“Avatar: Fire and Ash”
Genres: Action/ Fantasy
Rating: PG-13
Released: December 19, 2025
Run Time: 3h 17 minutes
Rating: 8.5/ 10
We are welcomed back to Pandora for a third time since the first film in 2009. This time Director James Cameron brings us to “Avatar: Fire and Ash” introducing a brand new Na’vi clan to screen, showcasing the struggles between family, faith and honor.
“Avatar: Fire and Ash” returns with the Sully family, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), Neytiri (Zoe Saldona), Lo’ak (Britian Dalton), Kiri (Sagorney Weaver), and Tuktirey (Trinity Bliss), and Spider (Jack Champion). They come together at a time of great sorrow to save Pandora from being destroyed by RDA (Resource Development Association), a powerful Earth corporation seeking valuable minerals.
The story centers around the grief, hatred, and struggle of faith in Eywa, the Na’vi deity. Throughout the film we get introduced to the struggle Jake has with believing Eywa will provide for his family when they had just lost a son. Neytiri believes all she has left is her faith and that this is Eywa’s path for her family. Her hatred for the humans rages on through the story showcasing that she hates the humans and everything about them. This causes a rift between Neytiri and her family. Jake and her children will always have humans inside them and Spider is human and fully bonded to the family. The film depicts that Neytiri doesn’t hate her family or Jake and is really just trying to understand why she is going through all these hardships from losing her home and family in the first film to losing her son in the second.
Varang, the Tsahik of the Ash people, is cut from the same cloth that Neytiri is. She was the Tsakarem, the Tsahik in waiting because her mother was Tsahik before her. The volcano near her home had erupted and destroyed her home tree and killed her family, the same thing that happened with Neytiri. We learned that the reason she led her people to the fire was because they begged Eywa to help them and she never answered. We compare the two characters because if Eywa had never answered Jake in the first film then she may have lost more and become filled with rage and sorrow.
The entire Fire and Ash film was narrated by the second oldest son Lo’ak. James Cameron stated that he did this because the focus is shifting towards the children’s stories as that if Jake had been narrating it would have been one sided. We see Lo’ak grow into the older brother role through this film protecting his sisters and speaking up for Payakan towards the Tulkun council. Showcasing that yes, he is still young and makes mistakes but he is confident and knows what is right. The relationship between Jake and Lo’ak is riddled with blame, his father believes that he caused Neyteyam’s death.
This doesn’t seem to be fair at all because they were in the middle of a battle and anything could have happened. Neytiri holds a special place in her heart for her second youngest because he is the embodiment of Jake and everything he was when she first met him. This rift in family is felt heavily throughout the entire film and never really gets resolved at the end.
The end of Fire and Ash feels complete in the way that the main villain Quaritch is gone and the family is still intact and safe.
However, in this film there seems to be a lot of holes and unanswered questions.
Why was Eywa shutting Kiri out for so long?
What will happen to Toruk Makto?
Who will narrate the next film?
Will Jake ever forgive Lo’ak?
The sound track for Avatar has always been amazing, from the use of multiple instruments to amazing vocals, the music travels you to a new place. This paired with the amazing visuals pulls viewers to Avatar, the vibrant colors and integration into the life forms on Pandora draws people to pay attention.
Cameron knows what he is doing, ever since Avatar 2009 came out he has spoken about the motion capture magic, the technology he has created, and the deep dive into the creation of Pandora. This hasn’t stopped since then, showcasing that the only barriers we have is our perseverance, James had a vision and he was not stopping until he fulfilled it.
Cameron wants to continue to educate those on Pandora and bring beautiful films to the screen. In December 2025 after the release of “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” he announced that Avatar 4 will be released in December 2029. Letting fans know this series is far from over and there will be more to tell in the future.
Compared to the first and second film Fire and Ash is the lowest rated film coming in at about 66% on Rotten Tomatoes when Avatar 2009 sits at 81% and Way of Water at 76%.
Fans are still ecstatic about another Avatar film being made but the consensus is that the plot has been the same throughout the three films. This has created redundancy and moviegoers are eager to leave this war behind and learn more about other struggles that the Na’vi may encounter on Pandora.
In the end “Sullys stick together.”
