Great visuals try to overcome familiar territory.

There are many questions in “Avatar: Fire & Ash.” Will Jake Sully ever know the difference between a soldier and a son? If Spider is now able to breathe Pandora’s air, then what happens when humans (Sky People) hear about this? And can Kiri find her roots without getting any more seizures?

I saw James Cameron’s threequel in Dolby 3D a few weeks ago, as I did with “The Way of Water.” But for this screening, we get a video messages that no A.I. was involved. Cameron may take filmmaking to the next level, but even he believes the power of filmmaking comes within the actors and artists. And both viewings look absolutely breathtaking in this format.

After my viewing, I told a friend of mine I needed some time to process if I liked it or not. And now my thoughts have come together: It’s a visual wonder that answers some of my questions about the world of Pandora, which I’ll get to in a second, but I can’t call it the “Best of the Series,” because it seems to be diving in familiar territory. The kind we’ve seen done better the first and second time around.

Recapping the events of the last film, Jake (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri’s (Zoe Saldana) oldest son gets killed, and his youngest son Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) blames himself. Their adoptive daughter Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) is still trying to figure out her roots, but going deeper could put her life at risk. Colonel Miles Quaritch’s (Stephen Lang) consciousness gets transferred into an Avatar recombinant. His human son Spider (Jack Champion)-the one a lot of my friends hate-stupidly saves him from drowning. And Jake’s family is welcomed into the water tribe, which includes the leader Tonowari (Cliff Curtis), his pregnant wife Ronal (Kate Winslet), and their daughter Reya (Bailey Bass).

There’s a Na’vi fire tribe that they should avoid at all costs-the Mangkwan clan. Easy way to tell the good and bad Na’vi apart: they’re paler with red and white paint on them. Their leader is Varang (Oona Chaplin, granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin), who takes no prisoners, and soon finds herself collaborating with Quaritch. We see her giving him a drug trip that either Gaspar Noe or Cheech & Chong may enjoy, and we see them as a match made in Hell. That’s the best scene in this threequel in my opinion.

Bear in mind: “Avatar: Fire & Ash” runs for over three hours like the last entry. That means we get long battles, some character development, some corny dialogue, and a few more questions about the world of Pandora. Mostly regarding what happens when humans are now able to breathe its toxic air. And the trailers spoil the fact that Spider is now connected to Pandora and therefore, he is now able to breathe the toxic air. So what happens next? You let the good guys and bad guys determine that.

“Avatar: Fire & Ash” promises you a lot of things and carries most of them (like how Ronal will finally give birth and how Lo’ak will try to prove his worth), but it doesn’t promise you much else. We have a number of action scenes-like a river chase sequence that I think is fun-but we also get some run-of-the-mill fights during the long final battle. And I did mention we get long battles. A world as gorgeous and awe-inspiring as Pandora should be more than just fights. It should distinguish itself as a character, and we should identify with it.

I love how Cameron caters to no A.I. followers and makes his entries with his own next steps of filmmaking. At this point in my life, the only “A.I.” I want to hear is the Haley Joel Osment movie. But in this threequel, the narrative and action sequences take too long to get to the point. It’s sort of the same misgivings I’ve had last may with “Mission: Impossible: The Final Reckoning.” I can’t say these will be the final films (and “Avatar’s” fate is determined by the box office), but they deserve more or less than what was given. And at this point in the franchise, this is me telling Jake Sully to stop being a dick to his son.