Movie Review: Avatar: Fire and Ash

 

James Cameron returns to Pandora for the third time with a scale that no other contemporary blockbuster filmmaker can or wants to match. Avatar: Fire and Ash is a massive film, both literally and figuratively. Clocking in at nearly 200 minutes, it bursts with color, sound, and motion, yet for the first time in the franchise, it also provokes an uneasy sense of déjà vu. This is still spectacle cinema at the highest possible level, but it’s also the moment when the Avatar saga begins to feel like it’s beautifully treading water.

Escape, pursuit, escape… and repeat

Fire and Ash picks up shortly after the events of The Way of Water. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) concludes that his family can no longer remain with the Metkayina clan. Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang), now fully operating within a Na’vi body, is still hunting them backed by humanity’s relentless colonial machine under the command of General Ardmore (Edie Falco).

Jake, Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), and their children Lo’ak, Tuk, and Kiri set off on yet another journey across Pandora. Traveling with them is Spider (Jack Champion), their adopted human son, whose existence once again becomes a key point of conflict. Along the way, they encounter a new Na’vi faction: the Mangkwan, a violent, cult-like clan that worships fire and war, led by the charismatic and terrifying Varang (Oona Chaplin).

And here lies the first major issue: despite its enormous scale and numerous story threads, the film largely boils down to a cycle of chases, captures, and escapes. The narrative escalates, but rarely deepens. Promising themes grief over Neteyam’s death, tension between Jake and Lo’ak, Kiri’s spiritual connection to Eywa are introduced, only to be sidelined in favor of the next spectacular action set piece.

Emotions that should hurt but barely sting

The film’s greatest disappointment is how it handles the emotional fallout from the previous installment. The opening narration, in which Lo’ak reflects on his brother’s death, suggests a story about grief, guilt, and familial fracture. Unfortunately, that promise is never fully realized.

Jake is distant, Neytiri consumed by pain, but the film doesn’t allow these emotions enough space to truly resonate. They’re present, but treated superficially serving more as motivation for movement and conflict than as the emotional backbone of the story.

Spider and Kiri – wasted potential

On paper, Fire and Ash is Spider’s story. His status as a child caught between two worlds rejected by both humans and Na’vi could have been one of the saga’s most compelling arcs. Instead, Spider is severely underwritten. Despite extensive screen time, he remains a reactive character, lacking an internal struggle that truly lands.

Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) fares better. Her mystical connection to Eywa once again adds spiritual depth and mythological intrigue. Still, even her storyline feels more like a narrative device than a fully realized exploration of identity.

Varang – Cameron’s biggest “what could have been”

Varang, portrayed by Oona Chaplin, is without question the film’s most intriguing new element. The Mangkwan represent a dark mirror to Pandora’s other clans nihilistic, violent, driven by fanaticism rather than harmony. Cameron initially frames Varang as an almost messianic cult leader ruling through fear and manipulation.

Which makes her eventual sidelining all the more frustrating. As the story progresses, Varang is reduced to a secondary presence, becoming more of an accessory to Quaritch than a true antagonist in her own right. It’s one of the greatest missed opportunities of Cameron’s career, especially given his history of crafting iconic female characters.

Quaritch: a villain stuck in place

Stephen Lang continues to relish his role as Quaritch, but the character is increasingly trapped by repetition. It’s the same obsession, the same vendetta, the same confrontations with Jake. His relationship with Varang introduces new texture, but ultimately fails to push his character forward in any meaningful way.

Spectacle without equal – Cameron still reigns supreme

There’s no getting around it: Avatar: Fire and Ash looks and sounds phenomenal. Pandora remains one of the most convincing fictional worlds ever put on screen. Cinematography, production design, character animation, and the seamless blending of practical sets with CGI all operate at a level the rest of the industry still struggles to approach.

Cameron continues refining high frame rate (HFR) presentation, nearly eliminating the dreaded “soap opera effect.” The 3D is immersive and purposeful, genuinely enhancing depth and scale. This is a film that demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible.

While there are occasional minor visual imperfections brief moments where the CG doesn’t look perfectly photorealistic they’re almost negligible given the scope of the achievement.

The repetition problem: beauty without evolution

The film’s biggest flaw is its structural redundancy. The climactic battle once again pitting technologically advanced humans against the Na’vi, once again featuring tulkun as a decisive force feels far too similar to the finales of the previous films.

Cameron has long been a master of sequels that expand upon their predecessors (Aliens, T2). Here, for the first time, it feels like he’s repeating instead of building.

Final Thoughts

Avatar: Fire and Ash is a good movie sometimes a very good one. Technically, it’s extraordinary. But it’s also the first chapter in the saga that fails to fulfill the promise of growth Cameron has long made to audiences.

It’s a film that overwhelms the senses but rarely stirs the heart. One that flirts with big ideas colonialism, grief, identity only to retreat into familiar, comfortable patterns. Pandora remains breathtaking, but for the first time, it also feels a little too familiar.

Pros:

+Stunning visual and audio presentation

+Pandora remains one of cinema’s greatest world-building achievements

+Oona Chaplin’s Varang is compelling in concept

+Several standout action sequences

+Better pacing than The Way of Water

Cons:

-Repetitive narrative structure

-Wasted potential of Varang and Spider

-Shallow emotional arcs

-Excessive runtime (197 minutes)

-Finale too similar to previous films

Final Score: 6.5 / 10

Avatar: Fire and Ash is a visual triumph and a narrative sidestep. Pandora is still worth visiting but for the first time, it feels like James Cameron is asking us to admire the same sunset again, just from a slightly different angle.