Avatar: Fire and Ash will give you déjà vu as it repeats a common issue of the series

We’re heading back to Pandora this week.

Avatar: The Way of Water defied any criticism that ‘nobody cares about Avatar’ in 2022, becoming the third-biggest movie of all time with $2.34 billion. But where that sequel had the benefit of ending a 13-year wait to return to Pandora, Avatar: Fire and Ash arrives a relatively brisk three years after the sequel, having been filmed simultaneously.

The third movie was even born out of splitting the original script for Avatar: The Way of Water into two – and it shows. Avatar: Fire and Ash is less a direct sequel to the previous movie and more a continuation of that same storyline. It’s an extended third act to what, presumably, could have been the devastating second act twist of Neteyam’s death in the original script.

It would be too churlish to say Avatar: Fire and Ash is the exact same movie as the sequel, with the movie exploring different themes and introducing an entirely new Na’vi tribe. However, it’s definitely a familiar return to Pandora that, much like the sequel, can’t find a story that impresses anywhere close to the same level of its technical majesty.

Avatar: Fire and Ash picks up a few weeks after the sequel, with Jake (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) still grappling with the loss of their eldest son. Spider (Jack Champion) – revealed in the sequel to be Quaritch’s (Stephen Lang) son – is firmly a part of the Sully family, but it can’t last as Spider is unable to breathe without an oxygen mask, so the Sullys decide to take him to High Camp where their human allies live.

They come to regret the decision though as they’re attacked by the Mangkwan clan, an aggressive Na’vi tribe also known as the Ash People, which puts all Sully family members in peril. But it’s not just the Ash People that they need to be worried about because the RDA is regrouping, and Quaritch is still out for revenge.

20th Century Studios

The problem for Avatar: Fire and Ash is one of déjà vu. So many sequences could easily be confused as being in the sequel, whether it’s Quaritch’s hunt for Jake leading to him torching Na’vi tribes’ homes, Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) attempting to communicate with Eywa or Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) bonding with Payakan. Even the general plot structure sees a repetition of the catch-and-rescue formula.

It’s consistent throughout the movie, right up to the finale which is, you guessed it, a massive battle between Jake, Neytiri and the Na’vi clans against Quaritch and the RDA. James Cameron is too good an action director for this finale to be boring in any sense, especially when the Tulkun start smashing up ships, but it’s still diminishing returns three movies in.

The one aspect that saves Avatar: Fire and Ash from being a complete retread is the introduction of the Ash People. They’re something genuinely different to the Na’vi clans we’ve met before, with their entire culture fuelled by the grief of losing their home, which they blame on Eywa. Oona Chaplin is terrific as Varang, leader of the Ash People, turning her from a potentially one-note villain into a compelling, fully rounded antagonist.

Varang also helps Quaritch avoid retreading exactly the same ground, with their unexpected connection one of the highlights of Avatar: Fire and Ash. Stephen Lang, along with the always-excellent Zoe Saldaña, remains one of the stand-outs of the regular cast as he gets to explore another new side of Quaritch, even if his main goal remains to hunt down Jake.

20th Century Studios

The frustration, as with the sequel, is that James Cameron has again delivered a visual experience like no other. Coupled with the immersive use of 3D and breathtaking scenery, it feels like you’ve transported to Pandora for a few hours. That authenticity is also a result of the impressive motion-capture filming, where the cast might be playing massive blue aliens, but you never doubt you’re seeing the actors’ performance.

On pure filmmaking terms, Avatar: Fire and Ash is a five-star experience with the caveat that to get the full impact, you need to see it in 3D. Even when the story is bogged down with dull subplots, there’s something to appreciate on a visual level. The problem is that you just can’t replicate that experience at home, so the repetitive plot will become more of an issue on a rewatch.

But if you’re a die-hard Avatar fan, you might only have been wanting more of the same, which Avatar: Fire and Ash absolutely delivers. It will become clearer in the coming weeks how much the long wait helped Avatar: The Way of Water deliver huge box-office numbers, but you can never rule out the draw of an Avatar movie.

If we return to Pandora again though, in the planned Avatar 4, let’s just hope that we don’t just see more of the same, however impressive the filmmaking is.