TAGGED AS: Fantasy, movies, Sci-Fi
The third installment of James Cameron’s Avatar franchise arrives in theaters this weekend, and the first reviews of the movie are online now. Titled Avatar: Fire and Ash, the sequel takes audiences back to Pandora for more adventures with Jake Sully and his Na’vi family, and it’s another 3D spectacle with the kind of action and visual effects that only Cameron could deliver. Some are saying it’s too much of the same, but if you’ve been blown away by the first two Avatar movies, chances are you’ll have the same experience with this installment.
Here’s what critics are saying about Avatar: Fire and Ash:
This is truly epic cinema, more than worth plugging into for three hours.
— Ben Travis, Empire Magazine
At over three hours long, this was a film I didn’t want to end.
— Kate Sánchez, But Why Tho? A Geek Community
It’s an immensely gratifying finale that’s well worth the wait.
— Max Scoville, IGN Movies
This thing is meant to be admired, consumed, and then, like holiday lights, forgotten about in a box until roughly the same time next Avatar season.
— David Crow, Den of Geek
While Fire and Ash does spectacle well because of course it does, it squanders the opportunity to close out what could be a trilogy with weight and fury.
— Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com
It is a step up from the second film, The Way of Water… A better iteration of the same story.
— David Crow, Den of Geek
It’s the most violent of the three…[and] Cameron’s greatest film in the series because we are not asked to feel any sympathy for the “pink skins.”
— Kate Sánchez, But Why Tho? A Geek Community
It doesn’t feel as visually unprecedented as the last one did. If anything, though, it’s a better film—bolder and tighter, with a more dramatically focused story—and it certainly has its share of amazements.
— Owen Gleiberman, Variety
Avatar: Fire and Ash isn’t the technical leap forward that its predecessor was, which is to be expected after three years instead of thirteen.
— Max Scoville, IGN Movies
I can’t imagine anyone thinking this film is the best of the trilogy.
— Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com
With truly dazzling production elements all around this is a movie hard to resist, even if you think you have already seen what wonders Cameron has in store for this franchise.
— Pete Hammond, Deadline Hollywood Daily
It gave me a sense of déjà vu. Some of the visuals and story beats tread very close to those in the previous films, to the point that it almost felt like deleted scenes or alternate takes intercut with new material.
— Max Scoville, IGN Movies
It’s easily the most repetitious entry in the big-screen series, with a been-there, bought-the-T-shirt fatigue that’s hard to ignore.
— David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
It’s an indictment of so much else churned out of the Hollywood blockbuster machine. Why can’t the plains of Minecraft, or the wastelands of Deadpool and Wolverine’s Void, look this eye-poppingly wondrous?
— David Crow, Den of Geek
In a time when it feels like entertainment is contracting under the weight of shoddy streaming service originals and the abundance of AI, it’s tempting to give Fire and Ash a pass just for how much it seeks to wow the viewer.
— Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com
This is about the most spectacular spectacle you could ever ask for — utterly transportive, technically masterful. It’s near-unfathomable that barely anything on screen actually exists; so photo-real, you never even think about it.
— Ben Travis, Empire Magazine
Avatar: Fire and Ash is a cinematic wonder and highlights what can still be done with computer-generated special effects when care and love are poured into it.
— Kate Sánchez, But Why Tho? A Geek Community
No one stages action with the blend of vastness and logistical detail that Cameron does. It’s as if we were watching mystic beasts from The Lord of the Rings fly through the sets of Blade Runner.
— Owen Gleiberman, Variety
I would dare to say you could put the first two films together, and it still wouldn’t add up to the fierce levels and magnitude of the fight in this one.
— Pete Hammond, Deadline Hollywood Daily
Avatar 3’s large-scale battles, hand-to-hand combat, and aerial sequences are stunning. The film’s pacing builds slowly into its apex, adding layers upon layers of slightly larger action set pieces until it pays off in action that never loses the emotional elements and narrative stakes that are set up.
— Kate Sánchez, But Why Tho? A Geek Community
A first-act attack on the air-jellyfish-riding Wind Traders – a brief but joyous inclusion of a new clan – is thunderously exciting, while the final battle, sprawling across sea and sky, is perhaps the biggest brawl Pandora has ever seen.
— Ben Travis, Empire Magazine
The battles may become routinely episodic, but there are plenty of them, which might be all many audiences care about seeing through their 3D glasses.
— David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
As with most Cameron screenplays, any dramatic or historically knotty idea is mostly straightened out or glossed over in favor of the commercial beats that he knows how to play to the hilt.
— David Crow, Den of Geek
Cameron hasn’t lost his zesty storytelling brio, even if the story he tells is starting to feel like his version of the Star Wars prequels. As in: It’s fine, but do we actually care about it.
— Owen Gleiberman, Variety
Cameron and co-writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver simply pile on the lore and multiply the clashes, to numbing rather than invigorating effect.
— David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
Avatar: Fire and Ash is as emotionally resonant as it is visually beautiful…also the most heartfelt.
— Kate Sánchez, But Why Tho? A Geek Community
The family focus is clearly where Cameron’s heart lies, yanking at these tangled threads. The emotion here is deceptively complex, the film daring to go deeper, frequently to shocking places.
— Ben Travis, Empire Magazine
Lang’s performance in Fire and Ash has elevated him to one of my favorite villains in recent memory, especially in his scenes with Chaplin. The two of them don’t chew scenery – they devour it like a five-course meal.
— Max Scoville, IGN Movies
Varang is the most interesting new addition here, and Chaplin plays her as a bloodthirsty sorceress, her yellow eyes aflame with rage as she shrieks about ripping out hearts.
— David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
Bring on Avatar 4 and 5, as Cameron’s overall sequel plan enters part two. He’s pretty good at those.
— Ben Travis, Empire Magazine
The knowledge that Cameron has at least two more of these in the works might be great for the New Zealand economy — not so much for anyone who cares about original movies.
— David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
Enough has been said about how much Avatar films need to be seen in theaters, but if you’ll allow me to beat a dead direhorse for a moment, it’s true – especially in 3D.
— Max Scoville, IGN Movies
I was able to experience 3D without it triggering my vertigo and motion sickness. Instead, I was totally immersed in Pandora and put Avatar 3 among the top theatrical experiences I have had the pleasure of having.
— Kate Sánchez, But Why Tho? A Geek Community
Avatar: Fire and Ash opens in theaters on December 19, 2025.
