After a 13-year wait for the sequel to James Cameron’s Avatar, with the release of Avatar: The Way of Water in 2022, it’s a shock that we’ve gotten the next installment in this billion-dollar franchise after only three years. Avatar: Fire and Ash, once again directed by James Cameron, is the next chapter in the Avatar saga, and it has a lot to live up to. With the first two films both grossing over two billion dollars, thanks to their stunning visuals and stellar performances, can Fire and Ash live up to the hype, or is this third trip to Pandora one too many?
Avatar: Fire and Ash picks up right where The Way of Water left off, with the Sullys mourning the loss of their eldest son, Neteyam. Each member of the Sully family is grieving in their own way, with Neytiri praying to Eywa among other cultural practices, while Jake is ransacking the sunken RDA ship for weapons. Lo’ak is blaming himself for his brother's death, and it doesn’t help that his parents low-key blame him as well. But they can’t mourn for long as Spider, the son of Quaritch, is running out of oxygen for his breathing mask, forcing the family to head back to their old home to keep him alive.
Along the way, they are ambushed by Varang and the Mangkwan, a tribe of Na’vi who reject the planet and just want to watch it burn. Unfortunately for Jake and his family, this isn’t their only issue, as Quaritch survived their last encounter and is back on the hunt for the Sullys. Can Jake and Neytiri keep their family safe, or will their family perish?
The Avatar films are known for being spectacles in both their stories and visuals, and while the story in Fire and Ash is just as big as the previous two films, it also shares a lot of similarities, perhaps even too many. From the first scene all the way through to the end, I kept feeling like I had already watched this film before. It felt like they were consistently repeating plot points from Way of Water, to the point that I got bored and wondered when the new stuff would show up. The biggest example of this is when Lo’ak has to go out once again to find his Tulkun brother, Payakan, in an almost beat-for-beat repeat of what he did in the last film. Then there’s the final battle, which once again takes place in the ocean, with the RDA wanting to hunt the Tulkun and Jake and the rest of the Na’vi having to stop them.
If it weren’t for the introduction of Varang and her clan, there wouldn’t be much difference story-wise, and we barely see much of her throughout the over three-hour film. In the end, I did still enjoy the story enough, but the constant feeling of déjà vu definitely brought down what could’ve been a cool narrative about rival Na’vi clans.
The performances in this film do a lot to make up for an underwhelming story, as nearly everyone is phenomenal. Sam Worthington as Jake Sully is once again fantastic, and I especially enjoyed seeing him grapple with being who his family needs him to be rather than reverting to the soldier he was. Worthington expertly conveys this struggle with his performance, and it becomes even better when he bounces off Stephen Lang as Quaritch, who goes through a similar arc to Jake throughout this film. Quaritch’s growth (or resistance to it) throughout the film was definitely one of the highlights, and him ending up as basically a reflection of Sully if he’d made different decisions is something I appreciate in all the Avatar films.
Zoe Saldana’s Neytiri takes on a more prominent role in this film, and while she does begin to get a little bit racist towards humans (but I mean, fair enough, all things considered), the journey she goes on to reconcile with her hatred is engaging, if a bit rushed. And similar to Jake and Quaritch, Neytiri gets a true antagonist in this film in the form of Varang, played by Oona Chaplin. Chaplin brings a unique physicality to the role, which makes Varang feel distinct even by Na’vi standards. I hope this isn’t the last we see of her, as she has the potential to be a major threat going forward.
Sigourney Weaver’s Kiri starts to come into her own in this film after feeling like a bit of an afterthought in Way of Water. Her connection to the planet is interesting and could lead to some interesting developments. Weaver does a good job, even if I do still think it’s a bit weird for her to be playing a teenager (especially in that one scene if you’ve seen the film).
Britain Dalton as Lo’ak is still a bit of an annoying character with his constant complaining, but this film adds new layers to his character that make me appreciate him a bit more. The only performance that was a bit shaky for me was Jack Champion as Spider. He does a fine enough job and really delivers in the big emotional moments, but some of the line delivery is a bit meh. But tbf, he does have to act with a bunch of mannequins on green screens, which must be difficult, so I’ll cut him a little slack.
Regardless of what type of film James Cameron is making, they’ll always look beautiful, and he only seems to get better. Fire and Ash is a visually stunning film, potentially one of the best-looking films of 2025. The fictional world of Pandora looks more real than ever, which I didn’t think was possible after Way of Water set such a high bar. This extends to the action set pieces, which also look phenomenal. And while yes, the final battle is basically the same as the previous film, it still looks damn good. To their credit, the final fight does have some slight changes that have really cool imagery, so it's not all just a copy.
I watched this film in 3D (as Cameron intended), and it was one of the more pleasant 3D experiences I’ve had. It definitely helped immerse me in the world and kept me engaged in what was going on. What took me out of the world was the sudden shifts in frame rate throughout the film, particularly during the action set pieces. I get it, you want your big fights to be as fast and fluid as possible, but man, it was jarring. I would’ve preferred they'd stuck to one frame rate for the entire film, as the constant switching began to irritate me by the end.
Avatar: Fire and Ash is another visually stunning entry into the Avatar series, but it is definitely the weakest. The fantastic performances and phenomenal visuals can only do so much when the story is mostly a copy-and-paste of the previous film with a couple of new additions. Hopefully, the fourth film (cause there will be a fourth) does something different to shake things up, or at least has a different final fight (I swear, if the next one also ends on the ocean and involves space whales, I’m done).
Have you seen Avatar: Fire and Ash? What did you think? How does it compare to the other Avatar films? Let us know in the comments whether you’re team Neytiri or Varang.
