With a stunning sci-fi sequel and a superbly executed period romance drama, it’s a quality week of contrasts on the big screen.
AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH (M)
Director: James Cameron (Titanic)
Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Oona Chaplin, Sigourney Weaver.
***1/2
Playing smoke on the water, over and over again
A pressing question: has any movie ever had not one, but two tougher acts to follow than Avatar: Fire and Ash?
The only answer is no. Released in 2009, the original Avatar stands as one of the impressive feats of original world-building in cinema history.
Thirteen years later came Avatar: The Way of Water, a great leap forward for special effects technology on the big screen that remains in a league all its own.
Oh, and just to increase the degree of difficulty facing Fire and Ash, its two blockbuster predecessors just happen to be two of the highest-grossing movies ever released.
So here comes another pressing question: can Fire and Ash up the ante in the same way as those Avatars that came before?
The only answer again is no. Or if you’re feeling charitable, a polite, yet emphatic not-really.
At best, the elite benchmarks of intensely immersive visual innovation set by The Way of Water are effectively maintained without ever being truly extended.
Yes, Fire and Ash is still tremendously transporting escapism of the highest class. However, it will not be taking you any place you have not been before.
Just liken the experience to a second visit to a theme park that blew your mind the first time around, and Fire and Ash will effortlessly deliver upon your expectations.
The third instalment picks up almost directly where we left off when last on the moon Pandora, with the noble Na’vi tribe still living in enforced exile amid the reef-dwelling Metkayina clan.
While Earth’s military continue their incursions to colonise Pandora for their own gain, the heroic Marine-turned-Na’vi Jake (Sam Worthington) and his wife Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) are still reeling from the recent loss of their eldest son Neteyam.
In search of solace, Neytiri doubles-down on her belief in Eywa, the fabled ‘Great Mother’ who holds great spiritual sway over all Pandorans.
Neytiri’s adoptive daughter Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) also goes looking for a connection to the mystical Eywa that could hold the key to a return home for the Na’vi.
The Eywa influence upon Fire and Ash’s events widens with the introduction of a dangerously compelling new character, Varang (Oona Chaplin).
This shamanistic figure is the leader of the Mangkwan, a nomadic clan of warriors who have rejected the ways of Eywa in preference for an alliance with Earth’s invading troops.
As the movie progresses, the increasingly villainous Varang joins forces with a longtime enemy of Jake and the Na’vi, the notorious Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang).
With so much of Fire and Ash retracing the same plot points established in The Way of Water, the unworldly inclinations and motivations of Varang become the only excitingly fresh material to be found in the new movie.
Unfortunately, the one consistent flaw in the Avatar phenomenon – dopey dialogue reminiscent of a kids’ cartoon of yesteryear – is more pronounced than ever before.
However, what will keep Fire and Ash burning brightly in the affections of audiences are its incredible battle sequences. Whether staged high in the sky or deep underwater, director James Cameron locks down dizzying angles and executes swooping, sweeping camera moves that consistently take one’s breath away.
Two final, salient points worth bearing in mind before anyone maps out their approach towards Fire and Ash.
Firstly, there is a prominent new plot strand involving the introduction of guns (more pointedly, automatic weapons) to tribal combat on Pandora.
In light of recent tragic events, repeated scenes of sustained gunfire may prove to be a sorrowfully jarring experience at times. I know that it was certainly the case for me.
Secondly, the only fitting visual format in which to plunge into the alluring environment of Fire and Ash is via 3D.
James Cameron’s consummate mastery of 3D is well documented, but should not be taken for granted.
Like the Avatars that came before it, Fire and Ash conjures true movie magic when it comes to complete and total immersion in another world.
If you somehow get stuck with the 2D version, feel free to subtract half-a-star (or even more!) from the rating quoted here.
Avatar: Fire and Ash is now showing in general release.
THE HISTORY OF SOUND (M)
***1/2
Selected cinemas.
There was an initial line of hype pushing The History of Sound as a next-gen Brokeback Mountain.
Though impeccably acted with two performances not far off those of Brokeback’s Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, it would be best to assess this quieter, more introspective affair on its own merits.
Adapted from an acclaimed short story by author Ben Shattuck (who also penned the screenplay), the movie opens in 1917 at the Boston Conservatory, where two students immediately bond over their shared love of American folk music.
Lionel (Paul Mescal of Gladiator II fame) is a country-raised lad with a rare ability to “see” music (a talent sometimes referred to as Synesthesia). David (Josh O’Connor from the recent Wake Up Dead Man and the hit tennis flick Challengers) is an urbane and worldly type, but not the complete opposite of his new lover.
As history (the Great War) and personal circumstance (a family illness) conspire to drive them apart, it is a shared mission – to find, learn and record folk songs from small rural communities before they vanish without trace – that ultimately brings Lionel and David together.
While the movie does lose some vital narrative momentum in its final act, a delicately convincing emotional balance held by Mescal and O’Connor throughout is rewarding through to the bitter(sweet) end.
