LOS ANGELES, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- Avatar: Fire and Ash, in theaters Friday, explores thrilling new threats on the world of Pandora, and along with them, compelling themes. It can be silly and spread too thin, but the highs are genuine.
The Sully family is mourning the death of Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) in the previous film, The Way of Water. Younger brother Lo'ak (Britain Dalton) blames himself, while mother Neytiri (Zoë Saldaña) wants blood and father Jake (Sam Worthington) represses his feelings.
Otherwise, life amongst the Na'Vi would continue as normal except that human Spider (Jack Champion) has joined them. Since he needs a mask to breathe Pandora air, his batteries keep dying.
So the Sullys hitch a ride with the Windtraders to return Spider to his human base, but they are attacked by the Fire tribe led by Varang (Oona Chaplin). The next time Spider's battery dies, Kiri Sully (Sigourney Weaver) uses her kuru to connect Spider with roots and plants of Pandora to merge with his body, enabling him to breathe without the mask.
This scenario sets up several interesting character dynamics. With Varang's tribe hunting the children, Jake has to team up with his enemy, Quaritch (Stephen Lang), Spider's father. Enemies forced to work together is an inherently fascinating dramatic conceit, because the same things that give them animosity become their joint strength.
