Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025) Review

https://youtu.be/nb_fFj_0rq8?si=sDT-MKUFDvHwC1lz

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

When the going gets tough, you need to take a step back before going forward.


PLOT


Avatar: Fire and Ash takes place following the events of The Way of Water. Jake Sully & Neytiri are grieving over their firstborn Neteyam (Jamie Flatters), causing the latter to hate humans more than ever. With Miles ‘Spider’ Socorro losing oxygen for his breathing masks, Jake prepares to take him back to the scientist camp ran by Norm Spellman & Max Patel (Joel David Moore & Dileep Rao). Their children, Lo’ak, Kiri & Tuk join them in the trip via merchant vessels led by Wind Trader Peylak (David Thewlis) since they know they’re not sure when they’ll see their friend again. Saying goodbye would be delayed when they get attacked by Varang of the warmongering Mangkwan clan. Miles Quaritch would be in the area to capture Jake, but they briefly get on the same page to protect Spider who ends up learning to breathe Pandora’s air thanks to Kiri fusing his body with the planet’s mycella. Varang holds everyone but Neytiri and demands Quaritch to teach her clan how to use firearms. That stops when Kiri enables the chance to escape by commanding nearby flora to kill her guards. Jake insists with Quaritch to see the beauty of Pandora, but he still sticks to what he is tasked to do and returns to the RDA by the time Neytiri finds them. Since Parker Selfridge and General Frances Ardmore still want to colonize humans on Pandora, the colonel suggests getting Spider back in order to lure Jake out. When seeing Spider’s mycelia, Norm & Max do share the same worry as Sully that this could be reverse engineered if in the wrong hands and it would kill him if trying to remove it. When visiting the Tree of Souls, Kiri is told by Neytiri and Mo’at (CCH Pounder) that her powers come from being the official child of the goddess Eywa hence being born without a father. As the Sully family returns to the Metkayina clan, Spider & Kiri blossom a romance. The Tulkuns even blame Payakan for their kind being hunted although Lo’ak knows it’s not his fault. As Jake admits Payakan reminds him too much of Lo’ak since he blames his disobedience that got Neteyam killed, he would also call out Neytiri’s hatred for humans since he’s still human inside as are their kids. Lo’ak almost considers shooting himself, but stops when being comforted by Kiri and Tsireya (Bailey Bass). He even reforges his mother’s arrow. Quaritch eventually tracks down Metkayina village to find Spider with the assist of Varang in exchange for supplying her with weapons. Once he gets to him, Jake willingly surrenders hoping to keep him safe, much to the dismay of chiefs Tonowari & Ronal who would rather die than let him be taken. Luckily, Jake & Spider would both be freed before execution/experimentation by marine biologist Ian Garvin who grew tired of Pandora’s abuse from RDA. Just when the two get picked up by Neytiri who infiltrates the base under the guise of a Mangkwan, they have conflicted thoughts about what to do with Spider. Neytiri does grow to accept him as family especially since he had her husband’s back during their escape, but Jake deeply worries of what RDA can learn from him should he be captured again. He does consider killing him, but ultimately stops himself, unable to kill the boy he loves like a son. Near Metkayina village does the Tulkun council prefer avoiding conflict with humans, but Lo’ak has them reconsider with Payakan and another named Ta’nok back things that humans are hunting them no matter what. When reuniting with the infamous banshee Taruk Makto does he rally multiple Na’vi forces to fight the RDA again. Things almost go as planned when they set up an ambush, until Quaritch & Varang turn the tide to their favor. As that happens, Ronal would die giving birth to her daughter Pril; Neytiri would help deliver the baby and protect her for the remainder of the battle. Knowing reinforcements are needed, Kiri chooses to contact Eywa in an underwater spider tree at the risk of having a fatal seizure; Spider and Tuk are able to help her better process by joining it. This would end up working as more Pandoran wildlife join the fight. With this advantage, Kiri is able to save Neytiri from being killed by Varang. Just as Ta’nok kills Tulkun hunter Mick Scoresby, Ardmore’s forces get pushed into a magnetic flux that kills then all. As Jake reaches the flux after his kids are secure, he ends up fighting Quaritch again but the pair would stop when having to save Spider from falling. Rather than fight him or Neytri again as she reappears with the kids, Quaritch chooses to fall to his death. As Pandora claims another victory, the film ends with Spider having another spirit tree link underwater, where he is accepted by past spirits as Na’vi.


THOUGHTS


I’ve said before how bitter I was not seeing the first film in theaters at the time, and was grateful to have seen The Way of Water at a drive in. However, I knew this is the kind of blockbuster meant for the biggest screen possible and James Cameron repeats in delivering an epic adventure for the ages. Getting to see this in IMAX 3D was a goddamn privilege because I was just stunned throughout, reminded again on how beautiful Pandora is. The motion capture excels on all the Na’vi characters, but the Oscar winning VFX peak when it came to the climactic battle near Cove of Ancestors. Hell, you can’t say you weren’t amazed when seeing the first visual of Eywa indeed being too big for the screen to capture her presence and we only see her head. What gave me most chills apart from the Wind Trader sequence, showing gorgeous creatures out of Medusoids & Windrays, has to be the return of Toruk because if he was gonna come back, then this war is gonna be one for the ages and it sure was. It’s too hard to deny how badass it was to see Tulkuns, skimwings and ilus joining the fight as much as all the banshees would. Pandora will always be beautiful to digest even if there comes to a point where we see a vicious volcano that Mangkwan live near. When we see the planet light up, it felt like it opened its eye for the first time in ages. Considering that this three-quel maintains the common theme to respect nature, it teaches something else with it. The movie’s title represents the chaos and aftermath of war, thus teaching the consequences of what happens when letting hatred’s cycle consume generations. If you can break it, then you can pave a better one. I definitely picked up on it when listening to Miley Cyrus’ “Dream As One”, but seeing The Sully family go through it big time is the pay off since they tried so hard protecting their kids and no matter what they did, war followed them at a cost. Sam Worthington & Zoe Saldana showed the different spectrums of grief as Jake & Neytiri respectively because while one feels the need to keep taking action to block the sadness, the other chooses to process it and trust her religion to cope with it. Once they call each other out on what’s holding them back though is where they are able to get back on the same page, they’re able to do right by the rest of their kids. In a lot of ways, this does feel a lot like Lo’Ak’s story because apart from taking over the narration, Britain Dalton shows him to be the most insecure due to technicalities leading to his brother’s death and although Neteyam’s spirit did assure him it wasn’t his fault, he still has to live without him which can break anyone. Is he still impulsive? Yes because this time, he uses it to better the odds against the enemy by getting Tulkun council to come around, defending his new brother Payakan. What moved me most was not only Tsireya, but also her brother Aonung (Filip Geljo) and friend Rotxo (Duane Evans Jr) backed him as well because they too knew he deserved to be heard, which sure paid off because not only was another battle won, but his father respected him more than ever for holding his own in more ways than one. The spotlight is still shared because Kiri truly became the chosen one and was able to turn insecurity into spirituality. Sigourney Weaver, who had also played Grace Augustine, is able to find the right pace in portraying the teen demi-goddess as one who stops hesitating what makes her special and uses it to an ultimate advantage. Little would she think she would also find love. She and Spider have hit it off so well because Jack Champion shows he’s in the middle much like Jake used to be. Being human has always made him an outsider and he is just as torn in picking a side. Quaritch may be his family by blood, but the Sullies are more family to him spiritually because they mostly put their animosity aside knowing he’s not to blame. Hell, Neytiri finally comes around when seeing how much he cares vice versa and no one would have anticipated his fusion to Pandora would be enough to make him an equal thanks to Kiri. It was already one thing to see Grace’s spirit accept him, but seeing Tsu’tey & 
Eytukan do the same got me in the feels because it shows legacies are built in the past and respect is universal. I then got to give a shoutout to Tuk because in her given time, Trinity Jo Bliss showed her to push herself in wanting to be brave with the rest of her family. Not only did she catch up, she proved resilience when helping Kiri with the link just like Spider did, knowing the more help the merrier to reach Eywa. I still think Cliff Curtis & Kate Winslet remained a great pair as Tonowari & Ronal because they remain open minded enough to continue having Jake’s back after sharing a battle together. It means a lot more for the latter since she died giving birth in the midst of battle rather than safely hide, which is too badass to ignore. With such as loss, I’m sure Pril will grow to look up to her legacy just as much as her father’s. Next thing, I won’t straight up say Garvin is at this point the male equivalent to Grace because while his heart is in the right place to help Jake & Spider escape, he improvises more than organize, which likely backfired and led to incarceration, but was worth it in his view as that meant he did the right thing for once compared to how greedy Brendan Cowell portrayed Scoresby who got a fitting comeuppance. Considering that a returning Giovanni Ribisi reconfirms Selfridge to be as much of a toad as we remember him and Edie Falco is still as ruthless as previously introduced as Ardmore, it’s not a surprise Stephen Lang remains almost the same as Quaritch. In his cloned body, he’s still devoted to the human cause but for the first time, truly improvises to get ahead which is making a friend to the enemy of his enemy. He doesn’t straight up shift allegiances, but linking up with Mangkwan is the closest he could and he relishes playing fire with fire. Enter Oona Chaplin, granddaughter of the legendary Charlie Chaplin, who succeeds in being far more hardened given her trauma comes from Eywa not saving her of a volcano that destroyed her home tree. At first she’s onto something strength matters more than hope when it comes to survival; but the fact she kills people she deems weak like her father is where a line has to be drawn. In some ways, she is the polar opposite to Neytiri because she gave up on religion completely in comparison. She and Quaritch are a deadly pair because they match in terms of being sadistic and build their bond off of respect more than lust. Having said that, Quaritch chose to take his life rather than live any longer because he knows he’ll never belong after all the blood he’s shed no matter how hard he would want to do good for Spider’s sake; Neytiri would’ve killed him anyway or Jake could’ve imprisoned him and no one really would be satisfied of the result. With Varang still alive however and knowing Selfridge’s father being RDA chairman confirms the fight might not be over it, there’s no denying the Sullies and all of Pandora have much to prepare for before a new war begins. I stand by with enjoying this movie very much, but even great stuff like this have questionable moments. Like for instance, it’s bad suspense to not be prepared where Spider’s spare mask is while sleeping. If the Sullies don’t want to lose him, it should be in the hammock with him already. It’s even on Jake to take the kids with him just to say goodbye to Spider. I understand if Kiri doesn’t go, she doesn’t have the chance to save him, but at the very least, Tuk should’ve stayed just for being the youngest. Thats just as bad as Spider not having the spare mask with him when with the Wind Traders. Jake should’ve even stapled tied it on his back if he didn’t want him at risk. And while Neytiri did have a point first it would be safer of an idea to kill Spider, she should’ve not said it inside Norm’s lab. She should’ve said that outside afar from the kids because if they heard, they would’ve resented her for it. What can be backed though is how Jake still allowed him to roam around after being able to breathe Pandora’s air. If it is more dangerous for him to be spotted, he shouldn’t be allowed to do so anymore for his protection more than the rest of his family. Hell, it’s just so dumb that no one detects Spider escaping until after he helps Jake escape. Like no one paid attention to the cameras on his cell and it’s embarrassing. Its ironic that Ardmore blames Quaritch when it happened on her watch. Having said that, I know Quaritch is reckless for pairing up with Varang, but it was still dumb of him to shoot at flammable bases just to get to Neytiri. If you ignore these issues however, then you’re still set for a blast. In conclusion, Avatar: Fire and Ash closes out 2025 on a high note for maintaining the epic atmosphere you’re expecting with enough new things to maintain interest in the end result. If you’ve loved the previous films, it’s a no brainer you’ll love this as well.