Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025) Film Review: Stunning spectacle favoured over substantial substance

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Taking place soon after the events of the previous film, Jake (Sam Worthington), Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), and their family grapple with grief following the death of Neteyam (Jamie Flatters).

However, the arrival of a new, aggressive Na'vi tribe known as the Ash People, who are led by the fiery Varang (Oona Chaplin), escalates the ongoing conflict on Pandora, and new moral challenges must be faced.

Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025) is an epic science fiction/fantasy/action flick, the third instalment in the Avatar franchise, and once again directed and written by James Cameron, with co-writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver.

The film was shot simultaneously with The Way of Water in 2017, eventually wrapping in late 2020. It is one of the most expensive movies ever made, with an estimated budget of over $400 million.

Many of the core cast members returned, with the likes of Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet and Jack Champion reprising each of their respective roles.

Avatar: Fire and Ash introduces a new tribe of Na'vi, led by the fierce Varang (Chaplin), who seek power and world domination

As can already be expected from James Cameron and his exceptionally talented production team, the film exhibits breathtaking visuals throughout, with groundbreaking special effects present in every single frame.

Cameron is clearly deeply passionate about his unique creation of Pandora, showcasing impressive attention to detail with intricate creature designs, worldbuilding elements and lavish set pieces. This is a truly immersive cinematic viewing experience solely intended to be experienced on the big screen.

The inspiring scale of imagination and dedication on display in bringing the cosmic wonder and adventure to life is a true testament to Cameron's creative team, who deserve endless praise for their accomplishments. There is certainly no doubt that these films have plenty of dazzling spectacle to offer cinemagoers; therefore, it is unfortunate that this focus on visual style is one of the only positive qualities of the film.

This major attractive draw point has already begun to lose any of its initial whimsy and charm, becoming stale and less intriguing with each new instalment. Without argument, the film is technically one of the best looking this year; however, similar to its predecessors, a basic, paper-thin plot is needlessly stretched out to three and a half hours and severely lacks sufficient character or narrative depth.

Jake (Worthington) and his family face their biggest battle yet as they are forced to protect themselves and their people from new threats, both human and ones that may be even closer to home

This is a very bloated movie with a messy sense of structure and a lack of solid focus. The film could easily have had half an hour cut out to remove some meandering subplots. The majority of the movie is paced fairly well considering its colossal runtime; however, some narrative developments, particularly towards the final act/climax, could have been saved for the already planned sequel.

Despite so much going on, including numerous dizzying action sequences (which one quickly becomes numb to), the story is definitively bland and dull, centring on generic characters who lack interesting traits or development. These films continue to suffer from weak dialogue, with the human performers ranging from flat to downright poor, but it is difficult for anybody to make lines this awkward and clumsily put together work successfully.

To give Cameron credit, he does attempt to offer something new here with the introduction of the more feral, savage Ash People. Varang, in particular, is played excellently by Oona Chaplin, whose fiery, effortlessly confident persona breathes some much-needed fire into the franchise and makes an overall great first impression.

Unfortunately, her leading antagonistic presence is soon overshadowed by the far less interesting Colonel Miles Quartich, a returning villain from the previous films, reverting to already seen before material. This also leads to another issue regarding the film's characters, which largely portrays the humans as bad, acting only with selfish desires and lacking any empathy or compassion for other lifeforms.

The existence of the character of Spider, a human living amongst the Na'vi, does at least counteract this overly negative depiction of humanity; however, Cameron, for the most part, remains soundly pessimistic in his stance about our species. There is also a half-hearted attempt to give Quartich a meaningful character arc, but it struggles to hold its own against several other ongoing plot threads.

The movie does feature some well-handled heartfelt moments with a focus on effective moral debates, such as what actions can be considered right or wrong in the service of the greater good, and the mistreatment of nature and wildlife will definitely emotionally connect with many audience members.

The Avatar franchise continues to astonish with its incredible visuals, cutting-edge CGI and state-of-the-art performance capture technology

Although, Cameron has never exactly been subtle with his reflective comparisons to our world, largely recycling and repeating thematic messaging from his previous films in the series.

Overall, Avatar: Fire and Ash has plenty of awe-filled spectacle and epic vistas to feast one's eye on; however, too much emphasis is placed on its impressive visuals, whilst sacrificing a truly investable story in the process.

This ongoing project currently feels like an empty, hollow product of modern cinema, with creators constantly seeking to push the boundaries of special effects and foregoing what makes movies so special in the first place: bringing amazing stories to the big screen with well-rounded, relatable characters at the centre of it all.

Yes, the film is definitely worth seeing in cinemas for its impeccable visuals alone, but is that really enough to keep viewers coming back for future instalments? This critic thinks not, but only time will tell...

Check out the trailer for Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025), and please let me know your thoughts in the comments!