'Avatar: Fire and Ash' Review: A Visually Astonishing Return to Pandora That You've Sadly Seen Before
- Dan Bremner
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
By Dan Bremner - December 22, 2025
The third chapter in James Cameron’s gargantuan sci-fi saga arrives with the kind of expectations only he can generate. I’ve long been a mild Avatar defender: the first film is a perfectly serviceable tech demo with a bang-average story, while The Way of Water genuinely won me over with its expanded world-building, emotional clarity, and absurdly confident action, even if its runtime is something I can only describe as “Rude”. Going into Fire and Ash, I fully expected Cameron to continue that upward momentum, even if the trailers did little to move my needle. Instead, I was left genuinely baffled by how little this third entry brings to the table.
To be clear, this isn’t a disaster. There are moments of awe that only Cameron seems capable of delivering, especially in IMAX 3D (I despise 3D, but Cameron seems to make it work), where Pandora still looks better than anything else Hollywood can offer. The effects are immaculate, immersive, and humiliating for most other $200–300 million blockbusters. Every frame is polished to within an inch of its life, and even when the story is completely coasting, you never doubt that the money is on the screen, which is more than I can say for most janky blockbusters of recent years. The spectacle and tech wizardry is clear and present, but sadly, that's where it ends.
The problem is that Fire and Ash feels like a near-total rehash of The Way of Water. Structurally, thematically, and emotionally, it hits the same beats with minimal variation. The second act briefly teases something genuinely interesting, only to resolve it almost immediately and barrel headfirst into yet another climactic showdown that feels eerily familiar. Watching a second “save the whales” finale unfold, complete with imagery and staging we’ve already seen, is honestly a baffling creative choice. For a filmmaker known for escalation and innovation, Cameron instead opts for repetition, failing to up the ante or deliver much new in what truly feels like leftovers from The Way of Water.
The introduction of the Ash People should have been the film’s bold new direction. Led by Oona Chaplin’s Varang, this fire-wielding clan brings flashes of chaotic energy, including suicide bombers and drug-fuelled hallucinations that hint at a darker, more unhinged corner of Pandora. Unfortunately, they’re wildly underused. Just as they start to feel genuinely threatening and distinct, the film sidelines them in favour of retreading familiar conflicts. It’s a frustrating waste of what could have been the film’s defining element.
The cast all do their jobs and the motion-capture work is extraordinary, but most feel underserved. Zoe Saldaña continues to give everything she has, Sam Worthington remains perfectly functional as Jake, and Stephen Lang is still the MVP whenever he shows up. Sigourney Weaver’s Kiri is arguably the most interesting character again, while Spider’s arc is conceptually solid but undercut by a performance from Jack Champion I found increasingly irritating to the point where I was actively rooting for his death, which probably wasn’t the intended response.
Once again, Cameron proves he’s a vastly better director than screenwriter. The script is an ungainly blend of lore-heavy cultural exposition and painfully generic military sci-fi dialogue, delivered with all the subtlety of a freight train. For a film that runs over three hours, it’s remarkable how little there actually is to dig into. Every positive and negative I have here could be copied and pasted directly from my thoughts on The Way of Water, and that’s the most damning thing I can say. What’s most disappointing is just how little there is to say about a $400 million, three-hour epic. Fire and Ash offers one-of-a-kind spectacle designed for IMAX and 3D, but frustratingly little else. The novelty is wearing thin, the storytelling is on autopilot, and the sense of discovery that once defined Pandora is fading fast.
At this point, the best thing the Avatar franchise could do is disappear for another decade. Let Cameron go and make a couple of films elsewhere (Get that Hiroshima film made), then return only if he actually has something new to say. Based on Fire and Ash, the well isn’t empty yet, but it’s very close to running dry. I say get Arnold Schwarzenegger in as Quaritch’s evil military father.
Avatar: Fire and Ash is nothing less than disappointing. James Cameron proves he can deliver unmatched spectacle and filmmaking craft, but sadly the franchise seems to already be in the mode of rehashing beats from the previous films with very little new added to it. There's some spectacular visuals, singular moments and set-pieces, but the weak script, lack of progressions and risks makes for the weakest entry on Pandora yet. One of my biggest disappointments of the year.
'Avatar: Fire and Ash' is out now in cinemas worldwide.
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