"Avatar: Fire and Ash" Goes Out in a Blaze of Glory

James Cameron’s highly ambitious ‘Avatar’ movies may have finally been too ambitious for their own good. “Avatar Fire and Ash” is still a masterpiece of a film; it has the same energy, creativity, and pure filmmaking techniques that make it one of the most thrilling experiences of the year and shows why you never bet against the man. I’ll also admit that despite the 3 hour and 15-minute running time, the movie rarely felt slow or bloated, moving at a breathtaking speed and immersing me in the story where moral conflicts have never been more pronounced than before.

But maybe – just MAYBE – the ending suffers under the weight of its own ambitions this time around!

Yes, by this point, we are accustomed to the world of Pandora, but being a world means that there is still so much out there to explore. For a planet that is mostly filled with religious creatures and customs, I suppose it should come as little surprise that there is a group of Navi who hold atheistic beliefs. They don’t believe there is a Mother God of any sort, and they roam Pandora, plummeting and stealing, leaving burnt villages and dead bodies behind in their wake. For years, these Navi have been largely fought off with large tribes and skilled warriors, but what happens when your enemy manages to get a hold of human guns?

What happens when your belief that touching steel brings out evil in you is a core belief the other side doesn’t have, and, because they don’t have that belief, that will put you at a huge disadvantage? Fighting aside, what does Neytiri (Zoe Saldana, still the MVP of this franchise) develop racist feelings towards humans (she calls them ‘pink skins’) while her husband and children have the DNA of those humans flowing in their blood? Despite my high praise of these movies, this is a series that has rarely asked tough questions, but now is comfortable enough in its own skin (ho ho) to delve a little deeper beneath the surface.

Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is starting to realize that his adopted human son Spider (Jack Champion) may be a danger to the whole Navi race, and that taking the life of one of his own may be on the table. General Miles (Stephen Lang), the de facto primary antagonist thus far, may be forced to concede that his way of life is not really what he wants, and that Sully might be the better parent of the two. Does this mean a truce is in the mix? Well, if there were, then we could likely skip all of the spectacular action sequences, hunts, and Navi hissing, and what fun would that be?

Cameron has spent the better part of two decades developing this world and these characters, and to say that he knows which strings to pull and what buttons to push to get us excited about everything is an understatement. Even as I acknowledge the movie may be a bit too long, I can’t figure out where to actually make cuts to make it shorter. In fact, since the movie seems to rush wrapping up its conclusion, there is an argument to be made that adding another 30 minutes (with an intermission) may have been preferable this time around.

The ending of the movie feels so rushed and sped through that things wrap up rather hastily, leaving us wanting more. Not because it is so satisfying, but because, despite all the time we spent, it feels like there are still some unanswered questions that are lingering. It’s as if Cameron realized everything was getting to be too long, and thus, he wrapped up what he could and cut out what he needed to meet a deadline. While I acknowledge making a four-hour movie would have been risky, it also feels like it might have been earned this time around. It’s an interesting dilemma to be too long and yet not long enough.

Right now, a fourth ‘Avatar’ film has already been announced (and, if reports are to be believed, even partially shot). Whether Cameron decides to continue the journey or pass the torch on to someone else is going to be fascinating to witness. So much of Cameron as a great filmmaker is in the DNA of these movies that it will be interesting to see if the franchise can live a life beyond its creator (like ‘Star Wars’ and superheroes) or if this franchise has too much of James Cameron in it to survive without him. That’s a question for another day, but for now, if “Avatar: Fire and Ash” is the end of the journey, it goes out in a blaze of glory.