Hey there everyone.
So I have seen The Last Airbender. And here is my review:
Over three years ago, it was announced that a live-action film adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender would be made under the helm of M. Night Shyamalan. Being an
enormous fan of both the show "Avatar" and M. Night, this was mind-blowing news. Just the thought of Avatar in big-screen format was one heck of a good feeling, and the fact that it would be directed, written, and produced by the masterful M. Night was extremely promising. For years I awaited the release as I dreamed of all the possibilities the live-action film could actually be.
In the winter of 2008, casting details were announced, and if anyone can remember that time, the internet was cluttered with battle zones over why it was terrible or why it wasn't necessarily that bad. I myself, was overall on the sidelines, but even with that being said, I questioned the fate of The Last Airbender. A few months later, filming began. Although I was becoming increasingly skeptical, I always found it very exciting to see a release of shots from the set or an interview with a cast member. More info kept on coming to the web, and it was then that some optimism started coming back from me. A teaser trailer was then released in June of 2009, and while I had some concerning questions that I wished to be answered, I felt there was hope. Many aspects of that trailer had pleased me in some way. Not much more info came until the Super Bowl of 2010, were a TV Spot was put online and on the air. My doubts were put to the shelf. At that point I could say "Alright, this is awesome. Can't wait for July".
3D is announced, to which I was almost certain that the feature would be a flop. But I didn't care, nothing was keeping me from seeing the 2D version. Release date moves to a day early for a July 1st opening. It's coming closer, so much closer. We're almost upon the very
edge of release and....the reviews come in. Videos are posted on YouTube. Ebert calls it "agonizing", others call it a failure. The internet is flooded with dismal reviews, and I'm sitting there with disappointment entering my mind. What in the world is going on? Wasn't this supposed to be Shyamalan's best movie? I mean, I know he's had some films in the past that weren't well-received critically, but this was a whole different show floor. I mean, this is my Avatar, what has he done to my Avatar?!
Look, I mean, I wasn't expecting Academy Awards, that wasn't exactly Shyamalan's intention. But let's look at films with similar demographic: Harry Potter, for instance. Every one of those films have earned positive reviews, and it seems just plain inappropriate that The Last Airbender couldn't pull that off. When a film doesn't even seem to have one single decent review from a critic, something has to be wrong. So when I'm entering the theatre, I have an open-mind, still, but in the back of my mind I think I know what to expect.
So this is where the review actually starts.
Within the first ten minutes of The Last Airbender, the first thing I notice is how each character that is shown in the film, is never
actually introduced. When watching the TV series, I had a clear vision of who the characters were because of how well they were presented to us. Throughout the entirety of TLA, probably every single character seems like a total
stranger. Look, I know who these characters are. I've seen every single episode of the show as I love the series. But this is Shyamalan's vision, and these "other versions" of the characters seem so ill-represented in TLA that I would imagine that anyone who is not familiar with the series would have trouble understanding who exactly these characters are. There are number of culprits for this serious flaw. 1: The camera never seems to actually take the time to get a good-look at the characters. This could either be Shyamalan's fault for not bothering to use these details when presenting us with a new character, or it could be the editors, or most-unlikely, the cinematographer (whom I respect for the past films he's done, and there are many scenes here where he's done a nice job). 2: The screenplay. There's so little interaction between characters to the point where their relationship with each other is unclear, and also to the point where there's a sever lacking of descriptive dialogue for each character. 3: We all know that this way too short of a film, and if Shyamalan just told himself to take his time with scenes, let it flow, and if if it ends up being over two hours, so be it. Just because there will be a lot of children watching this movie, that doesn't you should sacrifice the quality for children's attention.
In the end, I'm left with a feeling that this is Aang, Katara, and Sokka. With all of the factors listed above, they seem like strangers.
Another serious error in TLA is the build-up that leads to exciting events. There is none. No build-up, no "leading up" to the events. Each scene plays out as "BOOM. BOOM. BOOM." "Slow down", I said to myself while watching. "Can we just examine a scene for a while?" Let's stop right there and revisit the term "examining a scene". Anyone who knows the classic style of M. Night's directing should very well know that looking at an event in the film for a while, delving in to the characters as they interact with each other,
observing the setting, the people--that's something Shyamalan is a
master at, and it makes me wonder why it's not apparent in The Last Airbender. Was it M. Night's mindset when developing the film? I don't know.
So I've stated the flaws, but now I'll say what I really did enjoy: The bending. Good, good, good job on the bending. The visuals that come from the bending are a joy to watch, whether it be the wonderfully well-done martial arts or the water or fire glimmering and zooming through the air as it to attacks the enemy. Props to the choreographers and visual effects teams. Colors are vibrant with the elements, and I love the relationship between the martial arts and the elements. It all moves together with harmony, and it looks very soulful.
As for the visual and special effects as a whole, it looks very good in most cases, but there's one problem: It has the tendency to look very out of place when seen next to live actors. This became a bit distracting in scenes.
There's another issue here I have to bring up: Where's the color palette? Excluding the Spirit World scenes and some of the Northern Water tribe, it's absent. It makes many shots look unfinished and still in the editing process. With such a rich world like Avatar's, I would expect a definitive feel to TLA, but there really isn't.
Speaking of the world of Avatar, throughout TLA, there were many instances where I wasn't feeling like this was the Avatar world. I wanted so much more in feeling as if I had been transported into a live-action world born from the TV series. I really wanted that insane feeling of awe as I had when I watched the beautiful show.
Let's now talk about the actors. None of them are bad, but none of them display the characters well-enough, and I ponder as to whose fault this is, the script or the actors. An actor I was very pleased with-- Dev Patel. Wonderfully well-acted, and he pretty much seems like a Zuko I suppose, but with the lack of good character examination and development, I wanted more. Another great casting choice was for Princess Yue. She both looks like the character and acts as her very well. But in the scene where she gives herself for the moon, I felt no real emotion like I did with the show, because again, in TLA the characters simply are not presented well. The acting is fine folks, but other factors play in to cloud their good acting, unfortunately.
One of the immediate questions I and fans had when the film was announced was "What will Appa and Momo look like?" Well they sure do look terrific, but I was immensely disappointed when coming out of the movie that I realized that there really were very few shots of Momo and Appa. This is sad because they have such a vibrant personality and importance in the show. I love Appa and Momo, and it comes down to the same quote: "I wanted more".
Now here's one of the most significant questions that must be asked here: Is the film entertaining? And you know what, yes it is. I was never exactly bored as I was annoyed, and as I said before, the bending was some terrific eye candy. And I've criticized the screenplay before, and while I believe it is very flawed, there were two fantastic lines in there that I was very pleased with, and they really are very wise. The ending finale of the movie was visually extraordinary to watch, and the film never really loses site of it's exciting moments. So to say that The Last Airbender wasn't entertaining would be a flat-out lie. It's fun, it really is. The flaws are immensely distracting, yes, and while I personally was left with a mostly bad taste in the mouth, I had many family members telling me they had a great time with TLA, and the fact that they are happy pleases me. So in a way, Shyamalan has succeeded. He's stated in interviews that he wanted to make an adventurous summer film for the family, and he did. I had fun watching this with my family. I was seriously bothered by a number of things, and I'm left wondering what could have been, because yes, I personally don't think they represented Avatar very well. So I suppose what I'm trying to say is that it's a bad adaptation, but it succeeded in its mission to bring the family together, which is something we can all appreciate.
I want a reboot, actually. Because the characters haven't been well-established, it would be inappropriate for this to carry on in a sequel. I want a reboot that well-displays the rich world of Avatar, and also brings the same vision that The Last Airbender did very well.
Oh, and I apologize for this extremely long review, there was just a lot to say.
Thanks guys.
