Geek On Film

Avatar: Fire and Ash

• Robbie Holmes • Season 5 • Episode 5

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0:00 | 11:18
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Hey folks, we're jumping into my warner about fire and ash. Our friends over at IMDB have the summary as Jake and Natiri's family grap grapples with the grief over Netem Netam's death encountering a new aggressive Navi tribe, the Ash people, who are led by the fiery varang, as the conflict on Pandora escalates and a new moral focus emerges. This was written by uh James Cameron, Rick Joffey, and Amanda Silver, and it was directed by James Cameron. So I have this over on my letterboxed, uh Robbie the Geek, as uh three and a half stars, no heart. Uh, I am still processing this movie. I think that it is overlong and has too many false endings. Uh, when you cut to black after an hour and 40 minutes into a movie, and it makes sense that things have possibly come to a cliff that might mean a nice breaking point uh to a second movie, or at least three or two or three times, it feels a bit much. That being said, uh, what I saw in IMAX 3D high frame rate, uh, it was it was a true experience. Um, I will never be able to match. The standout of this movie is 100% Una Chaplin as harangue. She's the first person to truly embody a Navi since Zoe Soldana. Um yeah. So I have seen all of the Avatar movies in theaters. I feel like I am one of the people who um this movie people often talk about it not having like, you know, cultural staying power or lasting power. I think that what James Cameron has done in these movies has really changed how people think about movies. Um, you know, we've still got Jake being played by Sam Worthington and Zoe Seldana as Bacchus Natiri, and Sigourney Weaver playing Kiri and Kwaric being played by Stephen Lang, you know, the uh Ronal being played by Kate Winslit, you've got Cliff Curtis being played, uh playing uh Tenoari. You know, there's just so many characters and so deep. Uh you can't do that without really spending the time. I mean, so far, what are we at? Like about eight hours in Pandora chasing unobtamium, chasing, you know, all kinds of stuff. And this movie just to me felt like a hat on a hat. It when I saw Avatar the Way of Water, there's such a huge distinction between where Avatar was back in 2009 and where Avatar The Way of Water was in like 2023, I think. It's a huge hurdle. So much has changed, so much was created by James Cameron and his team to make that movie possible. Taking nothing away from what this experience was was and created. I didn't love the movie. I think uh there's there's so many characters and storylines, it's very similar or aligned to things that happen in Avatar The Way of Water. Um, and you might want to say, like, it's almost like it's rhyming, like it's in couples, but it didn't have the weight uh for me of a callback. It felt like a similar path to be taken for the story. And that didn't work as well for me. Uh, I think that we've got some of the most amazing visual footage created for a movie. And James Cameron likes to say like all of this is people created. And I agree, he's he's done something very unique. He's taken motion motion capture to basically the highest extent it could be done today. And I think that allows for an amazing amount of expression and uh humanity uh to come through in these creatures, so much so that you hear people often say, like, is Pandora a real place? It feels like they flew a film crew there and they got to spend time with the Navi. It's it's astounding. It really is. And I think the you know, the high point of that performance style, in my opinion, right now, is probably Una Chaplin. Uh, she plays Varang, who is the leader of the Ash people, uh, who is a uh she's a Na'vi whose uh their tribe, uh everything burned and they became fixated on fire, so much so that they do not feel at all connected to the goddess of the planet. And uh it's it's unreal. I I came away from the movie saying that it felt like Varang was this sort of um hyper kinetic, dynamic, almost feline presence. Um, and you know that is all coming through because of Una's work as the character. And I I was just blown away. Um, the scenes where she is menacing and where she is in control are unbelievable. And those times where you see her standing toe to toe or an equal to someone else are unreal because it elevates the other person, not her. Um, she's fantastic. Uh, if anybody was to get any crazy recognition coming out of this movie, I hope it's her. Um, I've been impressed with her since the Game of Thrones time, and I think we should all be paying more attention to Charlie Chaplin's granddaughter. She's unbelievable. Um, let's see. Anything else should shout out? I know there's a lot of talk about Oscars at this time. Uh, I think this movie will be nominated for every below the line category and likely should win many of them. I think that um there's so many repetitive beats uh that I don't think this movie is going to make it to best picture. It feels like a very much a it has a lot of rehashing in the same storylines, including like scenes where Koric is actually talking to Spider and he's been imprisoned and very similar, all the way down to like asking him for his dog tags again. So there's a lot of things here that I think are holding it back from possibly being nominated for best picture, but I can't see how this movie doesn't get nominated for everything having to do with the effects. I I mean it's always crazy to think production design in this world is mostly in the digital world. Um, and that doesn't take away from it. It actually is more impressive. This world feels so lived in and so moving. I think the the the um the whale-like creatures, the what do they call the Tulum, the Tuloon, are uh really impressive in this movie, but again, we just get a little more of them, so we have a little more interaction. We have a quorum of them, and they're a matriarchal society, so it's interesting. It's a very like mirror, it feels like, of the water tribe. Um, and uh let's see, trying to think if there's anything else we should hit on. Uh, so I did see in in uh I I IMAX 3D high frame rate. And the high frame rate for me, it's a ramping up and down of how many frames per second. I think it vacillates between 48 frames a second and 24 frames a second, depending on what you're seeing. And then you've got you've got um 3D, so it's being done in multiple different formats at the same time, is usually, I believe, the way they handle 3D at this point. So it's uh it was a lot. I found my eyes were really strained. About 40 minutes in, I had tears in my eyes, and I had to take a minute, take my glasses off, rub my eyes, and give them a second. Um, I also feel like it creates sort of almost like a motion smoothing effect sometimes, uh, where it feels hyper uh hyper computer generated to me, as opposed to what I think he's hoping for, which is in those kinetic and and dynamic scenes. Uh, it it feels over fast. It feels like something that is not something my brain can process. Um, but you get used to it. I would say like the first 20 to 30 minutes, it happens a couple of times, and I kept feeling like I was getting pulled out of it. And then eventually we got to the point where it became second nature and I felt like it was right. Um, it was beautiful. Uh, there's not as much 3D in this movie as there has been in past films. There's a really amazing scene where uh Varang drugs someone, and that scene is super trippy, and you see everything from that character's perspective, and it's beautiful. It is um different and unique and not something you're gonna see in a lot of mainstream movies. I feel like, you know, these are his blank check films, and and nobody should bet against Big Jim. But in this case, I just don't think this movie has the has the legs to get it all the way to best picture, uh, even a nomination. There's so many good films this year in the international scene, and I feel like that the academy has gotten so much more international that I expect there to be maybe three or four films this year from the international contingent that might make it to best uh picture. Uh, you should see this movie, especially if you have any affection for the Avatar movies. Uh, it didn't work super well for me, but that doesn't mean it won't work for you. These movies have a completely different effect on every person who sees them, in my opinion. My wife is completely out, has never watched a single Avatar movie. There are other people who are not on board. I think there's some seriously questionable back and forth about uh representation of indigenous peoples and how these characters feel like they are just a uh sort of a loose uh analogy for how white civilization took over America, and there's a lot of stereotypes that are being thrown on these characters that makes me a little bit uncomfortable over time. Um, but I think it's beautiful, and I think you should see it. Uh, I mean, it's not like this movie's not gonna make a billion dollars, but um, you should be a part of it. You know, there's very few things that have cultural relevance now in our watercolor conversation. And I think this is one of those movies that probably will be. Um, I didn't love it. Again, I stand by like three and a half stars without a heart. It's impressive, but not my movie. Um, hopefully, I will be back to you pretty soon. I have so many movies in the queue. Um, and I can't wait to keep uh giving you these warners because they feel like less work for me and uh more uh bang for the buck. Uh also I've started releasing some of my instant reactions as shorts over on the YouTube channel. There's also TikTok. So uh these are video if you are watching it on Spotify or on YouTube. Uh, you have two options for watching the video of these. So I look forward to doing more of these and being uh bigger and bigger a part of what I do on a regular basis. Um, thank you. Uh go see Avatar, you know, Fire and Ash. It's pretty beautiful. Have a good one. Bye bye.

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Robbie Holmes

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