We know Avatar looks great in 4K. Those vivid colors of Pandora were made for this technology. Avatar: Fire and Ash visits new Na’vi and returns to the skies and seas of Pandora.
It is an immersive soundscape too. Air battles incorporate swooping wings, cawing, guns from all sides and wooshing fire. The rapid river splashes and Quarritch (Steven Lang)’s psychedelic trip encompasses you. The heavy machinery on the base whirs and grinds all around you too.
Behind the scenes features run almost 3 hours like the movie. You get to see practical elements built on the stage, from rough shapes to a full forest river. Then you still appreciate the magnitude of how much they add to make Pandora. You get to see Ash makeup tests on humans before they go on Na’vi. Side by side shots of The Volume and the final film illustrate how much performance goes into these movies.
A Jon Landau tribute is nice. Even Bob Iger speaks to celebrate the late producer. The feature covers his business breakthroughs championing 3D, but mostly personal connections with the crew and holiday photos. To show his sense of humor, he dressed as Spider and ran through the set.
Landau is in the behind the scenes too so they did film him speaking about the third film before he passed. Some of the timestamps read 2018, which shows you how long in development these are, though Fire and Ash was filmed concurrently with The Way of Water.