James Cameron is back for the third film in the Avatar series. The planet full of blue aliens called Pandora has been in the pop culture zeitgeist since it landed in cinemas back in 2009. The groundbreaking visual effects and 3D technology reinvented the 3D era of modern cinema and while we had to wait 14 years for the sequel Avatar : The Way of Water, the second film proved the wait was worth it, taking in over 2.3 billion dollars worldwide, it was clear that director James Cameron was going to get his planned triloy (with ideas for a fourth and fifth depending on their box office success). Reception to the second film The Way of Water was strong enough to release the third, cementing itself as the second biggest film of all time. That film pushed the series forward visually with jaw dropping visuals, the story and pacing left a lot to be desired. Fortunately, Cameron seems to have dropped the heavy lifting the second film had to do, to deliver a solid story with all out action set pieces inspired by video games and James Wan’s first Aquaman film. It’s a gargantuan assault on the senses that deserves to be seen in 3D HFR Imax.
Avatar: Fire and Ash picks up immediately after the emotional devastation of The Way of Water. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), and their family are still recovering from the death of their eldest son, Neteyam, while attempting to settle into life with the water-based Metkayina clan. Jake is processing his grief by preparing for war. Neytiri has gone full MAGA mommy on a personal “Make Pandora Blue Again” attitude that entrenches the continued presence of Spider (Jack Champion), a human child reliant on fragile breathing tech, forcing the family into an uncomfortable decision.
That choice sends Spider back toward human settlements, with Jake framing the separation as a temporary detour: a journey alongside the nomadic airborne Tlalim clan, also known as the Wind Traders. It’s a move that expands Pandora into new territory and introduces us to the Fire and Ash part of the movie. Enter the Mangkwan clan, led by a brutal, godless faction of Na’vi led by Varang (Oona Chaplin), one of the film’s standout new additions. Chaplin is genuinely chilling, commanding the screen with a ferocity that makes her feel closer to a fantasy warlord than a traditional Avatar antagonist. The Mangkwan reject Eywa’s laws outright, embrace human weaponry, and burn their way across Pandora without hesitation, searching for a way to spread their fire and message throughout Pandora. It feels like the perfect way to be introduced to some Navi who are not traditional.
Naturally, this puts them on a collision course with Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), whose uneasy alliance with Varang becomes one of Fire and Ash’s most compelling dynamics. Lang, already more interesting in The Way of Water than the original Avatar, delivers his strongest performance yet. His scenes with Chaplin crackle with menace — not scenery-chewing, but full-course devouring. Quaritch has finally evolved into a villain worthy of Cameron’s operatic ambitions.
Visually, the film is exactly what you expect. An eye-popping, gargantuan assault on your eyes that rarely lets up. My session was in HFR IMAX 3D, and while it did take some getting used to after flashbacks from the awful Hobbit films looked, the quality of the effects really made it work. There are some scene transition issues when moving from wide shots to close-ups, but they’re not too concerning. The action scenes themselves echo The Way of Water’s rhythms and aesthetics. But once the Wind Traders arrive, Cameron reminds us why Avatar remains cinema’s premier big-screen spectacle. Their floating armada consists of ships suspended from colossal jellyfish-like Medusoids and pulled by Windrays; it is truly breathtaking, particularly in 3D. Cameron lingers not just on scale, but on texture: bustling markets, trading rituals, and everyday Na’vi life rendered with incredible detail. Even when nothing “happens,” everything feels alive and lived in.
While the drama and story may seem tropey and typical of a Cameron blockbuster, it seems the famed director has jumped on the video game movie trend, with action scenes that look straight out of a video game. As the water Navi take out the sky people one by one in coordinated attacks, it looks like some of the best open-world games I have played over the years. It’s almost a shame that the Ubisoft game Avatar : Frontiers of Pandora doesn’t look like this.
Front and centre of this story this time around is Spider aka Monkey Boy. Previously one of the annoying children, he becomes the emotional centre of the story here. Essentially becoming the bridge between the Navi and the Sky People, the actor Jack Champion brings a grounded sincerity reminiscent of Edward Furlong’s John Connor in Terminator 2. Champion delivers an outstanding performance and is an essential part of the plot; you can’t help but root for him.
And then there’s Neytiri. Zoe Saldaña has always been exceptional in these films, though she seemed to take a backseat in The Way of Water. Fire and Ash gives her moments that cement Neytiri’s place among Cameron’s pantheon of iconic action mothers.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who delivers lines straight out of Cameron’s own 90’s 90s action films. When Lang dials it up to 11 he is cooking, it is hilarious and will keep you entertained when things start to feel like they are getting way too serious.
If Fire and Ash has a weakness, it’s in its central promise of Fire. We are definitely introduced to the Fire tribe, however, it feels like we spend a lot more time in the water and in that same village from the second film than we do expanding upon Pandora and really exploring this new tribe and their origins.
The film’s climactic battle is colossal, recalling Return of the King in scale and Return of the Jedi in construction: familiar elements repurposed amid overwhelming spectacle. With WETA studio once again pushing digital effects forward, Cameron fills the screen with so much movement, colour, and chaos you can’t help but be bewildered by it.
Speaking of colour, Fire and Ash finally breaks Avatar’s long-running obsession with blue. The film embraces the full spectrum, delivering some of the most striking imagery of the series, including a psychedelic sequence that push Pandora into entirely new visual territory.
Avatar: Fire and Ash isn’t the technological leap that The Way of Water was, and neither does it need to be. Instead, it refines, escalates, and deepens the saga helping Pandora feel lived in and the most it has ever felt like a living breathing world. This is by far the best film in the trilogy both visually and narratively, providing a clear path forward for the series, with or without its famed director.
Avatar : Fire & Ash is in cinemas December 18.
