REVIEW: A Few Nifty Visuals Can't Rescue Exhausting Last Airbender
The Last Airbender is, as M. Night Shyamalan movies go, pretty straightforward. It's also, refreshingly, not as completely idiotic as most of his movies are. No aliens in stretchy unitards who can be vanquished by -- surprise! -- plain old tap water; no meek, modest 19th-century communities who are -- surprise! -- really just weirdo cults being kept away from 21st-century life. The Last Airbender, based on a popular Nickelodeon cartoon series, is a fantasy-adventure aimed primarily at kids, set in a world where four tribal nations -- Air, Water, Earth and Fire -- just can't get along, because a revered being known as the Avatar has skipped out on them some 100 years ago. Taking advantage of this international instability, the people of the Fire Nation have decided to bully the other guys into submission and thus take over the world. Oh where, oh where, could the Avatar be?
As it turns out, he's been hiding in sort of time warp, and two Water Nation kids, Katara (Nicola Peltz) and Sokka (Jackson Rathbone, who plays Jasper in the Twilight movies), serendipitously bring him back into the world. He's a very worried-looking, very bald little kid named Aang (Noah Ringer); his anxiety-filled brow is decorated with a mysterious tattoo motif. Aang isn't just the Avatar; he's also the last airbender -- in other words, he's able to bend the air to his will, and although there used to be lots of Air Nation people who could do this sort of thing, the Fire Nation has done away with them all. Soon the Fire Nation will turn its aggression on the waterbenders (who can make water do bendy things; Katara is a waterbender) and the earthbenders (who are good at moving rocks around via telepathy).
The Fire Nation people need to capture Aang, lest he restore harmony to the world and squelch their superpower ambitions. And if, beyond that, you can follow the plot of The Last Airbender, you're surely capable of bending some pretty heavy-duty baloney into submission yourself. Like so many movies these days, The Last Airbender relies largely on exposition: Characters are always making forthright declarations like "The Fire Nation is here, and they've brought their machines!" or "We must travel to the Northern Earth Kingdom!" Which is probably a good thing -- otherwise characters would be popping up willy-nilly in various confusing locations, although they do plenty of that anyway.
Because of all that narrative hippity-hopping (Shyamalan himself wrote the script), The Last Airbender is exhausting to watch. What's more, the movie is being shown in 3D in select theaters, and although some of the picture's visual touches are quite lovely -- there's a kingdom built entirely of ice, and some nifty effects in which globes of water are made to float in the air -- they don't seem to be particularly enhanced by the technology (though those special glasses will, of course, add some padding to the ticket price).
It's clear that Shyamalan's ambition is to create a grand fantasy epic; at times the picture's production design has an almost Middle Earth-y look. (The cinematographer here is Andrew Lesnie, who also shot the Lord of the Rings trilogy.) But oddly enough -- or perhaps not oddly at all -- the most impressive and entertaining aspects of the picture have less to do with spectacular effects than with human skill. The movie's young star, Ringer, is a Taekwondo champ, and it's fun to watch his hands slice through the air ever so gracefully, or execute kicks and jumps and pirouettes that defy gravity. So many action movies these days are devoid of real human action. At least Shyamalan understands that watching the human body move is one of the pleasures of moviegoing.
Of course, because this is an M. Night Shyamalan movie, the stink of pretension is high: There's no doubt that these warring, troubled tribes are supposed to be metaphorical, revealing big truths about the messed-up world we actually live in. But some of the actors rise above the sillier-than-silly dialog: Aasif Mandvi (who played Mr. Aziz in Spider-Man 2, but who was even more wonderful in a smallish role in David Koepp's superb romantic comedy Ghost Town) plays an amoral military commander; he walks a fine line between sending up the movie's kiddie hokum and treating the material as seriously as if it were Shakespeare. And Dev Patel, of Slumdog Millionaire, shows up as the unfortunately named Prince Zuko. (Would you want to play a character whose name sounds like a sugar substitute?)
Still, The Last Airbender, for all its Shyamalan-style grandiosity, is completely harmless and inoffensive, and at the very least, Shyamalan appears to be having a little fun here. The movie's finale comes not as a big surprise but as a turn we're completely ready for. There's something to be said for giving the audience what it needs, instead of what you think it wants.
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Comments
good lord, the reviews coming in are downright apocalyptic in their negativism, lol.
i don't think i've ever seen such universal vitriol coming from so many respected critics.
will it matter though? the marketing has been pretty pervasive and the trailers have all been really good.
i loved all the gorgeous quiet in the "SIXTH SENSE"...a very enjoyable movie. I have not bothered to see another of Shyamalan's movies. Did i spell his name correctly? Who knows.
Stephanie Zacharek, you have mucho MOVIE SMARTS....much like Pauline Kael did. You're a lot of fun to read....thanks! from richie-rich.
Wow, this would technically qualify as the kindest review the film has yet to receive. Until Armond White's review, obviously.
I am a huge fan of the cartoon series, and this is really upsetting to hear. I've been looking forward to this day for the past six months or so, when I saw the first trailer released. However, hope isn't quite gone yet. Has anyone seen the movie who's watched and enjoyed the cartoon series? I imagine that has a huge impact on whether you can somewhat enjoy it or not. Although, everything I've heard says that it's just bad all around.
Is this review supposed to be positive or negative?...
Inoffensive? Someone didn't Google — there have been people offended over the movie's racist casting for over a year now. Check out racebending.com.
Anony Mouse, seriously, stop crying. Only half apes think this movie is offensive. We white watchers understand, due to our colorblindedness, that this movie is not offensive.
Replacing asian characters with whites is good, because now everyone can identify with the character, not just half-apes.
Anti_caster, I hope you're being sarcastic.
Calling a movie that has offended enough people to start a grassroots movement "completely harmless and inoffensive" is...well, we'll go with "interesting."
Just because people get offended at the most ridiculous things these days, doesn't mean they are justified in doing so. Seriously, don't we have more to worry about than who gets cast in a movie based on a cartoon? It's fiction. Relax. Nobody cared that their was not a single Greek actor in 300 or Troy.
Rob, I've watched and enjoyed the cartoon series. I'd really advise fellow fans to steer clear of this movie.
Most of the necessary "facts" of the plot are there, but only because M. Night has characters dump exposition about it the entire time the film is running. And since there's no chance to get to know them as characters (rather than backstory-delivering robots), I found it hard to care about anything they did at all. The dialog in the film is laughably bad, too. The pronunciation of Aang, Sokka, and Iroh's names was changed, which for fans of the series is very distracting. I could go on, but overall it was a disappointment.
Tonight I'm rewatching the Ember Island Players episode to help dull the pain. Who'd have thought it'd be so prophetic?
Hey Quack? Do you like to read what you typed or did you somehow click the post button five times in a row?
The only reason why people didn't care about there not being any greeks in 300 or troy is because most people expected the cast to be white, if not, European.
Second, just dismissing it as fiction and blowing it off shows that you really don't care about the strength that consumers have by not paying for a product. If more consumers didn't buy into crap like this, it wouldn't exist.
What kind of bull review is this? Clearly you have no education or background of the show. Maybe if you looked into it more you'd understand where people are coming from, why they hate it, and why they're offended.
You focus on all of the flowery action scenes but have no content about in depth STORY, PLOT AND ACTING. Some things that very important AND PRESENT IN THE TELEVISION SERIES.
You don't even seem to mention WHY people find the movie offensive.
Clearly you're very ignorant and this review sounds like it was written by someone who's either sucking up or uneducated.
I would caution everyone to remember, it's just a fucking movie.
Seriously? - It's all how you look at it. You say its crap, but M. Night films in my opinion always have an element of spirituality, something a lot of people are interested in. He makes films that he wants to make, not what studios tell him to make. And his last few films have not done well at the box office, so people aren't "buying" all that much anyway. What people buy these days are movies like Hot Tub Time Machine and Hangover, which is all basically just toilet humor. I'm not opposed to it, I'm just saying... it's easy to sell stuff like that. It's not easy to sell M. Night anymore. But he's made some of the most original, and engrossing films of our time. I'll support him because he seems to be an honest filmmaker who is obviously not in it for the big bucks. If that was the case he would have come out with The Sixth Sense 2 a long time ago.
" He makes films that he wants to make, not what studios tell him to make."
That may be fine when he is doing his own original movie but this was a condensed adaptation of a 3 season series with a very large fan base.
Maybe he would have been better served making a movie for them?
Great review, I enjoyed myself, and being a fan of the series I believe M. Night did the film justice to the original series, season 1. Season 1 of the Last Airbender hardly had any character development, except near the very end, and I've seen that in the film too. The first 10 to 15 minutes of this film did feel rush, and I can see how newcomers felt confused, and I feel that M. Night should of re vision this before releasing it, but after the 15 minute mark, the film slowed the pace and it got better and better. The actors in this film were good, but not Academy Award Winning good, and these young actors will improve as will the next film would definitely let them improve. Book 2 Earth was my UTTERLY MOST FAVORITE! Lots of development. The dialogue needs some work on M. Night's part, though.
Yeah, I agree with you. If your really a hardcore fan of the series, you will probably come out of the theater disappointed. But if you can look past a few of its flaws (the not-so-great acting, the horrible pronounciation of names, and the rushed plot), I think you will enjoy the film enough. Just try to see it at an early bird special or matinee price.
And also all the people whining about the cast not being asian, the show IS fiction and takes place in a made up world. The characters in the world range from a variety of ethnicities and to say they need to be asian to do a martial arts movie is just dumb.
It would be appropriate for you disclose you own racial background, in order to qualify your opinion.
I'm Greek. But what difference does that make? M. Night is Asian and people are still accusing him of "whitewashing." Absolutely absurd.
I think she's saying that the movie isn't offensive to watch. She, like most sane people on this earth, could give a rat's ass about casting "controversies".
"Clearly you have no education or background of the show."
The show is irrelevant. All that matters is the movie she's reviewing.
"You focus on all of the flowery action scenes but have no content about in depth STORY, PLOT AND ACTING."
Story:The Last Airbender, based on a popular Nickelodeon cartoon series, is a fantasy-adventure aimed primarily at kids, set in a world where four tribal nations — Air, Water, Earth and Fire — just can’t get along, because a revered being known as the Avatar has skipped out on them some 100 years ago. Taking advantage of this international instability, the people of the Fire Nation have decided to bully the other guys into submission and thus take over the world. Oh where, oh where, could the Avatar be?
As it turns out, he’s been hiding in sort of time warp, and two Water Nation kids, Katara (Nicola Peltz) and Sokka (Jackson Rathbone, who plays Jasper in the Twilight movies), serendipitously bring him back into the world.
Plot:The Fire Nation people need to capture Aang, lest he restore harmony to the world and squelch their superpower ambitions. And if, beyond that, you can follow the plot of The Last Airbender, you’re surely capable of bending some pretty heavy-duty baloney into submission yourself.
Acting: But some of the actors rise above the sillier-than-silly dialog: Aasif Mandvi (who played Mr. Aziz in Spider-Man 2, but who was even more wonderful in a smallish role in David Koepp’s superb romantic comedy Ghost Town) plays an amoral military commander; he walks a fine line between sending up the movie’s kiddie hokum and treating the material as seriously as if it were Shakespeare. And Dev Patel, of Slumdog Millionaire, shows up as the unfortunately named Prince Zuko.
Seriously? Learn to read.
Why make a movie if you're only doing it for fans of the show (especially if it's covering the same story groundd as the show)? It'll be bound to suck (see Watchmen if you don't believe).
"And also all the people whining about the cast not being asian, the show IS fiction and takes place in a made up world. The characters in the world range from a variety of ethnicities and to say they need to be asian to do a martial arts movie is just dumb."
Absolutely no one is arguing that the leads should be Asian because "only asians can do a martial arts movie" and you have completely and utterly missed the point. People are upset about this movie because this original television series is based extremely heavily on East Asian culture and it permeates the show in all aspects, including in the characters' personal philosophies, beliefs, motivations, and development; essentially, what makes that character who they are. Even more obviously, though, the characters themselves are unmistakably Inuit and Asian with names like Aang, Toph Bei Fong, Zhao, etc..
The creators and cultural advisors for the television series put a lot of effort and time in making sure all the small, cultural details of the show were accurate and respectful of the cultures were based on, from the calligraphy that appeared on the show, to the outfits (including hanboks and hanfus) , to the food, architecture, even the various Asian martial arts styles each of the different bending styles were based on. It shows how much respect and admiration the original creators had for these cultures, how much care and time they put into developing a carefully crafted product that had great attention to detail that allows for audiences to be further drawn into their world. Whereas, in contrast, the casting director of the last airbender movie has been quoted as ignorantly saying, "If you're Korean, wear a kimono" when casting "authentic Asians" for background characters.
The show does take place in a fictional world, but Nickelodeon itself marketed this fictional world as an "Asian fantasy world" during the show's original run during 2005 and all the details in the design and history of the world are very obviously based on East Asian and Inuit culture. This movie is extremely insulting and offensive because it's telling Asian and Inuit people that we aren't even good enough for our own cultures or to represent ourselves, that only white people are relatable as main characters, and that, within our own cultures, we are only good enough to be relegated to the background, to eventually be saved by the white heroes.
Alas, white actors are not the same as white characters. The characters are still Asian, and the cultural aspects from the show are as similar as can be.
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