“Avatar: Fire and Ash” review

This article contains spoilers!

Director James Cameron outdoes himself in the latest addition to his beloved Avatar films, which are praised worldwide for their immersive cinematic experience and emotional depth. Avatar: Fire and Ash picks up right where The Way of Water left off. Jake Sully, his wife Ney’tiri and their family are heartbroken after the death of their eldest son, Neteyam. Each Sully grieves Neteyam’s death in their own way. While Jake keeps himself busy collecting weapons the Sky People—the Na’vi term for humans—left behind, Ney’tiri mourns more visibly and can barely function. She makes subtle comments that show her resentment towards Spider, a human friend of Ney’tiri’s children, for being of the Sky People and even worse, the son of Quaritch, the main antagonist of the franchise.

Jake takes Ney’tiri’s clear disdain for Spider personally because Jake himself was born human too. He confronts her, asking if she resents him in the same way for being born of the Sky People. He asks if she resents her own children for being part human at heart. Despite the offense she takes to his words, when Jake asks if every mistake their children make is because of the human in them, she cannot help but admit that that is exactly how she feels.

The depth of such a powerful conclusion shows that even though she loves her family, Ney’tiri still does not see them as her equals. Associating them with the Sky People who she hates so much has taken an emotional toll on her. She cannot accept that she has built a family with someone who came from the Sky People who have brought the Na’vi so much suffering.

Meanwhile, Lo’ak, Neteyam’s brother, is feeling eaten alive with guilt about his brother’s death. His guilt is only worsened by his father who makes no effort to hide that he clearly blames Lo’ak for Neteyam’s death too. Ney’tiri shames Jake, warning him that he is going to lose the only son he has left if he keeps acting this way. After one of Lo’ak and Jake’s many arguments, Lo’ak runs off alone and finds a gun. He comes close to ending his own life, but thankfully changes his mind. His sister Kiri and friend Tsireya find him and remind him how loved he is when they realize what he had almost done.

Kiri continues to struggle with her identity and finds out she is capable of more than most Na’vi are: using her connection to Eywa, the Na’vi deity, she gives Spider the ability to breathe the air on Pandora, something no human had ever been able to do before. Spider is arguably a more prominent character in Fire and Ash than he was in The Way of Water. He and Quaritch are constantly redefining their complicated relationship as father and son.

The rest of the film follows the newly introduced Ash People, an Eywa-hating clan who are feared by all Na’vi. The savage Ash People are led by their heartless leader Varang, who partners with Quaritch to become a force driven by hate and a desire for power. The Sully family and the rest of the Na’vi struggle more than ever before now that they have double the enemies and spend each waking moment fighting to save their people.

The film concludes in a similar manner to its predecessors in the sense that the Sky People are only temporarily defeated after a gruesome final battle. Quaritch just barely gets away, and even Varang’s death is not confirmed. The Na’vi seem to always win the battle, but never the war. Considering Fire and Ash’s immense success, fans seem eager for the release of a fourth and possibly final film after yet another cliffhanger.