Avatar: Fire And Ash (2025)

The time may have come for me to admit that the shine has gone from the Avatar movies. Or maybe it's just that this particular instalment is the first one I was unable to get along and see on the big screen. Say what you like about these movies, they are most definitely made for the big screen.

The plot is basically the same as it was in the last movie. Jack (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) are trying to live a peaceful life with their family, but still find themselves targeted by the vengeful Quaritch (Stephen Lang). There's also another powerful enemy this time around, the fiery Varang (Oona Chaplin), who is very interested in getting her hands on weaponry that will give her people a huge advantage over those they seek to rob and conquer. Meanwhile, Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) is still trying to figure out how to best live in harmony with Pandora, and Spider (Jack Champion) has to ensure that he has a working facemask available if he wants to keep breathing properly while being the one full human living amidst the Na'vi.

It's James Cameron in the director's chair once again (I doubt he would ever hand the reigns over to anyone else), and he's also still one of the main writers (alongside the returning Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver). Avatar: Fire And Ash may be as derivative as the previous instalments, it may be as uneven in terms of the pacing leading up to an action-packed finale, but it's still one hell of a spectacle. Whether or not you enjoy that spectacle is entirely up to you, especially when a lot of the plotting seems to get sillier and sillier as the series continues. I still appreciate the beauty and detailing of the visuals though, and it's astonishing to see how much smoother and clearer everything is as the tech has evolved in the 17 years since the first movie was released.

Worthington, Saldaña, and Weaver are still very comfortable in their portrayal of the blue-skinned leads, and Lang remains an entertaining villain, although he's given a small amount of extra development this time around to make me consider referring to him in that role with quotation marks. There are some people here who are arguably worse, whether looking to hunt and maim some peaceful marine mammals or looking to rain down fire on their enemies. Chaplin is interested in the latter, and she's a great addition to the series. I'm not going to get into the problematic nature of some of the casting, but the supporting cast has time for many supporting names (Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Joel David Moore, etc) and some welcome newcomers (Edie Falco being a standout). Sadly, the worst performance comes from Champion, the young man who seems to have become notably worse in his acting when he's not simply reacting to greenscreen elements and the wealth of CGI surrounding him.

Simon Franglen provides a very good score, and the soundscape throughout is fantastic (shout out to the oft-neglected foley artists), but this remains all about the visuals ahead of everything else. People may sneer when I say that it does feel like watching someone play a good videogame for a lot of the runtime, but that's not the insult it may once have been. Many modern videogames can look gorgeous, and the best of them have even better storylines than this, so watching someone play one isn't the disconnected and uninvolving experience it used to be.

Like a favourite holiday destination I've visited a few too many times, Pandora remains a beautiful place to visit. I just don't get as enthusiastic about it as I used to. I'll keep going back though, Cameron has maintained high standards that ensure my loyalty to the series, but I will no longer plan my calendar around it. 

7/10

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The Relic (1997)

One of those films I tend to revisit every ten years or so, mainly because my memory of it is slightly better than the reality, The Relic is a creature feature that is as enjoyable as it is silly. It’s a mess, both visually and in terms of the stupid plotting, but it’s an enjoyable mess.

Set in the Field Museum Of Natural History, in Chicago, this is your standard template. People start dying, police investigate the deaths, evidence eventually leads to some creature being to blame, the finale relies on a plucky cop and plucky scientist saving the day. Oh, but some VIPs need the museum to stay “safe” and usable for a bit charity gala do that is set to go ahead - giving the film an obvious “the beaches are open” riff - and there is a bit more work to be done before the scientist figures out EXACTLY what the creature is before it can be destroyed.

Based on a popular novel, co-written by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (sadly, no, I haven’t read it), The Relic may suffer from a number of failings, but a dearth of writers isn’t one of them. Four other people worked to adapt the source material into a screenplay, which is pretty astonishing when you think of how laughable and formulaic it is in places. I don’t want to spoil the ending for anyone, but there are one or two “revelations” that prove to be completely unsurprising, and the ultimate solution to the big beastie problem is something that would have worked on almost every other creature on the planet.

Director Peter Hyams doesn’t distract from the simple pleasures of the main story structure, although the scene in which a SWAT team tries to enter the building remains a glorious highlight, but he is slightly hampered by the fact that he has to blend practical effects and  mid-‘90s CGI. Everything holds up a bit better than expected, but that’s down to the low lighting levels used in many scenes and plenty of canny editing keeping things only partially-seen until the outrageous third act.

Stuck in the midst of the madness are Penelope Ann Miller (plucky scientist) and Tom Sizemore (plucky cop), who both try their best with the cheesy dialogue. Sizemore fares a bit better, his natural air of pessimism and slight grumpiness offset by the determination and strength of his character (helped by a fun little conversational thread about him losing custody of his dog in divorce proceedings). Miller gets more exposition, and she is easy to root for when she is uncomfortably backed into a dangerous space as “the relic” looks set to defeat everyone around it. Linda Hunt and James Whitmore are enjoyable in supporting roles, as are one or two others, but things would have been helped enormously if we had been given a much larger ensemble cast of great character actors to watch being placed in peril.

If you remember enjoying The Relic many years ago then you will still enjoy The Relic now. Unlike the mutation at the heart of it, it is pleasingly constant and unevolved. Neither the best film of this kind, nor the worst, it’s still a great choice for whenever you are having a lazy evening in and after some undemanding entertainment. The 110-minute runtime goes by quickly enough, the setting is used well, the John Debney score is another plus point, and it’s just a shame that Hyams and co. didn’t decide to throw some more blood and guts around. 

6/10

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Avatar: The Way Of Water (2022)

Over a decade has passed since James Cameron asked us to put on 3D glasses and join him on a romp around the planet of Pandora. As much as I loved the cinematic experience of Avatar, and I still think it holds up as a visual wonderland that is well worth watching on a big screen, it's hard to argue against people who point out that the film made no major cultural footprint, despite it spending a bit of time as the highest-grossing blockbuster movie in modern cinema. Yeah, we got some jokes and references, but then it all just . . . faded away. 

Now it's all back, and it's back in a big way. While it's unwise to ever bet against Cameron, many balked at how much this had to make to just break even. The fact that it's now on target to do more than that, and probably give Cameron yet another chance say he is the helmer of the highest-grossing movie of all time, is unbelievable. And yet . . . it's in line with how Cameron works. 

Jake (Sam Worthington) is now living happily with Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) on Pandora. They have three children of their own, two boys named Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) and Lo'ak (Britain Dalton), and one daughter named Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), as well as an adopted daughter, Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), and the constant company of a human boy, Spider (Jack Champion), who was left on Pandora because he was too young to be transported back to Earth when he was a child. Everything is wonderful, which means it's all about to be spoiled. Enter Quaritch (Stephen Lang), the big bad from the first movie who is, with a small team of his fellow soldiers, sent back to Pandora in Na'vi form. Jake opts to take his family away from their forest home, asking permission from another tribe (led by Tonowari, played by Cliff Curtis, and Ronal, played by Kate Winslet) to hide away and make their new home in an idyllic reef environment. But trying to stay out of a fight doesn't stop the fight landing on your doorstep.

It’s hard to think of the best way to review Avatar: The Way Of Water. It isn’t a great movie, especially with a lot of it rehashing what we got in the first film, but it is a great cinematic experience, and that is what Cameron specializes in. In an ideal world, I would list all of the VFX and art department people here, as well as the production designers, stunt crew, and all of those who won’t receive their due credit while Cameron, who is certainly no slouch when it comes to pushing film-making tech above and beyond the limits of our imagination, gets to return to his throne and proclaim himself “king of the world” again.

The cast all do what is asked of them, but part of the fun comes from not recognizing them. Worthington and Saldaña are fine, but it’s more impressive to not realise when Curtis and Winslet appear. And it’s a delight to see Sigourney Weaver magically made youthful in a way that is equally realistic and magical. Lang is a great villain, once again, and the younger cast members, those already mentioned above, plus Bailey Bass and Filip Geljo, all seem good enough under their layers of motion capture. Champion is good as definitely not a feral kid lifted from the Mad Max movies, and there are one or two enjoyable scenes featuring Brendan Cowell and Jemaine Clement, actually allowed to play their characters in standard human guise.

The 3+ hour runtime may be offputting, but this isn’t a film that drags. The majority of the runtime provides plenty of spectacle and beautiful details to pick up on, and the action beats are brilliantly done, with the last 40 minutes or so being one extended battle scene that guarantees most viewers will feel surprisingly energised as the end credits roll.

Not only does Cameron, who co-wrote the screenplay with Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, rehash the main conflict for our hero this time around, he also revisits the themes of environmental awareness, living in harmony with a precious planetary ecosystem, and showing the value in traditional ways and community spirit. Is it all also problematic blue-faced cultural appropriation? That charge has been levelled against it, but I think that Cameron and co. put such hard work into creating an entirely fictional world, influenced by the history and many cultures of our own planet, that you have to accept it as it is presented; pure sci-fi.

Maybe it’s a sign of me being won over by the advertising, or maybe I just really enjoyed the whole cinematic experience THAT much (once I told someone to turn their phone off after tolerating the bright light of their screen for half an hour - aaaaaaarrrrgggggh), but this is the kind of escape that shows how far movies can transport us. It isn’t perfect, even the technical side of things can seem a bit rough occasionally (the HFR can take some getting used to, some of the colours clash horribly, and a number of shots are framed horrible due to the difference in size between any human characters and the much taller Na’vi), but I would easily rewatch it today if I had the time. And I will be keen for whenever we next get an opportunity to revisit Pandora. 

James Cameron may not know much about subtlety or self-restraint. Fortunately, he knows how to deliver eye-popping, jaw-dropping, cinema on a huge scale.

8/10

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Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes (2014)

The continuation of the franchise that was superbly rebooted with Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, this is that rare thing indeed - a Hollywood movie sequel that stands toe to toe with the preceding movie. It is, no pun intended, a slightly different beast, yet it still mixes the same smarts and eye candy that the film before it had in abundance.

About ten years have passed since the events of Rise, and that decade has seen many humans die out from a nasty virus while the apes have grouped together and developed their societal structure to best keep themselves safe in their brave new world. Caesar (Andy Serkis) is still the leader, which is all well and good until the camp is unwittingly trespassed upon by a group of human survivors on a recon mission from a nearby base. Led by Malcolm (Jason Clarke), the humans are hoping to fix a power system that resides within a large dam. Unfortunately, that large dam resides within the territory of the apes. Malcolm determines to show that humans can be trusted, once he gets over the initial shock of meeting these intelligent apes, and this leads to a fragile truce. Koba (Toby Kebbell) sees the truce as a sign of weakness on the part of Caesar, and hatches his own plan to ensure that apes are kept safe from humans.

Matt Reeves has taken over the directorial duties for this instalment, and he's quick to show that the franchise is in safe hands. An opening sequence, showing the spread of the virus that appeared at the end of the previous movie, gets everyone up to speed before things settle down as we get to see the heirarchy and day to day workings of the ape community. This also allows everyone to adjust to the amount of CGI onscreen, which I have to say feels quite flawless for about 95% of the time. There are wobbly moments here and there, but the computer-generated characters and visuals on display here rank up with the best that I've seen. Reeves complements the CGI work with smooth, and sometimes vertiginous, camerawork, perfect pacing and a nice sense of restraint.

A lot of the good work starts with the script, by Mark Bomback, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, which takes time to show main characters and dynamics, translating a lot of the ape communication that is in the form of sign language (which means, impressively, that this is a mainstream blockbuster that also forces people to read during quite a few scenes). Every step is taken to ensure that there's a touch of realism at the heart of everything.

Serkis and Kebbell may not be visible onscreen in human guise, but it's their work that should be praised above anyone else. The two men give fantastic physical performances that make their lead characters just as real as anyone else onscreen. Clarke does a great job as the good man who may win Caesar's trust, and he's ably supported by Keri Russell and Kodi Smit-Mcphee. Let's not forget the fact that they were probably acting out most of their scenes alongside actors in motion-capture suits, or even just props that allowed them to maintain eyelines, so the full integration of CGI and non-CGI characters here is testament to the hard work from everyone involved. Judy Greer, Nick Thurston and Karin Konoval also get to monkey around, while Gary Oldman is the other notable human performer (and he's as good as ever).

Smart, touching, often tense, this is a real treat. There are one or two mis-steps, including a disposable human character who may as well just have "stubborn ass" tattooed on his forehead, but if the next movie maintains this level of quality then we may just end up with the greatest ape-centric movie trilogy of all time. Not that there's much competition, mind you, but it will still be a great achievement.

8/10

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