Avatar: Fire and Ash Review

Shortly after the events in Avatar: The Way of Water, the Sully family finds themselves still reeling from the death of their loved one. Jake bottles up his feelings and attempts to carry on. Lo’ak blames himself for the death of his sibling.

And Neytiri deeply grieves for the loss of her child and begins to hate humans in general. Fearing for the safety of Spider, Jake decides to send the young human away from the only family he’s ever known and live with Mo’at and the forest Na’vi.

En route home with a tribe of Na’vi known as the Wind Traders, they are attacked by a hostile tribe, the Ash People. Led by Varang, they shun everything that the Na’vi hold dear. The Ash People burn everything alive, revel in destruction, and reject Eywa.

The Ash People wipe out the Wind Traders and scatter the Sullys into the forest. But after seeing the devastating power of Jake’s guns, Varang desperately wants their power for herself. And she sees a potential ally in getting that power through Miles Quaritch.

As Quaritch and Varang form a deadly alliance to pursue Jake, it quickly becomes apparent that the Sully children are more valuable than anyone realized and that they hold the keys to saving or destroying Pandora.

Despite having been three years since the last Avatar film, it’s surprisingly easy to jump back into the world of Pandora. Avatar: Fire and Ash picks up immediately where the previous film left off and hits the ground running. You’re instantly familiar with the characters, the creatures, and the rules of the world. And despite a 3-hour 15-minute running time, it never really feels like it. Things move quickly, and you’re immediately on a roller coaster ride with our heroes.

Avatar: Fire and Ash is at its best when it breaks new ground. The Wind Traders are an interesting new tribe who ride giant floating jellyfish in the sky. Their designs, customs, and music let us see new corners of Pandora.

But it’s the Ash People that really set this sequel apart from its predecessors. Led by Oona Chaplin as Varang, they are visually striking, but equally culturally striking. While the Na’vi are always depicted as tree-hugging creatures that are one with nature, the Ash People represent the opposite of them in every respect. And the fact that they reject Eywa makes them kind of the atheists or Satanists of Pandora. It’s not explored as deeply as it might have been, but it sets up a lot of theological questions that could be explored down the road.

Among the cast, Oona Chaplin stands out as Varang. Her character is the exact opposite of Neytiri and representative of what she might become if she gives in to her hate. She has a great dynamic with Stephen Lang as Quaritch. The two are a destructive combination, with each manipulating the other to get what they want. James Cameron rightfully gives the two a lot of screentime together.

The visual effects remain the main highlight of Avatar: Fire and Ash, and they set a high bar for all animation that comes after it. The characters are amazingly detailed, and you quickly forget you’re watching a digital rendering. The water looks so realistic, you take for granted the complex equations making up the wave motions and light refraction.

Scenes in the forest show every leaf on every plant moving realistically in the wind. You can see every hair on the Na’vi’s face in close-up shots. I kept finding myself saying, “How did they do that?”

James Cameron is known for great action scenes, and Avatar: Fire and Ash delivers on that front. The initial attack on the Wind Traders turns into an amazing aerial battle that looks fantastic in 3D. Another highlight is an attack on the human refinery fortress. Don’t get up to go to the bathroom when that starts.

Unfortunately, Avatar: Fire and Ash rehashes a lot of what was done in the previous two films. In fact, there are entire sequences where you’d be hard pressed to tell which of the three films it was from. This is especially true in the final battle, which feels like an exact copy of the finale of Avatar: The Way of Water. That’s why the scenes with the Ash People stand out so much – they’re some of the few moments that set the sequel apart from the predecessors.

Oddly, Avatar: Fire and Ash feels like three or four Avatar films smashed together. Each chapter seems like it was originally an idea for a shorter film, but then it’s condensed and jammed into the over three-hour running time here. The result is a very fast-paced film, but it also feels like it’s full of unnecessary fat at times and rushed in others. Surprisingly, by the end of the movie, very little happened to move the Avatar story beyond Avatar: The Way of Water.

Cameron continues to make some odd choices along the way. The kids continue to say “Bro” a lot in a weak attempt at youthful dialogue. We are also treated to an IMAX-sized, 3-D drug trip when Varang hits Quaritch with a hallucinogenic powder. An inordinate amount of time is spent showing Quaritch tripping out.

And a moment where Kiri interfaces with Eywa comes across as unintentionally sexual. I imagine the animators probably weren’t going to say a word to Cameron about it. And then James Cameron continues to drive home his “Save the Whales” message, spending an unnecessary amount of time on them. The conversations with the giant pacifists continue to be a bit odd and less emotional than intended.

The screening I attended screened Avatar: Fire and Ash at a high frame rate, as James Cameron prefers. It continues to be a mixed bag for me. There are some scenes where the image seems hyper-realistic, and the world of Pandora feels real. There are other moments where the image looks like a scene from a video game.

At times when the camera moves a lot, the image is especially jarring, and it’s hard to take everything in. I also saw the film in 3D, and after three hours, I had a permanent divot in my nose from the glasses. It started to get quite uncomfortable by the second hour and was painful by the end of the film.

Avatar: Fire and Ash is well worth seeing on the biggest screen possible. It’s the rare spectacle that requires a theatrical viewing. If you liked the previous Avatar films, it’s more of the same (literally), but it’s still a ride worth taking.

AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH REVIEW RATING: 7.5 OUT OF 10

Disney’s 20th Century Studios will release Avatar: Fire and Ash in theaters on December 19, 2025. The film has been rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association (MPA) for intense sequences of violence and action, bloody images, some strong language, thematic elements, and suggestive material.