“Avatar: Fire and Ash” a non-spoiler review

[Barry]

On Tuesday we went to see “Avatar: Fire and Ash” in 3D at the local AMC theater.  There were about 20 people in the theatre. So what’s it about?

It’s about three hours and seventeen minutes.  Add in the 30 minutes of coming attractions, auto insurance commercials and self-promotions, this was nearly a four hour (no bathroom intermission) experience.

The movie, with its special effects in every scene, looked like the most expensive movie I had ever seen.  The photography looked expensive, but not attractive, and I did NOT feel that 3D added to it.

But what about the movie.  I was often, well,  almost bored.  It certainly wasn’t great. Or terribly thoughtful. They spent a lot money and did not come up with anything very new.  The movie, seemed to be a continuation of “Avatar: The Way of Water,” and a redo to a lot of what I had seen before.  There are many sub-plots, some hard to follow and very little character development for a 3 hour movie. Nothing drew me in. In fact, I was often looking at the special effects instead of watching a movie. I felt that I had seen much of this before as Invaders try to take over the world of Avatar.

The movie was unusually and uncomforably loud. The score, not done by James Horner, was also loud but not impressive. It often anticipated what was to come.

The acting was often covered up by the make-up and special effects. I  did not recognize a few of the famous actors in the movie.

Fire and Ash may be an expensive technowlogical movie, but the visuals, stories and characters did not sustain me for the three hours.  This is my honest reaction to the movie.


I value the opinions expressed on this site. When the disc comes out, I will be curious about how many people agree and disagree with me. (David V: there are lots of long chase scenes.)

[Paul Heroy]

Saw it this afternoon and just got home a little while ago, so while it's fresh in my mind... which won't be long...

I agree pretty much all the way Barry. Saw it with 2 friends who enjoyed it, but I felt it was tedious despite all the eye candy. I had a bad start though b/c the trailer when I walked in was overwhelmingly loud, and then there was confusion about seats with 2 people on either side of me trying to yell over the relentlessly loud trailer. (IMAX theater with "EARTHSHATTERING SOUND". I actually went back to my car to get earplugs that I meant to bring in with me in the first place.) So I wasn't in the best frame of mind, granted. But the previous (2nd) Avatar didn't have a great story but it kept me engaged enough that I didn't feel the 3+ hours as much. This one did not. There were confusing character moments, jumps that didn't make sense to me, and too many different character lines for people I felt I barely knew. People did stupid stuff at a few critical moments, because it was necessary to move the sloppily constructed plot forward. It was a mess.

Visually stunning, which is a given that maybe shouldn't be taken completely for granted. It's too bad that aspect really demands that it be seen on the biggest screen possible, because for $25 (!!!!) no other element in the movie came remotely close.

[Barry]

Paul,

I am glad that you posted what you did. Well many of the theaters with smaller screens have closed. We have an IMAX theater and an AMC Dolby theater. There are two reasons why we go to the AMC, where the screen screens are about 10 or 15% smaller than the IMAX. first I joined the AMC club five years ago for $10 and get discounts on the tickets. We have gone for as little as seven dollars and this will cost us 15. also, the seats are more comfortable.

The second reason is that the sound at the IMAX Theatre is so loud we can’t stand it. during one Batman movie my brother insisted on leaving during the first 10 minutes cause it was just too loud. I see now that is a universal problem and not just the problem of our theater.

[Paul Heroy]

BTW... a couple of odd notes. What's with all the cat hiss stuff from the female Na'vi? You don't even have to be a super feminist or anything to find that pretty cringe, as the kids say. I don't recall that in previous movies, but maybe there just weren't many "cat fights" in them?

And the daughter's scene with the magic mushrooms that healed Spider was the best female orgasm scene since Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally.

[Barry]

And the daughter's scene with the magic mushrooms that healed Spider was the best female orgasm scene since Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally.

I’ll have what she’s having

[bmoney]

Never understood the allure of the first one. Second one was unwatchable. No desire to watch this one 

[David Vaughn]

I will wait for the UHD, but I'm not going to pay retail for it. It will have to be on a big sale. Heck, with your guy's comments, I may just stream it from Disney+ and skip the purchase.