Avatar: Fire and Ash

Many, many, many thoughts on this.

The sheer technical craft on offer in these movies is second to none. Many will cite the CGI and the incomparable visual effects (as they should), but Cameron's technical prowess is not just limited to this. The way he crafts and composes scenes, his strong sense of positional awareness in action scenes, and the glorious worldbuilding are all equally discernible reasons why these movies work.

I've never been the biggest Avatar person, have always enjoyed them on the technical level, but never fully found myself immersed in the world or these characters. This film changed that.

The set-up of the world in the previous two movies pays off here, where we finally get to interrogate the characters a little more. Neytiri continues to be the standout of these films; her dealing with the fallout of her son's death and the complications that arise from having Spider be a part of their family is really scrutinised in this film.

Her storyline of faith and this being the only thing in her life that connects her to her previous life, feeling like she has lost all semblance of who she used to be, and this being contrasted with Varang is such an interesting main core of the film — which could've been pushed further.

The other characters get varying degrees of depth afforded to them, but on the whole, it feels like a level up from the previous installments. Jake and his battles with grief and Lo'ak really cemented him as a more compelling lead. Loved how this was contrasted with Quaritch as well, who just continues to be an absolute delight; Stephen Lang is so underrated.

There are elements which don't work fully. The writing in places is formulaic and doesn't seek to unpack what happens and instead plot points just hit cause they have to. I felt this way with Kiri a lot, and while in theory the idea of Spider works, and his character serves a purpose to improve other characters’ arcs, but him himself doesn't quite work, whether that's the writing or performance, I'm not sure.

You could say what you like about these movies. They don't have the most compelling characters in the world, the storylines aren't the most complex or interesting, but the visual spectacle that these movies offer, not only in terms of the VFX but also just as an action blockbuster, shouldn't be underestimated. I thought this was fire and could've sat in Pandora for hours longer.