Did you like the first two movies? Then you’ll like ‘Fire and Ash’

It happens early on, the first time “Avatar: Fire and Ash” took my breath away with its visual effects. It was something simple — waves gently lapping in the foreground as characters spoke — but the cerulean water was so vivid, so seemingly tangible that I shifted backward in my seat to avoid getting wet. The latest “Avatar” entry, like its predecessors, is full of stunningly beautiful imagery like this, all brought to life with the most impressive 3D technology I’ve ever experienced in a movie theater.

But also like 2009’s “Avatar” and 2022’s “Avatar: The Way of Water,” that’s almost all that “Fire and Ash” has going for it, with a blandly generic plot and insipid dialogue that includes this winner: “When you ride the beast, you become the beast.”

Read the full review at The Seattle Times.

Three “Wait, there’s how much left of the movie?!” stars out of five.

Photo caption: Varang (Oona Chaplin) in “Avatar: Fire and Ash.” (Courtesy of 20th Century Studios)