Avatar: Fire And Ash Review

When you create something truly great, repeating a similar quality, not better, over time inevitably makes it look pale. You must keep bettering yourself.

The first Avatar is the crown bearer of many titles - the highest-grossing movie in the world, one of the greatest sci-fi films ever made, and the most technically advanced film of its time. These claims are hardly contested. For the first time, James Cameron imagined a future where Earth-dwellers migrate beyond their planet to Pandora in search of life, livelihood, and resources. It was conceptually rich, unique, and executed so well that audiences could actually dream of Pandora. Avatar: The Way Of Water carried that magic forward to some extent. But the third film, Fire And Ash, feels more like a stopover for Avatar 4 and Avatar 5.

The first blow to this film lies in its plot - there is nothing new here. Once again, humans attempt to take over Pandora, much like they did in the original film. The only difference is that Pandora's demography in this movie is shown differently - fire and ash, and the Pandorans are portrayed as slightly less empathetic. As a result, there is far more conflict than in the earlier films. Whether by design or by mistake, the characters often feel robotic. And bother not - this repetition will continue in Avatar 4 and Avatar 5, as Cameron himself has stated. The only thing that will change is the dynamic between the Pandorans and the Earthlings.

I won't say much about who plays what in the Avatar franchise. If you don't already know, you should probably stop reading here. Besides, James Cameron is known for working with a largely consistent cast and crew.

For those interested in the plot without spoilers, here it is: set immediately after The Way Of Water, the film finds the Sully family fractured by loss and once again pursued by human forces eager to exploit Pandora's resources. Jake Sully remains the reluctant leader, Neytiri the fierce protector, and Miles Quaritch returns in familiar revenge mode - now allied with a new antagonist, Varang, the leader of the volcanic Ash (Mangkwan) clan. Spider, Quaritch's human son, becomes a crucial pivot point, while subplots involving Kiri's mystical bond with Eywa, Lo'ak's guilt and growth, and the continued persecution of the Tulkun whales weave through the narrative. The film moves across forests, oceans, skies and ash-covered lands, building toward another massive, multi-front battle that feels both inevitable and familiar.

If you are willing to forget or forgive the lack of novelty and emotional detachment, Avatar 3 can still stun you. This is classic James Cameron territory: colossal, cutting-edge, and visually overwhelming. Pandora, in all its alien splendour, looks more spectacular than anything you could imagine even in your most altered state. One can only imagine what it takes to expand Pandora with new biomes, tribes, creatures, textures, and then physically render that world cinematically. The movie is not technically lacking in any way - it is perhaps the most stunning cinematic experience ever, and I am certain it will bag a few Academy Awards for technical brilliance.

Yet this world - so alive visually - feels emotionally inert. The characters, though visually impressive, feel distant and aloof, and the film suffers from a creeping sense of emptiness. The novelty is gone and the technical mastery is expected, and the movie offers nothing truly new. It carries the emotional arc of Avatar and The Way Of Water, but we already know that journey. There is simply nothing new to talk about.

Performance-wise, the characters look stunning, but as mentioned, often feel hollow. Jake Sully remains stuck in a repetitive moral loop: he wants peace, not war, yet war keeps finding him. There is little evolution, only repetition. The story revisits familiar themes - corporate greed, colonial exploitation, ecological devastation and cyclical violence. Betrayals, deaths and cliffhangers are easy to predict well in advance. In essence, everything here is already familiar from the previous Avatar films. There is little in the performances worth highlighting because there is little that truly stands out.

Technically, though, Cameron continues to set benchmarks. Despite its unengaging story, this film will likely become the highest grosser of 2025, purely on the strength of its technical spectacle.

The movie seems to suggest one of two things: that it has been deliberately kept simple story-wise because something bigger is planned for Avatar 4 and Avatar 5, making this film a mere stopover; or that Cameron may be preparing to step away from the franchise altogether, unconcerned about its long-term narrative legacy.

Whatever the case may be, Avatar 3 unquestionably deserves to be watched in a theatre, in 3D. Such spectacles are rare, and even if a soul is missing, the sight is worth the journey.