Avatar: Fire and Ash (M) – 3 hours 17 minutes

The effects are spectacular, but I fail to see why this film needed to be three hours 17 minutes in length.

The attempt by Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his Na’vi warrior wife Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) to keep their family safe continues as their real and “adopted” children spread their wings.

They are still living with the Metkayina Clan in the picturesque reefs of Pandora. 

At the end of the previous film, Avatar: The Way of Water, the Sullys’ eldest son Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) was killed in a brutal skirmish with the Sky People.

He died while trying to rescue Spider (Jack Champion), the human child orphaned by war who has grown up alongside the Sully children.

Jake and Neytiri’s middle child, Lo’ak (Britain Dalton), believes he was to blame.

As a 15-year-old, Lo’ak is also trying to navigate his way in the world and live up to his heroic father’s expectations, while forging his own path.

At the start of Fire and Ash, Neytiri is heartbroken. She has it in for Spider, who she maintains must be dealt with.

He is particularly close to all the children in the family, but none more so that Kiri (Sigourney Weaver).

Kiri is the teenager born of the Avatar body of Grace Augustine, being raised by Jake and Neytiri as one of their own.

But she is different. She has a link to Eywa, the divine force connecting all life on Pandora. Only Eywa doesn’t appear to be listening to her appeals for help.

In Fire and Ash, Jake and Neytiri determine that Spider will be moved to safer surrounds and that will happen through the Wind Traders, a peaceful nomadic air-travelling clan who sail the skies.

But his journey, accompanied by the rest of the family, is cut short by the ruthless Ash People, led by the mercenary Varang (Oona Chaplin).

Meanwhile, the RDA (Resources Development Administration) is regrouping following its devastating defeat at the end of the last film and planning their next attack.

Leading the charge to bring in Spider and bring down Jake is the powerful and mercenary Quaritch (Stephen Lang). 

He is the Colonel in charge of an elite team of soldiers resurrected as recombinants and in his original form Spider’s father, although Spider regards Jake as his dad.

There is a lot going on here, including much more that I have left out, and a lot of time to explore the intricate relationships between the Sullys and others.

I was most interested in the impact that Kiri and Spider had in proceedings here.

The push and pull between Quaritch and Jake is a mainstay of this latest offering, while The Administration remains fraught. 

The new force is the Ash People and Oona Chaplin brings real bite as Varang. She is quite a piece of work, who becomes wedded to the weaponry used by the RDA.

Much of the beauty in the film is in the realisation of the different creature forms and their interactions.

This is where the mastery of writer and director James Cameron really comes to the fore.

To get a real handle on proceedings, you need to have seen the earlier movies.

And, in short, Avatar: Fire and Ash renews the good versus evil theme that was established in Episode 1.

All things being equal, in other words, if this makes enough money, we still have two episodes of Avatar to come.

One is scheduled for release in 2029 and the other in 2031. 

Rated M, Avatar: Fire and Ash scores a 7½ out of 10.