Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025) Movie Review

Hello

ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the concession stand here on the KB radio network I am your host Kevin Reed and this is the review of the third film in the

Avatar franchise.

Avatar?

Fire and Ash.

Disco Around.

Once again,

we get James

Cameron writing and directing this film that brings us back to the world of Pandora or the moon or wherever they are.

Somewhere out there where Sam Worthington,

Zoe Saldana,

Stephen Lane,

Sigourney Weaver,

All of them are in motion captioned suits,

giving us this beautiful,

beautiful world to gawk at.

This go-around,

Avatar Fire and Ash,

picks up right after

Avatar The Way of Water,

where the Sully family is gripping with the grief of the death of their son and brother.

And they encounter a new and a...

aggressive tribe the ash people who are led by a fiery no pun intended new villain of varine as the conflict on pandora escalates and a new moral focus emerge like

i said this is the third film in the franchise i'm a big fan of the first film love loved it absolutely loved it for what it accomplished telling this story uh

through the eyes of i guess if i guess is what people describe it as you know dancing with wolves just with eight feet tall blue aliens and it's pretty much the same story nothing original there but what

you went to go see that movie for was the visual spectacle that it was and it was stunning and so when the way of water came out a couple of years ago

Pretty much the same thing.

You went to see this new spectacle.

And it took the world to a whole new level with the water creatures and the water tribe and whatnot.

Beautiful.

I didn't enjoy the way of water as much as I enjoyed the first one.

Especially on rewatch.

When I saw it in the theater when it came out,

I was like,

oh,

this is fine.

It's up there with the...

first avatar film but watching it you know at home and whatnot it just didn't have that same pop it just didn't quite get there and never i would never classify it as bad or anything it just didn't have the same fire

as the first film and so we get around to fire and ash and to be 100 honest with you wasn't super looking forward to

avatar fire and ash even though i was excited to a degree because watch the first film i'm kind of invested in this franchise i'm invested in the story i'm invested in the characters of jake and this world this new world what more can we explore in

on pandora so i was excited in that sense you know is the story going to heighten um no no Oh.

uh avatar fire and ash is not it just didn't get there for me i i was i was in and then i got brought down and then i got in a little bit more but by the end of it i was pretty much i

came to to the conclusion that i think we have milked this avatar world dry it's it's um i'm pretty i'm good i'm good i i

I have no need to go back to the world of Pandora.

You know,

and the movie wasn't bad.

It wasn't bad,

you know,

pretty much on the same wavelength.

Once again,

no pun intended of the way of water.

But it just felt like a rehash of the second film,

just with a couple of more characters added along that...

didn't really need to be in the movie it was just there to be there storylines that

were there to be there it got too mystical for me not the rapper but you know it just got too fantastical and that's saying a lot being as though this is a science fiction film but

it was just too fantastical you know you had characters that all of a sudden they're superheroes all you know they they can they can talk to god and ay and uh the mother and

you know summon the powers of pandora and it's like where where are we going with this franchise it just it just took a left a hard left and i was left scratching my head like okay i

was good when it was grounded in the first film and i know we're talking about a man that puts his conscious in this avatar alien yeah but it was still grounded it.

now we just going way fantastical and it just i couldn't connect with it and in another reason i couldn't connect with it all of the human characters were when they were on screen just it

was nothing to connect there you can connect in that first film because you had sam worvington along with his avatar you know but you had the actor that you can connect with with his story and whatnot.

and uh stephen lane and uh sigourney weaver and joel uh what's his name joel david mars and uh moore and you know you had characters that were human in the film that you can connect with but

as we travel along this avatar trail the human characters take a back seat even though they're the villains you know every human character with the exception of one is the is a villain in this movie

And so you really couldn't connect with the characters.

And I just could not get on board anymore.

I don't even see

Jake Sully no more.

I just see another blue alien.

You know,

the,

I mean,

James Cameron.

What can I say about James Cameron?

James Cameron is one of the greatest filmmakers of all time.

I mean,

that's like saying water's wet.

But yes,

he's one of the greatest of all time.

The man makes nothing but block.

blockbusters i don't think he's ever made a film that flopped or didn't make his money back i think his least performing film that he directed was true lies and it still made money it was a big hit but it wasn't a monster hit like his other films you know terminator and aliens and so on and so forth titanic and movies

of that elk but he makes billion dollar grossing film billion billion would

So he is one of the greats.

And when it comes to action,

he's one of the greatest.

The action in here was fine.

You know,

nothing earth-shattering,

nothing that we haven't seen before in this franchise.

And,

you know,

with three films in,

we need to heighten it up a little bit more,

especially when you introduce a new villain or a new antagonist.

We want to see a little bit more.

But we didn't.

You know,

it was a great introduction to that character who's played by,

what's her name?

Ona Chaplin.

And when you hear Chaplin,

you're like,

oh,

man,

I wonder if she's related to Charlie Chaplin.

She is.

She's the granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin.

And she is the villain in this film,

in her introduction,

in this movie.

Actually,

she was probably the best part of the film.

The scenes that she had,

I'm like,

oh,

man,

she is a beast.

I loved her character.

Loved her character.

Loved the performance.

And she had this sexy,

venomous vibe to her,

but she wasn't so much of a villain as she was an antihero.

You know,

she's just a victim of circumstance.

And she's making the best out of...

what she has and her people have to ash people and i connected with her character i'll say that much you know because i can see i can see her motivations you know and what she stood for and why she did what she did i'm not saying what she did was right she

is a villain but i get it and i i like her introduction her story but all of a sudden it was like poof

Dude!

she was gone it was like there was no there was no adding to it now james cameron has promised like

three more films in this franchise god help us and so possibly we'll get a little bit a little bit more of her character uh in future films but i wanted to see it in this one you know i wanted i wanted it wrapped up and

nothing was really wrapped up for me there and now before i get to my biggest gripe about this movie i will give some positives because i've been

trilling on for about a minute and uh well 10 minutes about what i didn't like but i'll tell you what i did like about the movie number one well i did mention one uh uh on the chaplain she was great i liked her in this film i

liked the visuals of course i mean that's that didn't change they didn't they didn't uh uh skip skip on the uh special effects budget it still looks um

amazing it is amazing some of the shots in this film were just absolutely you could have paused it took a picture printed it out and framed it on your wall it's that beautiful it was some beautiful looking landscapes throughout this film that

i wasn't doubting that none of that surprised me but it it definitely was beautiful uh to look at and that's about it for me

That's about it for the positives of this movie.

My biggest negative.

Well,

I'm going to leave you in suspense for a little while longer because I just thought about another negative.

I talked about the visuals.

Some of the visuals,

I don't know if it was my screening or

I don't know.

Maybe it's my eyesight.

But a couple of shots talking about the Navi.

It didn't look right in the movie.

It looked like.

It looked like CG.

And I know it is CG,

but in the previous two films,

it looked flawless.

But in this movie,

just in a few shots,

it wasn't like a

30-minute run where it just looked cheap.

It was like quick shots where I just looked at mouth movements and stuff like that.

And I was like,

that didn't look right.

It just didn't look right on that character.

but

Now I'm just nitpicking.

But here's something that I'm not nitpicking.

This freaking movie was three hours and 15 minutes for no reason at all.

Why was this movie three hours and 15 minutes?

I promise you,

you cut 45 minutes out this movie and it would be awesome.

it would have been great i'm sitting there and this is while the movie's going i'm like we didn't need that scene we could have shortened that scene oh we we really didn't need this character in here the movie's still going and

at that point i'm like an hour or an hour and a half in i'm like but we don't need all this why is all this in here now is it possible set up for future films probably

But at this point,

I don't even want to see future films.

It feels like I've seen three movies.

This movie was three hours long.

Was there action throughout?

Yes,

they had some real,

they started off with a nice action scene.

They had an action scene in the middle,

then the big climax at the end.

Yes,

there was action throughout the movie,

but it was boring.

this movie was born you felt all three hours and 15 minutes and no point did i say oh man this movie this movie's flying by never never if

i felt like i wasted an entire day watching this movie it truly was a task i don't i don't know why this movie had to be this long

This was so unnecessary.

I complain about movies all the time on this show.

If you shave five minutes here or shave ten minutes here,

it could have flowed a little better.

It could have pasted just a little bit better.

You know?

But this?

You could have cut this movie in half.

He could have made this a two-parter.

Go Kill Bill style.

It would have been...

a little bit better.

I think I would have digested it a little better.

But having to sit there for three hours and 15 minutes.

Let me tell you a story.

My wife

she wanted to go see kill bill last week the the uh the full movie you know uh quentin tarantino he released it like he initially intended in case you didn't know both part one and part two together as one movie because his intentions were one movie and so it was released and it was four hours and

they had an intermission in it you know but uh i just couldn't i couldn't do it

And in my rationale to it was what I told her and she went and saw it and she was she was excited,

you know,

she because she loved the movie and I love the movie.

I love both of them.

Well,

one of them now,

but I love Kill Bill.

But she was super excited.

But the reason I told her I couldn't go because I said,

look,

next week is Avatar.

And that movie's three hours long.

I can't picture myself going to see him.

four hour long movie and then double back and see a three hour long movie my life as much as i love movies i will watch movies all day ironically enough but the key word in that was movies i

don't want to watch one movie an entire day and so i like now i can't i can't picture myself sitting down for four hours to watch that and so she went alone after watching this movie

I felt so bad because I should have went and saw Kill Bill last week with my wife who invited me to go for an impromptu date night and I said no

I feel less than a husband because I was saving my butt for this sitting to watch this movie and I feel like I got the short end of the stick.

Yeah,

Avatar

Fire and Ash did not hit for me.

I wanted it to.

I really did want it to.

But,

you know,

I'm not super disappointed because

I wasn't really expecting much from it.

You know,

the promotions leading up to it didn't really catch me,

didn't hook me.

So I really didn't have much to look forward to.

So it was nowhere to go but up.

And ultimately,

this is...

how i went in with it is how i left out with it man uh yeah i think james cameron needs to do something else he's been in the uh pandora world way too long what has been about 20 years he's been doing avatar movies it's time to move on let's do something else go make another terminator and go make another uh alien film i would love that you know something else because

i think i think I think this is it

I think this is it for Avatar.

Of course,

it's going to make his money.

I'm not knocking it for that.

You know,

it is watchable.

You know,

I know this is a doom and gloom review,

but it is watchable.

It's not a horrible movie.

In no shape,

form,

or fashion will this make the worst movie of the year list.

This was all right.

But when you spend $400 million on a movie...

It needs to be better than all right.

And you asking people to sit down for three hours and 15 minutes.

It needs to be better than all right.

Avatar Fire and Ash,

the third film in the franchise,

gets a letter grade of a C.

Yeah,

man.

Yeah.

Little let down on that one.

But that's one man's opinion.

How did you feel about Avatar?

Fire and Ash.

Did you enjoy it?

Did you think it's just as good as the other two?

Or do you think

James Cameron did a rare,

and I mean rare,

misfire on this film?

Let me know.

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kbradiopodcast at gmail.com.

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this video if you don't mind don't forget about the five stars the reviews and sharing this show if you're listening on apple podcast spotify iheart radio wherever you are currently listening to the concession stand here on the kb radio net everybody

thank you for joining me for this review of avatar fire and ash and i think i could be wrong i think this is the last one of the no no no i think I have another one.

next week before we get to the new year.

But this is my last review before Christmas.

So to all of you out there.

have a merry christmas i hope santa uh have you on his uh uh nice list i was about to say naughty but i hope everybody is on the nice list get what they want won't find a lump of coal in their stocking so merry

christmas to all and to all a good night i want you all to know that i love you continue to love everybody and until we speak again you all be blessed

Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025) Movie Review

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