All the way back in 2009, director James Cameron introduced the world to the planet Pandora and the Na’vi race in “Avatar.” The film soon set the record for all-time highest grossing movie at both the domestic and international box offices (it still holds the record for the latter). Sequel “Avatar: The Way of Water” came out in 2022 and made its way onto the top 10 on both lists. Can three years’ worth of inflation help third installment “Fire and Ash” help the franchise reach new heights? I’d be happy if it did.

The film once again follows the Sully family: human-turned-Na’vi Jake (Sam Worthington), native wife Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), impulsive son Lo’ak (Britain Dalton), daughter Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), adopted daughter Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), and adopted human son Spider (Jack Champion). Kiri is the biological daughter of ally Grace Augustine (also Weaver) and Spider is the biological son of villainous human-turned-Na’vi Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), still tasked with removing the threat the Sullys pose to the human colonization of Pandora.

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The new film sees the family try to send Spider off to live with a tribe of “air traders,” as the planet’s air is not safe for him at the surface level, though it might be at the traders’ altitude. But the traders are attacked, and Spider captured, by the fire-themed Mangkwan tribe, led by the fearsome Varang (Oona Chaplin). The Sullys go to rescue Spider from the Mangkwan, only to be ambushed by the unit led by Quaritch, who prioritizes saving his son. Spider is saved by the Sullys, while Varang and Quaritch come to respect each other in the ensuing battle.

Following the battle, it is discovered that there is a way for Spider to breathe the planet’s air after all, if he interacts with certain wildlife. This is great for Spider, but bad for the Na’vi. The breathability of Pandora’s air is one of the few advantages they have in the war with the invading humans. If the secret were to fall into the wrong hands, it could doom them all. Jake and Neytiri, who isn’t crazy about humans like Spider in the first place, debate bringing a permanent end to the secret and its host. Meanwhile, Quaritch and Varang form an alliance, the first official one between the colonizing humans and the Na’vi. We get another big showdown between Na’vi and the humans at the movie’s end, but this time the villains have some Na’vi on their side that can both ride the planet’s wild creatures and use human weapons like guns, courtesy of Quaritch.

The story is a mess, especially as the Sullys splinter off for their own subplots like Lo’ak wanting to save a race of whale-like sea creatures or Kiri having an identity crisis after learning the truth about her parentage (and yes, it is distracting that 70-something Weaver is playing a teenager, a discrepancy that even Cameron’s special effects can’t hide). The final battle is particularly hard to follow, with characters seemingly killed at every turn only to dust themselves off and throw themselves back into the action minutes later. The only interesting decision the movie makes from a writing perspective is the alliance between Quaritch and Varang, scene-stealing characters whose personalities are sidelined once the action picks up.

But it matters little that “Avatar: Fire and Ash” doesn’t have an award-worthy script to justify its obscene price tag. James Cameron is still King of the World when it comes to visual spectacle. Every time I thought I was done being impressed by the look of Pandora, the movie found a way to blow my mind again. That is what this movie offers and that is what these movies have always offered. I can understand if audiences aren’t ready to spend another three heavy-handed hours in this world a mere three years after the last movie, but I was ready and I had a blast.

Grade: B

“Avatar: Fire and Ash” is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, bloody images, some strong language, thematic elements and suggestive material. Its running time is 197 minutes.

Contact Bob Garver at rrg251@nyu.edu.