The world of Pandora goes deeper and darker than ever before in James Cameron’s newest adventure, Avatar: Fire and Ash. The film follows the Sully family, led by Sam Worthington’s Jake Sully and Zoë Saldaña’s Neytiri, thrust into the middle of another conflict with Stephen Lang’s villainous Miles Quaritch, a colonizing military force, and a new faction of Na’vi that threaten their way of life.
Cameron constructs variations on a form with this third chapter in the expansive sci-fi franchise. Fire and Ash treads familiar ground while still giving audiences some of the most vibrant and dynamic action filmmaking of the 21st century, continuing the trend of these films being the only ones that are worth seeing in glorious 3D.
‘Fire and Ash’ Uses Functional Plotting to Continue Expanding the Scale of Pandora
In the Avatar movies, the plot is a functional tool more than it is an innovative element. Cameron leans on classical tropes, stock side characters, and straightforward dialogue to work as shorthand for table-setting, exposition, and guiding the broader structure of these films, but each one contains distinctive story and thematic elements. There is a difference between plot and story, though the terms are often used interchangeably. Plot relates to the order of events that serve as a vehicle for character arcs and thematic elements. Those character journeys and the themes wound up in them are what comprise the story, and in the case of Fire and Ash, there is a strong story pulsing throughout the repetitive plotting.
There are sequences, especially in the third act, rigidly replicated from the previous movie, and it is harder to get away with hitting those same beats back to back given the lack of extra time between the two installments. Historically, Cameron has made movies that are radically challenging to his own body of work and to the status quo of the blockbusters of their time. Fire and Ash is not that, because it is such a direct companion piece to the prior film; a mirrored extension of The Way of Water. That reflective quality works against the movie at times, but the symmetry in structure underlines the asymmetry of the characters’ internal journeys, especially in how Neytiri’s arc expands, and in comparing Jake to Quaritch, who goes into uncharted territory alongside the film’s exciting new villains.
Oona Chaplin’s Varang is a Standout New Character
While the Sully family travels to the forest clan with the wind traders— an airborne pirate ship crewed by David Thewlis in a brief but fantastic performance— they are attacked by the Ash People. These raiders rain hellfire from above in the film’s most visceral and innovative action set-piece. This sequence also introduces one of the film’s primary antagonists, Varang. Portrayed by Oona Chaplin, Varang is the ruthless leader of the Mangkwan Clan, who has turned her back on the Na’vi deity, Ewya, and wants to cleanse the world through fire and blood.
Varang is immediately among the most interesting and well-conceived characters in the franchise. Her striking design and commanding, joyfully evil demeanor make for an instantly memorable villain, and the combined efforts of both Chaplin and the VFX team bring Varang to life so vividly. No Na’vi performance aside from Saldana’s feels as organic and textured as Chaplin’s. Varang casts a spell over the film from the moment she’s on screen, so much so that she will leave you wanting more.
The Chaplin family lineage has no bearing on this film, but it is awe-inspiring to consider that 100 years ago, her grandfather, Charlie Chaplin, was directing and starring in The Gold Rush. In just three generations, this medium went from silent films to fully realized action-adventure epics set on alien worlds, with characters like Varang filtered through digital space in remarkably lifelike fashion. Cinema is still a young artform and has so many places to go, but there are moments of cinematic spectacle where it appears that movies could never be more immersive than what Cameron accomplishes with these Avatar films.
James Cameron’s Visionary Worldbuilding and Tech-Wizardry Never Fails
Cameron, always the innovator, finds himself in a unique position with Fire and Ash. After the expectations brought on by the massive leap in technology from Avatar to The Way of Water, it is a high bar to clear in only three years. Cameron has no wildcard to throw out, but he finds variations in the visual language he established for the second film.
The underwater sequences are breathtaking, especially when spent with Payakan and the rest of the whale-like species. The bioluminescent and vibrant ecosystem of Pandora is more connected, with a neural-like network of connective pathways explored through Kiri, Sigourney Weaver’s Na’vi character whose mysterious origins and ties to Ewya remain only vaguely contextualized in this sequel. We get a better sense of Kiri’s unique abilities, and these moments are among the most stunning in the film, hinting toward a possibility that she could be the central character of a fourth or fifth installment.
Fire and Ash retreads similar ground for some stretches, but the highs of this film rival those of any recent blockbuster. The 3D experience is put together with tangible effort and care, even when Cameron’s experimenting with variable framerates is still jarring. Fire and Ash is spectacle forward, demanding a big screen viewing, but the heart and soul of this movie is wrapped up in characters and environments that we grow deeply invested in over the course of these epic runtimes, making the films matter a lot more than if they were merely excuses to flex technological marvels to a global audience. Cameron has proven once again why we should never bet against him, and why we are happy to keep coming back to the world of Pandora.
8 out of 10
Avatar: Fire and Ash is now playing in theaters.
This article appears in Dec. 1-31, 2025.