
head was a Na'vi or what, but uh I'm
into it. Maybe Kiri is Awa. I don't
really get why people hate Spider so
much. The poor kid. Like his parents are
already trying to kill him. Give him a
break. As I said, I do think Jack
Champion can struggle a little bit
compared to the other performances. And
I get people not loving Cameron's
classic like silly teenage dialogue, but
he's a great character and it's been a
pleasant surprise to me that he hasn't
had like an evil Anakin arc since Coric
is his father. and it was understandable
that he saved Cororic's life in the way
of water, but otherwise Quoric has been
the one to change because of him. It's a
good reinforcement of how much the
support systems around these characters
play an important role with the other
big moment here being when Kiri and
Serea uh show up for Loach. How can you
not adore this whole family? I love the
Ash people obviously. I mean, what is
there to say that hasn't already been
said? Una Chaplain as Veron is a
complete revelation. and her performance
is incredible. And I just love the
psychology of the character and her
relationship to power and control
because they feel betrayed by Awa and
seek dominance almost as a trauma
response to their people being ravaged
by the volcano. They're reclaiming power
through what hurt them and and through
pain itself and all of their rituals.
There's a psychosexual element to
Veron's relationship to Cororic and her
ability to torture people and control
them with her kuru. It's all awesome. I
wish she was a bigger part of the third
act. I think she was kind of collateral
damage from uh the edit after Cameron
changed the ending. Um but I love every
time that she and Natiri interact. Other
things about the movie, I love Natiri's
relationship with Renaol. They're so
funny together and they really care
about each other even if they pretend
not to. Um rip Renol. That was sad. I
think the ending is super abrupt. I wish
we got a bit more of an epilogue like
the other movies. Uh, shout out Tuk.
She's trying her best. And of course,
these films are just a dream of digital
technology and what we can do with
performance and motion capture and 3D.
The action in this film is jaw-dropping.
It's hard for me to pick a favorite
scene between the wind trader raid, the
scene at the base, and the final battle.
Uh, just so much good stuff here. It's
it's such a big movie. You could
literally spend hours talking about all
of the details and how everything is
interconnected. Almost like the mycelial
network on Pandora in the final shots.
No eyes opening this time to end the
movie. What's that about? But I really
talked in this video about the things I
found most interesting about this Avatar
film. If you watched it all, thank you
for bearing with me because it's all
very complex. Um, I know not everyone
loves these movies and that's okay, but
they are worth exploring on a deeper
level and there's a lot of thought put
into them. Um, even if this time it
feels affected by the changes that were
made in splitting this grand story into
two movies and making some changes in
post-prouction, it's a lot. And again,
it can feel too dense for its own good.
There's a lot that I wish we had more
time to explore. But I think it's a
testament to James Cameron's titanic
talent as a director and also just the
power of these movies as cinematic
experiences that it's completely
enrapturing. Anyways, so I'm going to
give Avatar, Fire, and Ash four out of
five stars. It is currently my least
favorite of the three, but I can only
assume that as with the other films,
I'll grow to like it even more with each
subsequent watch. I just find that to be
the effect that these films and all of
James Cameron's films have. So, let me
know your thoughts on Avatar, Fire, and
Ash, guys. How do you think it compares
to the other Avatar films? Do you want
to see more from the series? Don't
forget to like and subscribe and keep an
eye out for more videos soon. Thanks for watching.
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