Let's be clear: Length in itself isn't a worthy criterion for judging a movie, but when a story becomes this gargantuan, it gives me pause and raises questions about whether its themes and characters merit such treatment.
OK, enough eye-rolling about length. I leave it to you to answer the question about the depth of Avatar’s themes and whether each additional movie becomes more than a search for ways to extend the series.
As Avatar movies go, this one pulls out all the stops, wrapping up loose ends and adding new wrinkles -- all presented with Cameron's signature capacity for extensive, encompassing world-building. That’s another way of saying, the movie holds its own, providing you're a fan. Newbies needn't apply
The loose ends Avatar: Fire and Ash wraps up can't be revealed here without spoilers, but I can say that the movie provides an overdose of sonic and visual excitement, most of it involving heavy combat.
Cameron and his team create lots of dazzling imagery to support a variety of plotlines and a couple of villains. Varang (Oona Chaplin) leads the barbaric Ash People, a Na'vi clan that can't quash its savage bloodlust.
Varang, by the way, sports a spiky red headdress that stands out nicely against her Ashen Mangkwan complexion. The Mangkwan are also called the Ash People, which brings me to another point. Cameron expands his complex universe of characters and ethnicities so much that his movie practically requires an annotated glossary.
As mean as ever, Colonel Miles Quartich (Stephen Lang) adds more villainy, joining with Varang to defeat the nature-loving Na'vi. In a Star Wars-like twist, we learn that the Colonel is the father of his human son Spider (Jack Champion), a young man who lives with the Na'vi. Spider wants to be regarded as one of them, despite genetic differences.
In another father-son dynamic, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) argues with his son Lo'ak's (Britain Dalton), a kid who blames himself for his brother's death -- in the previous movie, I think.
For a shift, Lo'ak is given narrating chores, a useful aid for those who tend to be overwhelmed by the story's complexities, which include the addition of a trading tribe that ... well ... handles trade.
Zoe Saldana returns as Neytiri, Jake's wife. She objects when Jake decides that he should acquire guns to fight the human colonialists who loom over a fractious adventure that puts high-tech savvy and tribal wisdom at odds.
Cameron stirs in spiritual elements as well. Teenage Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), the adopted daughter of Jake and Neytiri, has a special connection with Eywa, the deity that presides over Pandora, the moon that humans want to inhabit, presuming they can do enough genetic tinkering to breathe Pandora's air.
Cameron keeps the movie's various plot threads going as he builds toward a finale in which he uses every trick in the book, including a literal cliffhanger. Fire and Ash may not be the last Avatar movie, but it boasts some big, noisy heft.
All of this happens in service of the need to preserve ecological order by defeating the savage Ash People and the unscrupulous human invaders, who command enough weapons to set off explosions in several galaxies.
I'd be lying if I told you I was familiar with the entire Avatar lexicon. And my heart sank a little when I learned that Fire and Ash was going to unfold over three hours. At some point, visual pyrotechnics become normalized and wonder evaporates.
Look, Cameron's abundant and carefully detailed displays of imagination provide sufficient reason to conclude that the director won't cheat his fans.
For an ongoing series -- more movies evidently are planned -- that's saying something, three-plus hours worth of something, but still something.
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