Avatar: Fire and Ash

(dir. James Cameron) As a fan of the previous two movies I found Avatar: Fire and Ash to be a disappointment. It is surprising how little there is original here: same locations, same characters, same characters fighting each other, same big battles, and same last-minute intervention by nature to defeat the evil humans. It’s still all very beautiful, and the action scenes are impressively intense, but it feels like an unnecessary rehash of the second film. The 3D worked well, but I am one of those who found the constant switching between 24 and 48 frames-per-second extremely off-putting–I wish Cameron had picked one frame-rate and stuck with it. Avatar 4 is scheduled for release in 2029 but I’m not sure anyone needs it. ★★★☆☆