The Reel Rejects - AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH (2025) MOVIE REVIEW – THIS FIRE TRIBE IS FREAKIN' FERAL… – FIRST TIME WATCH

Episode Date: April 1, 2026

BRING ON THE ASH PEOPLE!! Avatar: Fire and Ash Full Movie Reaction Watch Along:   / thereelrejects   AVATAR: The Way of Water (2022) Movie Reaction:    • AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER... REACTION – THIS M...   Gift Someone (Or Yourself) An RR Tee! https://shorturl.at/hekk2 With James Cameron's latest AVATAR installment winning a Best Visual FX Oscar at this year's Academy Awards + grossing OVER A BILLION DOLLARS, TAaron return to give their AVATAR: Fire and Ash reaction, recap, analysis, breakdown, & spoiler review! Aaron Alexander & Tara Erickson react to and review James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire and Ash, the next epic chapter in the groundbreaking sci-fi saga that continues to expand the world of Pandora with new tribes, new dangers, and deeper emotional stakes. Set in the aftermath of Avatar: The Way of Water, the film follows Jake Sully (Sam Worthington — Clash of the Titans, Terminator Salvation) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña — Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Trek) as they encounter a more aggressive Na’vi faction known as the Ash People—bringing a darker, more morally complex conflict to the forefront. As tensions rise between clans and humanity’s presence continues to threaten Pandora, the Sully family must navigate grief, loyalty, and survival in a world growing more volatile by the day. Follow Aaron On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealaaronalexander/?hl=en Follow Tara Erickson: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TaraErickson Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/taraerickson/ Twitter:  https://twitter.com/thetaraerickson Intense Suspense by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Support The Channel By Getting Some REEL REJECTS Apparel! https://www.rejectnationshop.com/ Follow Us On Socials:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reelrejects/  Tik-Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@reelrejects?lang=en Twitter: https://x.com/reelrejects Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheReelRejects/ Music Used In Ad:  Hat the Jazz by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Happy Alley by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... POWERED BY @GFUEL Visit https://gfuel.ly/3wD5Ygo and use code REJECTNATION for 20% off select tubs!! Head Editor: https://www.instagram.com/praperhq/?hl=en Co-Editor: Greg Alba Co-Editor: John Humphrey Music In Video: Airport Lounge - Disco Ultralounge by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Ask Us A QUESTION On CAMEO: https://www.cameo.com/thereelrejects Follow TheReelRejects On FACEBOOK, TWITTER, & INSTAGRAM:  FB:  https://www.facebook.com/TheReelRejects/ INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/reelrejects/ TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/thereelrejects Follow GREG ON INSTAGRAM & TWITTER: INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/thegregalba/ TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/thegregalba Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, I'm Seth Shackner. Check out my new show, Breaking Down the Biz. Every week, I sit down with people who actually make movies, music, and media happen. Executives from Sony, Universal, Apple, NBC. Together, we cut through industry jargon and hype to show you how the business is built. What's key to making everything come together and why it matters to you. From iTunes impact on the music industry to the advent of AI, from the Taylor Swift ticket sales fiasco, to Bad Bunny's Meteoric rise, We break down the stories, the numbers, and the negotiations that shape the industry. I've been in the trenches of the entertainment industry for several decades with leadership roles at companies like Sony, Paramount, and Jive Records. My guests and I are going to provide the same thoughtful, concise insights that I'm
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Starting point is 00:01:25 We're all in it. We're all together. Let's get together and watch Avatar 3. Let's go. Alrighty then, you guys, we have just watched Avatar Fire and Ash. Avatar 3 We became one with where Awa
Starting point is 00:01:46 We became part of The People In this Odyssey of a film Three hours In a little over 15 minutes here Before we get into
Starting point is 00:01:58 The review I just want to say If we listen to this On Apple or Spotify Make sure you can go Give us five Freaking stars Also if we're listening
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Starting point is 00:03:06 Also, if you're a patron, you get to join our review, become part of the people and answer or ask some questions. We'll shout you out. We'll answer them. Have a good old time. It's a great extravaganza of full conversational things. Now, before we get into that, when it's very late here, Reject Nation Shop as we're shooting. Tara, how do you feel? How do you feel about this one coming out of it?
Starting point is 00:03:30 I, you know, I liked it. Okay, let me gather my thoughts here. Towards the end, I was really starting to feel tired, but I really liked the action adventure. I like the vengeance. We all know I like that. The us fighting back, I thought was good. There's some melodramatic stuff in this.
Starting point is 00:03:58 And again, you know, my main complaint did it need to be three hours, 15 minutes? Absolutely not. It didn't. To get the point across, I don't think. I do think there was absolutely, I really like the AWA part with with Kerry. I think that's great. I like, I love her relationship with Spider. I like that they had a
Starting point is 00:04:17 back and forth with Spider has now had, you know, two dads, like you were saying. And that was a nice story, like that plot. But this like movie overall, it did feel like TV episodes. Like there was like so much going on.
Starting point is 00:04:35 But really I was like, we should just focus on the stuff that would really get us moving and grooving here. Like, you know, so that we like, like really felt it. But overall, I liked it, but it's not my, I don't, I'm not in a mode right now or I'd be like, I would, I would rewatch it.
Starting point is 00:04:53 No, it's too long for me. Now, yeah, what do you think? It was a thick boy. It was a thick boy. I will say, though, because, you know, just watch Avatar 1, when I react is a terror for Avatar 2. And I'm now seeing Fire and Ash. Because, yeah, last one was a rewatch for me, but, you know, a, a,
Starting point is 00:05:11 fuzzy one and this is fresh eyes. I do feel like I like this one more than the last one because it was primarily plot and we didn't spend a lot of like downtime kind of, we got to see the world, but we didn't have a lot of downtime just to soak into it, which, you know, is nice atmospherically, but I feel like we got to have stuff moving. That said, for the amount of stuff we had not moving in the last one, we had like two to three times more in this one, which which felt like a season of television for the most part. It was weird because it felt like an odyssey of a lot of things happening. A lot of things that were interesting,
Starting point is 00:05:53 but some of those things I felt didn't get the emotional time or the tension to really feel impactful on an emotional level here. like the cords kind of coming in and you know them meeting the ash people for the first time and them kind of uniting and then they're on opposite sides again they're fighting and then they're back on the same side because the spider like I wish that stuff would have kind of been more resonant I wish the stuff with a baby would have been more part of the plot it was just a thick enchilada I'm sorry thick thick what's the pasta lasagna of a movie it was a lot of stuff going on all stuff engaging I was were bored while the movie was happening. You know, it's funny because I didn't know anything about the movie other than people say that Avatar 2 and 3 are like the same movie. And I would disagree with that. I don't think they're the same movie. I feel like there's a lot of stuff that this movie has that the other one doesn't.
Starting point is 00:06:53 I feel like this definitely feels, it's interesting because I feel like Avatar 1 is a complete experience, but Avatar 2 and 3 kind of need each other narratively to really make the whole thing work. So I felt like Avatar 1 is a movie. Avatar 2 and 3 feel like TV shows it feels like
Starting point is 00:07:15 season 1, season 2 or maybe just like 1,300 seasons of something of yeah of stuff but yeah I thought courage kind of getting more into the avatar
Starting point is 00:07:28 or the Navi people was interesting but it's weird because on one hand I liked that they did that on the other hand I felt like it in certain parts it felt a little rushed like him going full on face pain everything i was like i feel like we kind of rushed past that i i feel like for him to dawn that i would have liked to under
Starting point is 00:07:48 to understand what their face paint necessarily what it meant to them um but bro he just juiced it he was like he juiced it he was in yeah he was that's how guys are they they juice it and then they're like yeah whatever you want me to do yeah he changes that whole identity for her he's down bad he was clearly down bad for this woman I agree with you. I did like it more than two, too. And I think the more plot stuff did make the pacing go by a little bit quicker than two. Because two, like I said, we were kind of just swimming around for an hour and a half.
Starting point is 00:08:22 And like this one, the pacing picked up a bit. But I do agree. I'm like, there's so many things that happened that if you just focused on three huge main plot points, we could have really felt something when the two dads go to save spider. Yeah. We could have really felt something when the baby is. is born and she the mom dies because there was such a connect between her and actual oh g mama right like we could have had some tears some heart pull at the heartstrings but overall i still like
Starting point is 00:08:51 yeah i get it it's still a good time just not anything that i'm like gonna go run and scream on the streets about yeah it was weird because okay because i feel like i liked all the things are happening but ironically with how long the movie is i feel like there wasn't enough time to give everything room to breathe in the way that you would unless this was a TV show but it's too high budget to be a TV show so it has to be a three-hour movie which can be a bit of a daunting sort of exhausting experience but not an exhausting like a like a like I'm tired never want to see this I don't want to watch this movie kind of way but more of like this was an odyssey of information that I'm sort of taking in all at once and I liked the ride
Starting point is 00:09:37 I don't know. It's going to be wild before going on it again. But I was definitely engaged in the world of what was happening. The movie sort of ends on a weird note because I was like, because the last one felt like, okay, we resolved the conflict, but there's still more to come. And this kind of felt like that. But I'm still a little ambiguous as to where the next steps are per se. Yeah. That's on feeling.
Starting point is 00:10:07 Again, we are, our fresh thought straight out of a over three hour movie. And it's late. It's been a long day here at the studio. So a little brain fried a little bit. A little bit of brain fog from this being so long. But yeah. But overall, I will give it a thumb up, a thumb and a half up. I'm going to give this movie.
Starting point is 00:10:27 But without further ado, let's get into our questions. Yeah, let's do it. All right. J. Nguyen. Is that saying it right? Yeah. Yeah. My question about the fire priestess, for any interesting or weirdly charismatic as she started out,
Starting point is 00:10:42 I was very disappointed that she just became gorgeous side character, rather than an equal, like he said. So I was curious if you felt this character was sacrificed for a bit of building up of courage as the villain again. Huh, that was a great, great point. Yeah, she did seem like her own sort of threat and then kind of became the number two. he was literally the one standing in front as she was standing like slightly behind him and his side yeah how'd you feel i think i i i get what you're saying i the the melodramatic sort of parts of it is like the one part where he goes like they they locked up and he's like thanks babe and i was like this happened so fast that like uh i think it did help him build up him becoming a villain again
Starting point is 00:11:32 but I also Yeah, I don't know I still, I didn't see her fully as a sidekick character She still was there and like Mom was gonna have to fight her I don't know I don't the whole fire priestess thing It's cool that they came in here
Starting point is 00:11:50 She was definitely a brat I'm glad that we got to fight her I don't feel too many which ways about them I just was like they're annoying me Can we just get rid of them at a certain point I was like the payoff wasn't as great as I like wanted they made me mad
Starting point is 00:12:08 I want to have to die but like it's like this bro he's just like lock and braids and just like in it to win it now you know it's funny because I it's I feel like this movie has a similar problem to the movie the Marvel movie Eternals whereas I like all the things are doing conceptually but the movie doesn't
Starting point is 00:12:26 have enough room to breathe to really allow you to invest in the characters in the world in the way you want want to because I feel like in the series version of this, we really get to spend time with the fire priestess and courage and developing their relationship that way we don't agree with them, but we definitely understand where they're coming from in a way where we're invested in their culture and he falls in love with their culture because the fact that he went from, yeah, he went from visiting them and walking through the valley of death to then, you know,
Starting point is 00:12:57 kind of get them on his side to then fully being all makeuped in. like we could have spent a little bit more time with that and I feel like there's some interesting stuff and I don't know if I feel like she felt like a threat more than a character in this and this movie the way it resolved because what the last we see of her um so going to reevers character the the the avatar she just kind of like braids and like back off and then we just don't see her again if I remember correctly do we see her after that point no yeah no we don't see her after that. So she just kind of like cowers away and runs away, which is why I feel like
Starting point is 00:13:34 she was gorgeous one who saved her. But yeah, I would have liked a fight between, a proper fight between the Fire Priestess and Terry. I think that would have been very cool. Maybe that don't happen in the next movie. I don't know. If they get a next movie, I know that, I believe James Cameron
Starting point is 00:13:50 said that he needs to figure out a way to reduce the budget for him to get a fourth movie. Because they get a little expensive. Studios being like, I don't know if they don't pay for this again. Yeah, maybe cut the time down, buddy. So that's like he has so much wants to explore. So much lower,
Starting point is 00:14:08 Tara. Then make it a TV. Or a comic or something. I don't know. But it feels like I had a weird feeling when this movie ended because it felt like it ended more so than it resolved. Which is a weird feeling. Because like, oh, I guess we're done now. Because all
Starting point is 00:14:26 things got sucked up. Yeah. He jumped into the fire. The military girl look like she was getting sucked up into the magnet again. Yeah, we obviously got more of a story to tell. Yeah, which is a weird thing because I feel like for a trilogy, you should have like definitive chapters of things ending from, you know, where we started, where we ended. And I think the only real definitive thing that happened,
Starting point is 00:14:49 one of the few definitive things that happened is Spider got accepted. He got his braid back or he got a braid now because he can breathe the air. We're closer to her being the, the EWatar and fully embracing. Mother Earth, even though she kind of did a similar thing that she did in the last movie with controlling the nature around them. One was to, in the last movie was to save the family and this one, it was to attack the people. Yeah,
Starting point is 00:15:13 but I felt like the priestess lady could have done more and, yeah, hopefully she has more to do in the next one. Thanks for the question. Appreciate you. All right. All righty, awesome Joe, movie reviews. The visuals were fantastic, but do you think the movie was not, much of its next chapter in the series, but more like a sequel to Way of Water with Cheap Writing and Nothing to Do With Fire and Ash, hmm, I was expecting the Fire
Starting point is 00:15:42 Ash people to be in the movie more and we'd learn more about their culture, It's been talking with their culture, but they're more of like a subplot or part of the antagonist rather than being a major part. Like I expected them to be a big of, as big of a part of the movie in this as the water people were in the last one, but that wasn't exactly what we got. So, yeah, we think. Yeah, I'm with you. I mean, the only, like, cool part about the fire and ash that they did give us was that, oh, Awa abandoned them. And then she found a way to make firework on her side. All right. With the volcano that the mountain came on fire. And I was like, all right, you know, cool side of that story. I get why they are villains towards AWA because AWA turned their back on them. Yeah. Other than that, yeah, I agree.
Starting point is 00:16:33 It's basically kind of like a continuation of the second movie. There's a lot of repeats. I'm like, we're looking at the exact same what seems to be shooting of the whales with the same characters and the same boats. They get in the water the same way. Not that they would get in there any different, but I'm just, it seemed, yeah. The finale seemed similar. Yeah. I feel like the stuff leading out to it seemed kind of different.
Starting point is 00:17:01 Yes. Yeah. Not all of it. Yeah, yeah. We, you know, we start with Spider back with him. Then we have to travel. Okay, we had to go back, bring him back to Norm of them to save him. Okay, we got that figured out.
Starting point is 00:17:14 Okay, we're going back to Jake Sol is going to get captured. So we're going to go back to where the military people are. I'm going to go back to where the people are with the way of water. So it was like, it was a lot of ping pong and of stuff happening. but yeah I like I said I still liked it more than the way of water because there's the amount of
Starting point is 00:17:36 of plot in developments that were going on yeah pacing was better yeah pacing was a bit better even though it was long but yeah ultimately I guess it was just kind of another fight because I'm like I'm now like I'm reflecting a little bit more
Starting point is 00:17:53 with my tired brain here I'm like what did it all amount to at the end of the day I guess spider becoming one of the people and then home girl dying. And the fire and Ash brought, brought them, brought his dad closer. Because Fire and Ash a little bit made him
Starting point is 00:18:11 understand more so of a culture that's outside being a human being. Yeah. And he was hanging out with them rather than being with his own people. Right. And, but yeah, I wish some, maybe some of that stuff was a little bit more conflicting with the narrative. Like, why you're not hanging with us,
Starting point is 00:18:31 man, you're hanging out with these people? Like, are you really about the humans? Are you really about the people? Or, I don't know, I feel like it could have been a little bit more, um, diversity there. But overall, I like the direction they're heading. I would have just liked a little bit more,
Starting point is 00:18:43 more nuanced at times spent there. But, um, yeah, I don't know. I liked it. I liked it awesome, Joe. I had a good time with it. I liked it more than the last one, but definitely more of continuation than a proper sequel. Thanks,
Starting point is 00:18:56 All right, Rudy Rogers, I hope you guys enjoyed this film, although I was mildly disappointed in it being more of a part two to weigh of water. The world building is still expanded upon fantastically. And now that we've seen For Tribe so far, if y'all could be part of one of them, what would you choose or potentially create your own? I believe the OG forest people and the reef people for me, sending lots of love. Tara, what do you feel? I've gone with the reef people I'm swimming around on the little dragon dolphin things we're hanging out with the
Starting point is 00:19:33 pot I already forgot his name we're hanging out with back whales okay and I know they're not that but you get what I'm saying I'm reef people all the way let's go I'm also I get why you're mildly disappointed in it being
Starting point is 00:19:51 sort of a continuation of the way of water there are some repetitive stuff, but some of the new stuff and the fighting that we did see was a plus. Yeah. I'm going to go with the forest people because I feel like as a forest person, we get the sky birds and then we can go to the reef people if we want because I feel like the sky people, or I'm sorry, we can. The reef people can't go to the forest people. Exactly. But the forest people can go to the reef people because they need the reef environment to survive, but the forest people can. do both.
Starting point is 00:20:26 Yeah. I really like the, the world we got. I think it was interesting seeing the fire and ash people. And seeing, you know, the fact they live in the desert. And we got these desert birds.
Starting point is 00:20:39 And I would have liked to invest it more in their culture overall to understand a little bit more. We just kind of got glimpses of them outside of the, the trippy, you know, sexual scene between the two of them. But, yeah,
Starting point is 00:20:52 who knows? Maybe if he gets a four and a five, we'll see some more get some more more lore get some more expansions finally wrap this thing up with a satisfying conclusion but um yeah I think uh force people for me
Starting point is 00:21:05 well it's been a long day you guys it is almost 8 p.m. of shooting this and Tara and I both had shoots before this so we're gonna go to sleep now we're gonna we're gonna connect with Mother Earth connect with Awa connect with Pandora and we'll see you guys in the next one adios
Starting point is 00:21:21 deuceus Thank you.

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