It’s time to go back to Pandora, with Avatar: Fire and Ash arriving in theaters later this month, and the first reactions already pumping fans up for the further adventures of the Na’vi. James Cameron’s third installment in the Avatar franchise promises more of the same with a few new surprises, but if you know you know: These movies deliver spectacle like nothing else being made today, and if you’re already on board, you’re going to be wowed once again by the visuals, the action, the world-building, and both the returning and added characters.
Here’s what critics are saying about Avatar: Fire and Ash:
James Cameron did it again! Avatar: Fire and Ash is jaw-dropping from start to finish.
— Dorian Parks, Geeks of Color
Avatar: Fire and Ash is a staggering achievement of moviemaking, and an all-around phenomenal film.
— Jazz Tangcay, Variety
Master storyteller and visionary filmmaker James Cameron again delivers a hyperreal experience that is emotional and exhilarating…this is an audacious feast that delivers more than anyone ordered.
— Simon Thompson, The Playlist
Three films in, James Cameron still has the sauce, making the epic spectacular feel emotionally impactful.
— Courtney Howard, Variety
Three films in and I still can’t get over how magical the Avatar movies are…Avatar: Fire and Ash truly feels like a ride.
— Perri Nemiroff, Collider
The franchise keeps raising the bar, and Cameron continues to push boundaries with every frame.
— Sean Tajipour, Nerdtropolis
Never doubt James Cameron. Avatar: Fire and Ash is another sprawling, ambitious, gorgeous adventure.
— Cody Dericks, Next Best Picture
Fans of the previous two will be very pleased.
— Todd Gilchrist, Screen Rant
Well, if you don’t like Avatar 1 or 2 then I don’t know how you’d expect to like this when it’s made by the exact same people.
— Adam Hlaváč, Heroes Reforged
I may not be the biggest Avatar superfan, but Avatar: Fire and Ash proves once again that James Cameron can and will always deliver the ultimate cinematic spectacle.
— Sean Tajipour, Nerdtropolis
Hands down, it’s my favorite installment in the series.
— Dorian Parks, Geeks of Color
It’s the best one yet.
— Bill Bria, Slashfilm
It’s the best and, unexpectedly, the horniest of the three.
— Todd Gilchrist, Screen Rant
James Cameron raises the stakes. It’s bigger, better, and more emotional than ever before.
— Jazz Tangcay, Variety
Fire and Ash is the biggest, heaviest, most epic Avatar film to date. It plays like a Part 2 to The Way of Water‘s Part 1…it may also be the weirdest of the three.
— Kevin L. Lee, AwardsWatch
Fire and Ash is also easily the most INTENSE Avatar movie yet.
— Chris Killian, ComicBook.com
There’s a noticeable increase in complexity in quite a few aspects of the production.
— Perri Nemiroff, Collider
Cameron reaches past the visual fireworks and delivers a much more complex, much more drama-laden story than the first two films…the best of the series.
— David Poland, Hot Button
Avatar: Fire and Ash delivers the most emotional moments of the franchise and is, by far, the most epic in both scope and runtime.
— Matt Neglia, Next Best Picture
It contains a couple of the most emotional moments in the series…[but] Way of Water remains the peak for me.
— Eric Goldman, MovieWeb
It doesn’t feel like the huge leap forward for the narrative of the series that Way of Water did.
— Cody Dericks, Next Best Picture
Avatar: Fire and Ash is the first James Cameron sequel that feels kinda like a regular follow-up rather than an innovative re-envisioning of its predecessor’s world.
— Jesse Hassenger, AV Club
The messiest entry.
— Giovanni Lago, Next Best Picture
Cameron gives us at least a half dozen things we have never seen on a screen before, even in the Avatars.
— David Poland, Hot Button
It has as much of a spectacle as its predecessors, while adding even more lore to James Cameron’s Pandora…but it did feel like just another Avatar movie.
— Rachel Leishman, The Mary Sue
There’s a ton of new ideas, concepts, and sequences, but there’s also a bit that feels like a rehash of the first two films. But the new stuff is absolutely worth your time and money.
— Scott Mendelson, The Outside Scoop
If you liked [the previous] entry, it’s a lot more of the same.
— Cody Dericks, Next Best Picture
I will say Way of Water spoiled us with SO MUCH new stuff, this one feels slightly repetitive with little new.
— Cris Parker, 3C Films
Stunned by the degree to which this feels like the same movie as the last one. Drag and drop cinema!
— Brett Arnold, Yahoo! Movies
It mines the least amount of new material from covering so much ground.
— Matt Neglia, Next Best Picture
Cameron isn’t demonstrating many new tricks, but I literally do not care — repetition is allowed when it’s perfecting the beats of past movies with jaw-dropping spectacle and darker, strife-rich storytelling.
— Lyvie Scott, Inverse
We all thought James Cameron was making his Star Wars, but Avatar: Fire and Ash cements it as his Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy (highly complimentary). This is so At World’s End coded.
— Griffin Schiller, FilmSpeak
It is 100% At World’s End to The Way of Water being the Dead Man’s Chest entry. Especially when 1 is the standalone story and then 2 and 3 come together to make one big story with ambitious swings.
— Kevin L. Lee, AwardsWatch
There’s a setpiece in this thing that plays like Mad Max: Fury Road meets Pirates of the Caribbean, and it’s in the *first* act of the movie. I’m still in awe.
— Bill Bria, Slashfilm
It owes a debt to Frank Herbert’s Dune.
— Chase Hutchinson, TheWrap
It’s unreal how immersive it is.
— Adam Hlaváč, Heroes Reforged
I’ve never felt so immersed in a world like this.
— Dorian Parks, Geeks of Color
It grabs you and sweeps you up in this snowball of emotion, action, and spectacle as only James Cameron can deliver.
— Germain Lussier, io9.com
I couldn’t believe how quickly I was pulled back into the world of Pandora and swept up in the situation.
— Perri Nemiroff, Collider
Avatar: Fire and Ash is a visual masterpiece.
— Kaitlyn Booth, Bleeding Cool
James Cameron once again delivers a remarkable visual feast.
— Cris Parker, 3C Films
I was blown away by the visuals.
— Adam Hlaváč, Heroes Reforged
It’s a full-on visual feast that pushes Pandora to insane new heights. There were moments I genuinely couldn’t believe what I was looking at.
— Nate Adams, The Only Critic
It’s easily one of the most visually stunning films to hit theaters in years.
— Dorian Parks, Geeks of Color
It’s every bit as gorgeous as you’d expect.
— Chris Killian, ComicBook.com
Cameron expands the series’ visual capacity with some innovative, trippy sequences.
— Cody Dericks, Next Best Picture
The team who worked on this really knocked the visual effects out of the park. It’s such a spectacle.
— Jazz Tangcay, Variety
The character and costume design for Varang and her people are undeniably striking.
— Perri Nemiroff, Collider
It’s a technical marvel.
— Jazz Tangcay, Variety
Technically, it’s as incredible an achievement as ever.
— Brett Arnold, Yahoo! Movies
You really can truly see and feel that every ounce of this movie was crafted with the utmost thought and care by human minds and hands.
— Perri Nemiroff, Collider
James Cameron delivers a towering spectacle of such all-in splendor that it plays like it’s the last movie that’s ever going to get made.
— Scott Mendelson, The Outside Scoop
We get some great action sequences.
— Tessa Smith, Mama’s Geeky
Avatar: Fire and Ash has some fun action set pieces.
— Erik Anderson, AwardsWatch
It just casually drops ~3-4 of the best/coolest action sequences of the year.
— Jesse Hassenger, AV Club
The action sequences are eye-popping but this time crackle with surrealist flourishes.
— Drew Taylor, TheWrap
Payakan is still my fave, but Varang is the MVP.
— ourtney Howard, Variety
Get ready for Oona Chaplin as Varang. She is a standout!
— Jazz Tangcay, Variety
Oona Chaplin is this film’s beautifully unhinged standout as Varang.
— Branyan Towe, Loud and Clear Reviews
Oona Chaplin is the best new element – she’s iconic, she’s gaggy, etc, and her ash tribe rocks.
— dy Dericks, Next Best Picture
The fire tribe are a scene-stealing presence. Oona Chaplin’s dynamic with Quaritch was a highlight.
— Cris Parker, 3C Films
Stephen Lang is having the time of his life, making Miles Quaritch the MVP of the whole series.
— Griffin Schiller, FilmSpeak
Quite a few of the characters make a big impression, but…I’m just blown away by Zoe Saldaña’s work in this franchise. There’s an unparalleled intensity to her work, and it makes every ache Neytiri suffers and every ounce of determination she exudes especially palpable.
— Perri Nemiroff, Collider
Zoe Saldaña. Wow. She’s staggering. This movie really brings back Neytiri front and center.
— Kevin L. Lee, AwardsWatch
Avatar: Fire and Ash is overstuffed with a lot of plot…there are novel concepts here I wish were more thoroughly explored.
— Josh Parham, Next Best Picture
Similar to the last two films, there are aspects of the story that feel a bit too familiar and/or surface.
— Perri Nemiroff, Collider
Story-wise, it’s the same “capture/rescue” plot over and over again, with some laughable dialogue thrown in the middle. The runtime is criminal.
— Kaitlyn Booth, Bleeding Cool
It falls into the same trap of repetition as the previous films. Lots of setup for little payoff…far too long.
— Tessa Smith, Mama’s Geeky
Boy, if it isn’t mostly a repetitive bore. Virtually identical to The Way of Water and feels pointless…These movies also never need to be three hours long.
— Erik Anderson, AwardsWatch
One thing I don’t love? The hyper-realistic frame rate. It sucks to have seen it like that, and it’s distracting.
— Tomris Laffly, AV Club
This is why the big screen still matters and why I’ll always show up for these films.
— Sean Tajipour, Nerdtropolis
This is what movie theaters were built for.
— Courtney Howard, Variety
You gotta see this thing in Dolby 3D (1.85:1)!
— Adam Hlaváč, Heroes Reforged
Still the best franchise for 3D and 2025’s best example of why the theatrical experience is essential.
— Ross Bonaime, Collider
Go see it in 3-D in the best theater you can find because it’ll blow your mind.
— Chris Killian, ComicBook.com
Avatar: Fire and Ash opens in theaters on December 19, 2025.
