there are two ways i'm going to express my thoughts about this movie. a basic version, then the actual reviewing.
Basic Version
PPFFF HA!!!! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!! OH MY GOSH!!!!! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!! WHAT THE FRICK IS THIS!?!?!?! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!! THERE MUST HAVE BEEN SOME WARNING FOR THEM THAT IT WAS GOING TO TURN OUT LIKE THIS!!!!HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA ha ha ha ha ha ha *sniff* ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha *stops to take a few deep breaths* ha ha ha ha ha...ha...ha...ha.............ha.......*sigh*
Actual Reviewing
it was perfectly terrible. i've never seen just a horrible movie in my life. it was as i expressed in the basic version, it's so bad that it's really funny.
Screenplay: okay. for some of you who don't know, this movie is based on a lovable Nickelodeon TV series called Avatar: The Last Airbender. It's a story about a world where people are separated by four nations based on which of the four elements that can be controlled or 'bended'; water, earth, fire and air. and the only person who could posses the ability to control all of them is called the Avatar. at this time, the world is in chaos as the fire nation tries to control the whole world. the only one who can stop them is the current Avatar, Aang who is a bald 12 year old. throughout the series, Aang and his friends travel the world finding ways to teach Aang the elements and to master them while also fighting the fire nation.
now with what they had planned with his movie was to have it pretty much cover the entire story of the first season of the show basically. which in a way makes sense because not all of the things from the whole series is 100% needed. cause in way, at least with most of the first season generally, the show is kind of like the pokemon series. most shows are just brief adventures with the main characters while learning small amounts of things about the pokemon world along the way. mostly they would learn about just one particular pokemon, and it's only on rare occasions were an episode would have something a little more important for the main characters like Ash or either or his friends catching a pokemon or one of their pokemon evolving or Ash facing a gym leader or something higher than that. it's the same thing with the tv show of Last Airbender, it's only in some of the episodes were Aang and his friends either meet a particular character of the series or learn a particular thing about mastering the elements and what not. but in short explanation after laying all that out, how they did it in this movie was just terrible and poorly done. most of the things that happen throughout the movie hardly really made sense even to those who've seen the series. it was more disorganized in terms of giving information about the story and so on than the Twilight films and the latest Harry Potter movies.
what really gets you is how horrible the lines are.
1)(Aang is meditating and Katara is just standing there.)"Aang? Can you hear me? I knew you were real. I always knew you'd return."
2)(Aang and his friends arrived at a village of Earth benders who are letting the fire nation hang around in their village. he doesn't know anything about them as he says this line.)"Earthbenders! Why are you acting this way? You are powerful and amazing people! You don't need to live like this! There is earth right beneath your feet! The ground is an extension of who you are!"
3)(Aang is about to leave to fight the Fire Nation Fleet after trapping the banished fire prince Zuko. He turns to the prince before leaving) "We could be friends, you know."
and the all time point-and-laugh-at favorite.
4)(Princess Yuto is about to sacrifice herself)"We have to show them that we believe in our beliefs as much as they believe in theirs."
so...yeah i'll leave you guys to stare at all these lines before you read the rest of my review.
Acting: it is so freaking bad. no one is like how it is in the series. here are a few examples:
Noah Ringer as Aang: Aang in the series just acts his age. he's kind, he likes to have fun, yet can be plenty serious when there's serious matters like fighting the fire nation or eventually, think about the little spark between him and Katara. in this movie, Noah Ringer really just stands there. and speaks quietly with no big emotion in his face even on the most simple things.
Nicola Peltz as Katara: in the series, she is the den mother of the group that follows Aang. she's smart, capable, brave and extremely passionate in learning to become a great water bender and even bossy sometimes. in this film, she's just standing there, saying her lines and trying to act like she believes so much in Aang saving the world with no facing expressions except a few shots were it look like she's crying.
Jackson Rathbone as Sokka: Sokka is the comic relief of the series. everybody loves how despite being pretty good at coming of with ideas and being serious when it comes to protection someone in particular, he can be totally funny throughout the series. With Rathbone, he's just too serious to be a shred like Sokka. Which sucks on a personal note cause I kinda like him. or at least I like how for the fair part he does his part well as Jasper in the Twilight series.
Dev Patel as Prince Zuko: Zuko is this stubborn young man driven to catch the Avatar to regain his honor and dignity, and yet has a soft spot in his heart. It's just sad that Patel is in this movie to begin with. especially after Slumdog Millionaire. His acting is just as wooden as everyone else except sometimes he'll yell as if he's in 300. When I was watching this movie, one of my friends compared him to Nicolas Cage. (eek) so that boy has a long way to go from here to up his game.
Shaun Toub as Uncle Iroh: Zuko's Uncle Iroh is the secondary comic relief of the series. he's kind and wise and loves drinking tea or playing Lotus Pai Shō. but he is also a strong mentor with a very good heart despite being in league with the fire nation. For Toub in this movie, he had the least the mentor and wisdom side down and a little bit of the comedy...in lines. He pretty much had a non stone face for a couple of breif, few-seconds-long scenes...and those were him acting angry while igniting fire from his hands in the air making all the other Fire Nation guys run away from the scene, or blocking a fire attack from the secondary main antagonist of the movie. And again he actually did have some of the comedy lines that represent this normally lovable character, but they were hardly used to show it. The way they organized his place in this film is that he's mostly just standing there, usually next to Zuko either giving a piece of wise advice to Zuko or nothing at all, and his comedic lines are usually put randomly in the dialogue. and there are only about 3-4 comedic lines tops used for Iroh for this movie. so basically for someone who would see the this movie knowing nothing about the show would get that he gives wisdom to Zuko and stuff but be clueless as to the point to the comedic lines when it comes to what he/she is lead to believe what kind of character Iroh is.
there is a whole but of other examples but you get the general idea from the examples on the main cast. the only one who actually had some kind of decent acting was the woman who played Kitara and Sokka's grandmother. she didn't do much but with her brief part in the film she actually showed at least some facial expressions and had most of the right tone for her voice for whatever she is talking about. she's still didn't a bad job but if there was a award for best performance even for a terrible movie, i'd cast my vote on her.
effects: Pathetic. the effects of people controlling either of the elements were poorly and hardly used. the thing about controlling or 'bending' the elements is that it does come with people making some big body movement, usually spinning and jumping and moving your arms crazy. and they have that in the movie which is fine. but they use that more often than actually bending the elements. where there's the tv sere, you are just going a jump, spin and kick at the same time to bend fire or air or whatever in just a split second, you have Aang and other bender jumping and dancing around or otherwise making circles with their arms just to do one brief bit of bending. and sometimes, they just dance or move around or whatever without any bending. like there is seriously a part in the movie that lasts a minute or so were Aang and Katara are moving their arms around but they're not bending. that leaves people who know the series get disappointed and people who don't get very confused. And the effects to the two creatures Appa and Momo were not that impressive.
make-up: to put it briefly, Zuko has a big scar in his face in the series, it's not really there at all in the movie, and that's another down.
Casting: I have no idea what they were thinking about this movie. and here i'm not talking about the casting of the particular characters so much as the casting in terms of race. the tv series it an asian story with asain characters. in this movie, the Earth Benders were asian but not everyone else. Aang and the Air benders were Tibetan, Sokka and Katara and the rest fo the water nation were American, there was a whole village and a dead monk that was good friends with Aang from his past that were African, and then the fire nation especially had middle eastern people. I would love to know why they had indian people as the fire nation.
so that's my review for The Last Airbender. It's poorly written, horribly acted, and had terrible effects. I seriously make my deceleration right here that this is the worst movie i have ever seen to date and that while Shyamalan gets to keep my respect for making movies like sixth sense, signs and the village, he has lost all of my respect for him as a director to the point where I declare Michael Bay a genius compared to him. So there you have it.
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