Avatar: Fire and Ash is just a flame-filled version of The Way of Water are
we ready to admit that the franchise is getting boring?

Date:
Tue, 16 Dec 2025 14:00:00 +0000

Description:
I'm tired of pretending films like Avatar: Fire and Ash are interesting just because their visual craft is impeccable... and we've seen this particular
film before.

FULL STORY

Don't start a flame war with me just yet, James Cameron fans. Avatar: Fire
and Ash is a movie that I genuinely enjoyed, but its cinematic baggage is a huge problem.

By 'baggage,' I of course mean the two previous Avatar films. When the
original was released back in 2009, I quickly assumed (as did the rest of the world, I think) it would be a historical, record-breaking standalone. Now
that the sequels have started landing, however, I think the concept has lost its shine.

The most straightforward way of describing Fire and Ash is that it's exactly the same movie as The Way of Water . For about 90% of its arduously long runtime (wear comfy clothes and book a recliner seat, if possible) the only difference is which natural element has stepped into the spotlight.

I'm even convinced that a pivotal scene has been cut and pasted in from the second film, so strong was the sense of dj vu I experienced while watching
it. There's the same inciting incident, the same challenges, and the same conclusion, for the third outing in a row.

However, if we look at Fire and Ash in isolation, I think that it's the strongest film of the bunch. It has the tightest pacing, the most impressive payoff, and Cameron's overall vision for Pandora gets more spellbinding as
time goes on.

It's such a shame that it's brought down by context, much as a young person might be blighted by their family history before they've started to make
their way in the world. We can't ignore that our third movie functions as a
cog in the overarching Avatar machine... and that machine can only tell one, now fairly grating, tale.

Avatar: Fire and Ash's beauty tricks us into thinking that it's interesting

Usually, when I tell people that I find the Avatar movies boring, they look
at me as if I've just kicked their dog. But I stand by my overriding IP argument we are being hoodwinked into believing that what we're watching is interesting because it's so visually transcendent. In other words, beautiful cancels out boring.

I would give 35 stars, rather than 3.5, to how Avatar: Fire and Ash looks
alone if the conventions of reviewing let me. I wanted to reach out and touch the Na'avi, marvelling at the detailed wrinkles, blemishes and intricate patterns being beamed across the big screen (in 3D, no less). I felt grateful to have hours witnessing it with my own eyeballs, worshipping at the altar of
a kind of filmmaking that has yet to be matched or replicated.

Now imagine we took all of that away ,and the same story was acted out by humans or fully animated characters (let's hypothetically say in a Pixar
movie style). What we're left with is a fairly run-of-the-mill sci-fi story comprised of fighting, disagreements, and themes of discovering your own identity and power. That could be applied to pretty much any movie in this genre, and others do it infinitely better ( Aliens and The Abyss are
Cameron's best work as it is).

Instead, Avatar is heralded as untouchable because of its astonishing
visuals, regardless of the fact that The Way of Water and Fire and Ash are telling the same story, even though Fire and Ash does it more successfully. There are virtually no differences between them, especially if it's been a while since you've seen the second movie. How many times can you recycle the same ideas and get away with it, even if you're James Cameron? Is everything else brilliant or oddly strange?

As I've said, Fire and Ash is easily the strongest Avatar entry in isolation. Our fire Na'avi, led by Varang (Oona Chaplin) are an invigorating addition to Pandora's worldbuilding, giving both Jake (Sam Worthington) and Quaritch (Stephen Lang) a run for their money.

We surprisingly get much more whale time than in The Way of Water , and
that's sensational news if you're a Payakan fan like me. There are a couple
of aquatic creatures introduced that I'd like to have seen more of (there are some strange-but-cute-looking otters), and it remains the most remarkable
biome in Pandora. It's also the place where the younger cast members can be
the most themselves, and they're collectively the strongest performance in
our Na'avi ensemble.

This doesn't include Sigourney Weaver, though. Kiri is a major player in Fire and Ash , and in the full pomp of her "this is what I'm capable of" journey. However, I think it's blindingly obvious that a 76-year-old woman is playing
a 14-year-old. The giveaway is in the way Kiri moves, which is clearly the
one downside of Cameron's maverick filming approach.

The main detail that bothers me, though in the sense that I can't decide if it's satisfying or dreadful is the conclusion. Without giving away what actually happens, there's narratively no need for any further movies. We get complete answers to any loose threads that may have been hanging over the franchise, so what does this mean for Avatar 4 and 5?

My guess is that they will each be a huge departure from what we've seen before, and while I should be grateful for that fact (given my biggest complaint here), that's also a concern. Our trilogy currently feels nicely rounded off, and any future sequels could feel gratuitous... or dare I say, like cash grabs.

But that's a problem for 2029, when Avatar 4 is set to arrive. In the
meantime I'll remain conflicted about my enjoyment of Fire and Ash , even though I ultimately feel that it's monotonous. Still, at least you can watch essentially the same movie on Disney+ globally right now if you don't want to see Fire and Ash in theaters or wait for it to arrive on streaming Avatar
and Avatar: The Way of Water are already on there, and Fire and Ash will
likely join them in 2026.

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/streaming/entertainment/avatar-fire-and-ash-review

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