I liked Avatar: Fire & Ash, but I didn't love it. I agree with the commonly recurring point that the James Cameron sci-fi epics are visually magnificent, but the storylines are deceptively paper-thin. Despite the Avatar saga boasting such a high concept, the movies often leave certain parts of the world unexplored by hyper-focusing on things like alien whales and vague religious beliefs. I briefly thought Fire & Ash was about to venture into uncharted territory when I watched it, but right as an especially compelling storyline began, it was pulled away from me just as quickly.
The subplot in question is a symptom of the larger problems with the Avatar franchise. Cameron seems intent on sticking to a fairly linear path. Any glimpses of what's happening on Pandora away from the saga's main storyline remain little more than window dressing. What's so frustrating is that those fleeting moments can be more interesting than what the audience is being forced to concentrate on. One Fire & Ash sequence in particular represents this weird worldbuilding quirk brilliantly.
I wanted more of how Pandora's human civilians view Jake Sully
One of the Avatar saga's longest-running storylines revolves around Sam Worthington's Jake Sully, and how he abandoned his human roots to become a fully-fledged member of the Na'vi race. In fact, his decision to join Pandora's native species is one of the central catalysts of the franchise's main plot. However, the only human we've ever really seen make his views known on Jake's defection is Stephen Lang's Colonel Miles Quaritch.
There have, of course, been other human characters who have made their views on Jake's decision known, and not all of them have disapproved. Still, Fire & Ash finally gives us a proper impression of how everyday humans feel about it all. When Quaritch pulls off his long-standing goal of arresting Jake for his actions, the audience is then treated to seeing him imprisoned and documented by the various journalists and other members of the human society that live on Pandora.
In short, he's long been painted as a terrorist for turning against his people. Jake has never been portrayed as a villain in the Avatar franchise, as he's always been presented as righteous in his decision making. Humans are pushed upon the audience as the enemy, which makes sense within the story's formula. But seeing the reaction to Jake when he's brought to justice is fascinating. It's tough not to agree with the humans' point of view that Jake was supposed to be aiding with the effort to make Pandora safe for human habitation, but he became part of the problem instead.
I still agree that the Na'vi are in the right overall. Pandora is, after all, their home. They were there first, and humans have only landed because they've already made a mess of Earth. Regardless, this Fire & Ash moment proves that the scenario isn't as black-and-white as the movies have previously made it out to be. It's easy to reframe Jake as a terrorist for what he's done, and Cameron moved on far too quickly from this alternative point of view.
This wasted Fire & Ash moment supports one of my strongest views about the Avatar franchise
Movies were the perfect medium for Avatar when the first film premiered in 2009. It was big, expensive, cinematic, and wouldn't have suited a small-screen release. Since then, movies and TV shows have pretty much become inseparable. Massive movie franchises like Star Wars and Marvel routinely produce TV shows to supplement their big-screen releases. There are also expensive standalone TV shows, like Stranger Things, that probably would have been movies if released during a different era.
Because Cameron is such an old-school filmmaker, and I don't say that as a negative thing, he seems convinced that feature-length releases remain the best thing for Avatar. I can't say that I agree anymore. Asking fans to sit there for over three hours at a time isn't something everyone is on board with in 2026. If Cameron doesn't want to transition into making Avatar into a TV series, then the idea of an episodic spinoff show should at least be entertained.
As I mentioned earlier, the Avatar movies are bursting with awesome worldbulding moments, but there's rarely time to explore them in any great detail. Doing so would bring the story to a grinding halt and create pacing issues. In a TV format, entire episodes can be decidated to specific elements of the franchise's vast universe. It's one of the biggest advantages of the medium. Imagine an episode fully delving into the impact of Jake's actions on Pandora's human community. I'd love that, and I hope Avatar: Fire & Ash is the final project to let chances like this slip through Cameron's fingers.
There is still time to catch Avatar: Fire & Ash in movie theaters. When the run ends, it'll eventually be available to stream on Disney+