Avatar: Fire and Ash early reviews: The early critical verdict on Avatar: Fire and Ash, the third instalment in James Cameron’s blockbuster sci-fi saga, is far from glowing. Initial reviews suggest the film has struggled to live up to the legacy of its predecessors, earning the lowest critical score in the franchise so far and drawing some particularly scathing remarks from prominent publications.
Lowest Roten Tomatoes score in the franchise
Despite immense anticipation, Avatar: Fire and Ash has opened to a noticeably cooler reception than Avatar (2009) and Avatar: The Way of Water (2022). The film currently holds a 70% score on Rotten Tomatoes — the weakest showing for an Avatar title to date. By comparison, the original film earned an 81% Tomatometer rating, while the second instalment stood at 76%.
Critics unimpressed with Avatar 3
Several leading critics were unsparing in their assessments. The Guardian handed the film a 2/5 rating, dismissing it as a “three-hour hunk of nonsense” and pointing out that while much of the film industry has moved on from 3D, Cameron continues to embrace it. The review noted: “In the second film, the Na’vi people found a new world of water. Now in this third film they face the new element of … fire. For the proposed fourth and fifth films, they will presumably tackle earth and wind.”
The BBC was even harsher, calling the film “the longest and the worst yet” in the franchise. Awarding it just 1/5, the review criticised “197 minutes of screensaver graphics, clunky dialogue, baggy plotting and hippy-dippy new-age spirituality,” adding, “Avatar: Fire and Ash feels as unrealistic and un-immersive as an old arcade game.”
IndieWire echoed similar sentiments, remarking on the familiarity of the experience. “…how bizarre it is to watch a James Cameron new movie that feels like something you’ve already seen before,” the review read, adding, “Not only does the third installment of the Avatar saga lack the unprecedented spectacle of its predecessors (the second of which was somehow even more jaw-dropping than the first), it also lacks the relative newness of their storytelling.”
The Telegraph also rated the film 1/5, likening it to “£300m of glitter tipped into a fish tank.” The review questioned the franchise’s creative momentum despite its commercial success: “While it’s entirely fair to point out that he must be doing something right, since the combined global box-office takings of the Avatar films now exceed $5bn (£3.7bn), the question remains as to how much more of that something cinema-goers actually want, or can take, given how astonishingly little this latest instalment has to add.”
Some praise amid the criticism
Not all responses were negative. IGN acknowledged a sense of repetition but still found value in Cameron’s approach, writing, “The Way of Water didn’t subvert Avatar as much as it did submerge it.” The review added, “Cameron does plenty of his trademark super-sizing of existing ideas, but the new film ‘rhymes’ as well.”
Deadline struck a far more positive note, describing the film as a “war epic for the ages.” The review stated, “Cameron knows how to do spectacle better than anyone, and this Avatar builds out its worlds to such a high degree I would dare to say you could put the first two films together and it still wouldn’t add up to the fierce levels and magnitude of the fight in this one.”
Den of Geek labelled it a “shallow spectacle still earns your money,” noting, “Whatever else you make of Avatar: Fire and Ash’s narrative cul-de-sacs about blue aliens once again rising up against the ravages of the human race, the threequel remains an aesthetic triumph and simultaneous indictment of so much else churned out of the Hollywood blockbuster machine.”
Empire also responded favourably, rating the film 4/5 and writing, “In a bigger, busier and burlier Avatar, James Cameron once again displays his blockbuster mastery. Despite some repetitive moments, this is truly epic cinema, more than worth plugging into for three hours.”
Avatar: Fire and Ash had its world premiere at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on December 1, 2022, and is slated for a worldwide release on December 16, 2022.
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