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Avatar Fire and Ash first reactions hail James Cameron's 'staggering filmmaking', call it 'bigger, better' than prequels

The first reactions to James Cameron's Avatar Fire and Ash are out, and they are overwhelmingly positive.

Updated on: Dec 3, 2025, 13:35:35 IST
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The world premiere of James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire and Ash took place in Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre on Monday night, with the creme de la creme of Hollywood in attendance. The premiere was also attended by select journalists and movie critics from around the world. After the screening, many of these critics took to social media to share their first reactions about the heavily anticipated film, and so far, the response is overwhelmingly positive.

Avatar Fire and Ash, directed by James Cameron, released on 19 December.
Avatar Fire and Ash, directed by James Cameron, released on 19 December.

Avatar Fire and Ash first reactions

In their first posts on Avatar 3 on Twitter (now X), the critics have praised the film’s visuals, James Cameron’s sweeping narrative, and said that the film should please fans of the first two Avatar films.

Jazz Tangcay of Variety called the film ‘a staggering achievement of moviemaking’. He added, “James Cameron raises the stakes. It’s bigger, better and more emotional than ever before. It has gorgeous visuals, thrilling new characters and is a technical marvel.” His colleague Courtney Howard echoed the sentiment saying Avatar Fire and Ash is ‘what movie theaters were built for’. “3 films in, James Cameron still has the sauce, making the epic spectacular feel emotionally impactful,” she wrote.

Film critic Sean Tajipour confessed that he was not an Avatar superfan, but still conceded that “James Cameron can and will always deliver the ultimate cinematic spectacle, pushing visuals and emotion to new heights and redefining what a true blockbuster feels like. It’s bold, immersive, unforgettable, and driven by sheer ambition.”

Collider correspondent Peri Nemiroff was surprised by how quickly the film pulls the viewer back into the world of Pandora. “And once that happens, there’s a noticeable increase in complexity in quite a few aspects of the production. Three films in and I still can’t get over how magical the #Avatar movies are,” he wrote. Critic Todd Gilchrist added, “#AvatarFireAndAsh features some astonishing filmmaking from James Cameron. Fans of the previous two will be very pleased.”

Praising the film’s ‘out-of-this-world action’, film critic Michael Lee wrote, “Story may be lacking, but this pushes technical boundaries in unimaginable ways.”

All about Avatar Fire and Ash

Avatar: Fire and Ash sees Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Stephen Lang, Sigourney Weaver, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Giovanni Ribisi, Dileep Rao, Matt Gerald, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, and Trinity reprise their roles from the previous two films. The film releases in India in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam. It will hit the screens worldwide on 19 December.

  • Abhimanyu Mathur
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    Abhimanyu Mathur

    Abhimanyu Mathur is Deputy Editor, Entertainment at Hindustan Times. With almost 15 years of experience in writing about everything from films and TV shows to cricket matches and elections, he inhales and exhales pop culture and news. Currently, he watches movies and TV shows and talks to celebrities for a living, while occasionally writing about them as well. A journalism graduate of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Delhi University, Abhimanyu began his career with Hindustan Times at the age of 20, swapping classrooms for newsrooms at an early age. He began his journey in the early days of digital journalism, later switching to the madness of print journalism. Work has led him to far off places like Japan and Jordan, as well as to the interiors of Haryana and the Indo-Pak border. He dabbled in city reporting in places like Meerut, Gurgaon, and Delhi, covered the Olympics and Cricket World Cups, before finding his calling in entertainment and lifestyle during the pandemic. A Rotten Tomatoes Certified Film Critic, he is equally at home covering stories on ground as he is interviewing celebrities and studios, and sometimes prefers to shepherd teams in delivering traffic through the day. Even as his role has evolved from reporter to supervisor over the years, his first love remains writing (and of late, talking on camera). With a good understanding of cinema and its trends, and a keen eye for detail, he continues to spark conversations around showbiz for readers around the world.Read More

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