Avatar's Visuals Wow, But Plot Is Predictable

• "Avatar: Fire and Ash" disappoints, deemed too Bollywood-esque in plot.
• Visually stunning but suffers from scattered editing & repetitive Sully family narrative.
• Hopes remain for a stronger fourth installment despite this entry's shortcomings.

When it’s a James Cameron film, the hype is already created. And if it is one of the highest grossing franchise from the filmmaker, then the expectations go through the roof! Well, that is exactly what

is expected with Cameron’s latest film, Avatar: Fire and Ash. But unfortunately, just the second instalment, it fails to amuse you unlike the first Avatar. In fact, the most common discussion among the critics was that why did Cameron decide to go the Bollywood way this time! Confused? Well, let’s dive deep into it.

Story

When Cameron announced a five-part series of Avatar, it was never clear that he would be playing around with the elements of Earth! Land, water, and now fire. Well, what do you have in common, a typical Bollywood plot — One hero trying to save him and his family from various other villains and super villains. The graphics and the VFX surely transport you into another world, but the story narrative is the same and nothing new comes out in the third and the latest instalment of the franchise. Amidst a rather dry plot, the drama unfolds in typical Bollywood way. Imagine if Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Karan Johar made a family drama together. It would be aesthetically pleasing in every frame, but the story would have such dramatic moments that only a Johar could pull off! Well, Cameron has surely taken inspiration from Dharma movies here.

Flow of events

Imagine watching a film for 3 hours and 17 minutes, and this is without the intermission, and you jump from one scene to other as if there is no connection and you wonder was it an error or was there a jump cut that happened. It’s not all that bad, but certain portions of the film surely needs a proper jump to another scene. Most of it looked very incomplete and because of that, the journey of the Na’vi, in the movie, looked scattered. There’s so much emotion and the culture depicted in the film makes so much sense. However, editing kind of lets the whole movie down because of these erratic cuts here and there. As an Avatar fan and an admirer of what Cameron has done for the movies, hopefully the fourth instalment would have a better output.

Repeated narratives

The movie revolves around Jake Sully and his family. As established in the first film, Sully is the acclaimed leader and the great Toruk Makto, who is respected among all the tribes. The RDA is on hunt for him and his family and the story revolves around how the family escapes the attacks from RDA and with their new ally — Varang the leader of the Mangkwan tribe or the Ash people as Na’vi call them. The action sequences are different, but the narrative offers nothing new. New mysteries surely unfold, but the main crux of the story remains the same. Hopefully, the next instalment will have something new to offer and say.

To sum it up

Whatever said and done, a Cameron film does have its own visual charm and make sure you watch a 3D version of the film to have the best experience. The Avatar franchise is surely on a low with this one, but let’s keep our hopes alive as Cameron can surely pull it off in the next instalment.