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With three movies ready, "Avatar" is now a franchise, and it has been known for how the technical part of things is way up, but the contents underneath aren't as sophisticated. Simple, reliable, they do get the job done, but neither the one from 2009 nor the one from 2022 broke any new ground story-wise. You can say there is a tendency to keep the contents simple on the one hand and, on the other hand, keep pushing the technological boundaries. This one from 2025, entitled "Fire & Ash" is where that tendency becomes a problem.

Both "Avatar" (2009) and "Avatar: The Way of Water" (2022) had a combination of "science fiction" and "fantasy". They both told stories that bordered on magic, but neither abandoned realism as much as "Avatar: Fire & Ash" (2025). The "sci fi" elements that were used twice before are all but gone now. Only the "fantasy" remains, and it is dangerously close to plain "magic". We do remember the space travel elements and the dozen or more huge spaceships orbiting the planet, we do remember those important elements from the first two films, don't we? Well, the third film has barely anything to do with that anymore.

An interesting comparison with "The Way of Water" is now required. You may criticize that film for the huge runtime of three hours because the story told wasn't all that complicated and some of the screen-time was there for the sake of the visual spectacle. You could say there wasn't enough material story-wise to be three hours long, and some of it had to deliberately be stretched out, prolonged so you could spend some more time enjoying what you saw and heard. True. "Fire & Ash" is a different story. There is too much material here, even for three hours, and the material isn't put together with the best care possible. The beginning is long and chaotic. It takes time to get things going. Even so, quite a few things are very familiar, repetitive, and the ending is abrupt and, again, chooses "magic" over common sense.

The acting is no problem, the music easily loses to what came before, the visuals dominate, and some of the action scenes beat everything that came before, however hard to believe this may be, but the story lacks not only originality this time, this time it also lacks balance and has barely any room for realism left.

Last but not least, whoever hasn't seen "Journey to the Center of the Earth" (2008), should probably give it a shot.

The story told in this film works, interestingly enough, because it is simple. It focuses on teenagers, and so, if they do something risky or downright stupid, it's because they lack the knowledge and the experience. And they don't just lack those because they are young, it's because there clearly isn't enough adult authority parent figure presence in their lives. But they, ultimately, have to work together to help one of them out, they have to face a dangerous force, they have to make a stand, if you will, and as for the danger they're dealing with, there are several important things to say about it.

First, there is no "manual", no "textbook", there are no experts on this matter. The kids have no one to turn to for help but themselves. Second, the evil entity they are dealing with is not almighty. The power it has is limited. It isn't "overpowered". And third, "OP" it may not be, but it will not stop, it will keep doing the thing it does. And it's deadly. Also, it can appear as anyone. Some of these characteristics may bring the old "Terminator" movies to mind.

The package housing those contents may, interestingly enough, bring "Interstellar" to mind, a movie that was released the same year, but the genre is different, of course, even though both mention Lazarus, and not without reason. Sure, there have been horror movies with their visuals and their sound design playing a serious part in the big picture, but with both the horror "It Follows" and the so-called "sci-fi" film "Interstellar", the package is, indeed, big deal. The sound design, the music, the cinematography, which is about the camerawork, the lights and the colors, well, the word is "atmospheric", and "It Follows" is a motion picture that puts the "A" in that adjective.

Where do I begin with how good this is?

Obviously, the package is of high quality, and while the sound, apart from the song "We Own It", may not be special in any way, settling for competence, the visuals are a different story.

There is something to look at here, like the stunts, the fighting and, in general, the so-called "action", and it is done with care and precision, barely anything looks rough, the camerawork and the editing both do their job well, respecting the audience. But the film isn't all "action", there are quiet parts in it, and the visuals in general deserve nothing but praise. Again, the camerawork, the editing, the lights, the colors, all of it, really, the picture looks good. If not more than good, that is.

And as for the contents of the package, it is a story driven by characters, a story that may be big in more ways than one, but a story that has a simple point to make, or two points, neither of which is a joke. The first point the film makes is, as whoever has seen it should be aware of without additional comments, wherever you may roam, there is no place like home. And the second point is about the price. And how the word "price" does not have to immediately mean "money", and again, this is life or death, not a joke.

Speaking of jokes, though, there is more than one in the film, to put it mildly, no shortage of levity here, only none of that levity is misplaced. It is where it should be, the components "Furious 6" is made of are nicely put together and balanced, which is exactly what good directing is all about, by the way.

The film has a clear structure. There is a little prologue, then the beginning arrives to set things up, the things get going, they go step by step, methodically, they escalate, and in the third act, of course, they culminate, and it ends, and then there is an epilogue that, however satisfying the experience has been, leaves you "hungry" for what's next. And again, throughout the film, things go step by step, they escalate, and the next action scene outshines the previous ones, and as for the finale itself, it beats all, and if you can't help but miss them good old days when movie trailers hadn't yet learned to foolishly spoil the biggest scenes from the upcoming movie, I don't blame you.

A while back, with "Tokyo Drift", which was good in its own way, the "Fast & Furious" franchise did two things, first, it lost all the familiar characters, and two, it focused on the street racing and street racing only, and then the whole series restarted in 2009, bringing some of the old heroes back, and only using the whole "racing" as but one of the "action" elements in the big picture. Things then got even bigger with "Fast Five", but this right here, this "Furious 6" is to the "Fast & Furious" what "The Avengers" from 2012 is to the "MCU". Good luck looking for a better comparison.

Is it perfect, though? Of course, it's not, and whether or not perfection is even possible is a valid question. Sure, as is typical with big "action blockbuster movies", certain elements, moments, may be exaggerated for the sake of the drama or "wow effect", but again, that comes with the genre.

And yet again, there is a balance to things here, the film does challenge realism here and there, but it does not yet become hilarious. The elements that tie it into the series may raise a question, but the way those elements are used in the film are nothing but efficiency. A driving force that compensates for the certain somewhat unrealistic details in the story, in other words, if rules are broken, it may well be worth it, or are they even broken at all?

Long story short, an outstanding part of a long running popular film series that looks good but does not rest on the impressive budget, and instead relies on the story it tells, carefully making a point.

Quite possibly, the best film in the series, plain & simple.