The Last Airbender, 2010
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Cast: Noah Ringer, Dev Patel, Nicola Peltz
Stage: Summer theatre under the stars
Airbender in short: The story follows the adventures of Aang, a young successor to a long line of Avatars, who must put his childhood ways aside and stop the Fire Nation from enslaving the Water, Earth and Air nations.
Preps: I got two tickets as the result of a winning game. I didn't know about the movie, and after I won, I got on the net to see the trailer and a bit of a background. Seemed cool enough and was anxious to see it.
Reality: The live version of Nickelodeon TV series - animated one. One of very popular ones indeed, and in this sense, ungrateful to put it alive. At least to some extent it is impossible to imagine how a live scene could be taken anyway, because the movie must be filled with special effects. Reign over water, fire, wind and earth cannot be filmed live, therefore a big bow to the special effect unit, because they must have been working truly hard.
The movie lacks a true story you can easily follow. The battles and the martial arts part can be breathtaking, although the movie cannot consist on this alone. The cast is a bit wet behind the ears, in a sense, they didn't show a lot of acting - the scenes seem to be unpersuasive and shallow. Also, a big bucket of movie mistakes - for instance getting burned by the fire, or wet because of the water - in this field, the director fails big time. Also in terms of making the ride smooth (story fluent)for the viewer.
A big bow also to the fragment unit - or shall I say, the team, that takes care of the scenes and the little things worth remembering. The scenery of the town, the copy of the boats, the weapons used and the costumes - truly amazing. It will bring you to a mixture of the Labyrinth, LOTR, and some similar ones. Didn't you always want to have a pet like this, to ride on your way to vacation? A good way to dream away..
My personal rating: 6,0 (in its genre, one of solid (not good) ones. Has a messy story, though and amarican way - a good ground to have sequels. Filled with childhood fantasies, brought alive. A decent way to spend your evening).
Airbender on IMDB
Airbender home page
A bit more on Airbender series
