There aren’t many film franchises where I could say I don’t care. Some are bad but bearable, while others worsen progressively. Still, James Cameron’s Avatar films just don’t do anything for me, to the point that even though cinema is going through a terrible patch at the moment, I want the third entry, Fire and Ash, to flop. Then maybe Cameron will move on from the blue aliens and get back to the level of filmmaking he was known for with The Terminator and Aliens.

At this point, I would generally give a brief summary of the plot, but to be honest, I have no idea what went on. Something to do with another tribe, the Ash people, wanting to attack Jake and his family, while Spider becomes the first human to breathe without oxygen. Then they blow stuff up.

People say the reason the films work is the world’s imagination. I am impressed with the production design, but it still looks like a 1970s progressive rock album cover. Nothing has changed, so we keep revisiting the same world. This time, there are more whales than before. The creatures that can communicate with the aliens, and the humans are after them (so instead of attacking the trees, they are now attacking the sea creatures).

The main issue I have is that the films just repeat the same thing over and over again. We get 197 minutes of aliens being attacked, then escaping, then being attacked, then escaping. This goes on throughout the whole running time, until the final act, when we get a big action sequence filled with parallel editing and Cameron’s obsession with machinery, which was better used in Aliens.

I have absolutely no emotional connection with the characters. Most of the time, I have no idea who they are. There are odd differences from the weird hair to the distance between the eyes. Still, I don’t connect with anyone, so watching them wail over those who have passed in the previous movies (which, frankly, I cannot remember a thing) just makes you think this is a way of filling time and stretching it to the point of annoyance. This could have been done and dusted in 90 minutes, and not over three hours!

After nearly two and a half hours, comes the big ending, and then suddenly, while sitting thinking that I’ve seen it before, a short memory of Avatar: Way of Water comes to mind, and you find yourself watching the ending from that film. Sorry, but this is lazy filmmaking, just to revamp what you’ve done before.

I also cannot remember the last time I wore 3D glasses in a cinema. A fad that came, was mildly successful and has slowly died, is kept alive by these films. Cameron needs to understand that people don’t want to sit in a cinema watching something that may work for the first few minutes until their eyes adjust, and it doesn’t look 3D anymore.

As for performances, it’s hard to know which actor played what, and as they are CGI creations, you can’t tell who is who. Kate Winslet and Sigourney Weaver are in there somewhere, but I couldn’t tell you who they played.

If Avatar: Fire and Ash is a success, it will mean we will have at least two more movies to come. If it flops, then it might end here. I know what I am hoping for.

1 out of 5

Director: James Cameron

Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Oona Chaplin, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Edie Falco, Jemaine Clement, Brendan Cowell, Giovanni Ribisi, David Thewlis

Written by: (also story and based on characters created) James Cameron, (also story) Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, (story) Josh Friedman, Shane Salerno

Running Time: 197 mins

Cert: 12A

Release date: 19th December 2025