★★★★⯨
Directed by: James Cameron
Written by: James Cameron, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver
Cinematography by: Russell Carpenter
Edited by: David Brenner, James Cameron, Nicolas De Toth, James, Gaudio, John Refoua, Stephen E. Rivkin
Review by: Marsa Andari
It’s time for the new update of life in Pandora. Avatar: Fire and Ash tells about The Sullys, led by Jake, who are struggling with their loss and mourning of Netayam’s death in the previous installment, Avatar: The Way of Water. Not finding their footing just yet, The Sullys had to encounter yet another dangerous battle, this time with a new aggressive Na’vi Tribe, called The Ash, led by the ferocious Varang. A lot people have anticipated this film, to a point that they would hold their bladder just so that they won’t miss any part of the film even in the slightest. However, ever since this film came out, reviews and critics have been extremely divided.
Personally, I think this film is quite neat, intense, heartfelt, and complex for my own viewing. I liked how the movie starts, with a little nod to Netayam, and it quickly settled us in to continue on this journey, even if it has been 3 years since the last one. It didn’t feel like a 3 hour film as well, which I appreciate and it’s the epitome of how James Cameron managed to bring all of us in.
Performance wise, I don’t have much to say, other than I enjoyed all of their performance, top to bottom, individually and together. Perhaps because it’s their third film already, but to me every single one of the cast managed to bring their own characters to life flawlessly.
This next one that I want to mention is going to be a spoiler alert, so feel free to skip if you haven’t seen the film. If I could pick only one scene or sequence in the film that truly sticks the most is the scene between Varang and Quaritch when they first met in the tent. She “hypnotized” him and started questioning him about his intentions and he, helped by Stephen Lang’s unlimited aura, answered all of them effortlessly, which made Varang, played brilliantly by Oona Chaplin, convinced to trust him. The scene has got everything, chemistry, intensity, good scoring, and just the perfect amount of discomfort to all of us the audience as at the end of the scene, we can feel that something shifted and the stakes are higher than ever.
It is true however, like some people out there have been shouting it out, that the story seems a bit repetitive to the previous one. Which then made the film not as refreshed as a lot of the audience might had hoped. The pattern of the plot almost felt the same as The Way of Water, so it’s like watching the previous one, but different characters. Slightly.
But I think, even if it is a repetition from the last one, I still think that this film gives us a lot of interesting scenes, and great cinematography, which made the film still highly entertaining to watch. In one of James Cameron’s interview with CinemaBlend, he stated that he has not yet to finalize what he would do with Avatar 4 and 5. He has other things that he’s interested in doing, and he will act on Avatar 4 and 5 based on the results on how well ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ does. Personally, I am excited to know the continuation of this universe, but I guess time will tell.
‘Avatar: Fire And Ash’ currently tops $900 Million At Worldwide Box Office.
