Avatar: Fire and Ash-Wasted Potential

Aaron Cole

December 21, 2025

             Avatar: Fire and Ash is the third installment of James Cameron’s Avatar franchise. This film and Avatar: The Way of Water were originally supposed to be one film but considering both of these films are over three hours long, it needed to be split into two movies. The question is: Does this movie expand the world and advance the story, or is it just a rehash of the previous two movies?

            The film begins where the last film left off. Jake and his family are still reeling from the humans’ last attack and the death of his eldest son, Neteyam. Unlike the previous two movies, this movie is narrated by Jake’s son Lo’ak. I don’t think this aspect really adds that much to the story. I would make sense if Lo’ak became the main character. He definitely plays a big role, but Jake is still very much the main character. In addition to the human villains, Jake and his family have to face a Na’vi tribe that worships fire, led by the enigmatic Varang, who is played by Oona Chaplin. The two sets of villains eventually join forces to destroy Jake and his family. This leads to epic battles, huge explosions, and a climax that is never ending.

            There is a lot to appreciate about this movie. Of the three films, this one probably has the most interesting character dynamics. Varang is a fascinating character. She defies Eywa, the goddess of Pandora. Her and Miles Quaritch, the villain from the other two films, are a lot of fun to watch together and have excellent chemistry. Speaking of Quaritch, he has gone from being a character that I absolutely loathed when watching the first movie as a kid to one of the few interesting characters in this film series. I like that at one point of the movie he and Jake have to form an uneasy alliance to get out of a situation. It’s also nice to see that he genuinely cares about his son Spider and wants to do right by him. He’s still a terrible person and can be pretty cartoonish. However, as the movies go along, there is more grayness and nuance given to his character. He does have a code of honor, and the film explores more of his interests and what he wants in life. I do like that the movie does try to explore grief and guilt, but I don’t think the film devotes enough time to it. Several of the characters experience a crisis of faith, questioning whether the goddess Eywa is truly watching over them. I enjoy Neytiri’s arc with Spider, who she still resents because he is human, and how that story is resolved. In addition, this is still a gorgeous looking film. It expands the world and adds more creatures to it. It expands the lore and what the Na’vi can do. The action is still shot great, and the acting is decent. You can’t really find much fault in the technical aspect of this film.

            Unfortunately, there are plenty of other aspects to this film that are less admirable. There is one aspect in particular from this film, which was also in the second film, that really rubbed me the wrong way. It is that Jake is an awful, awful father, especially to his son Lo’ak. This film Lo’ak is feeling guilty about his older brother’s death from the previous movie, and Jake just continually makes him feel worse. It would be one thing if Jake was one of the antagonists, but he’s not. He’s one of the main protagonists that we are supposed to be rooting for. Jake acts more as a father towards Spider than his own son. Even Quaritch is a better father than Jake. The resolution between Jake and his son is not satisfying. I hate it when films have the parents throw all their vitriol and bile towards their children, and at the end of the film they say good job, and then everything is alright. I believe in forgiveness, but the parent should at least apologize. Jake doesn’t. All he says is good job to Lo’ak after he saves him for the second time in this film series. In addition, this film has some pacing issues. This film is over three hours long, but the film feels like its five hours. For all the problems from the previous two films, I generally didn’t feel the runtime for those that much. The final battle is a combination of the final battles from the previous two, just bigger and longer. If the film wasn’t so pretty to look at or the action wasn’t any good, this film would probably feel 10 hours long. Needless to say, make sure to not drink too much and go to the bathroom several times before going to the theater. So much is crammed into this movie. The previous movie and this one were originally supposed to be one movie but was split into two movies because the runtime would be too long otherwise, but this one could have easily been split into two movies as well. This movie should have focused more on Varang and her alliance with Quaritch, as well as doing more with the grieving process with Jake’s family. Explore more of the relationship between Lo’ak and Jake. Then with the next movie do that subplot with Spider and have that big climatic battle with the humans and have that be the end. That way the movies would have been shorter, yet still give more time for character development and less rehashing of the plot points from the previous films. I know they plan on making two other films, but they will most likely be too long and rehash old plot points as well.

            It’s hard to tell people not to see this movie, especially in IMAX 3D. If you have any interest in seeing this movie, don’t wait for it to come out on streaming. See it in theaters, it is worth the money spent. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have much rewatch value. If you don’t like these movies this one won’t be the one to win you over. It’s a shame. Because if the writing, story, and characters were half as good as the technology and action, this could have been one of the great movie franchises, on the same level as the Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. Instead, its just an okay franchise.

Rating for the IMAX 3D experience: 6/10

Regular Rating: 5/10