Opening Day: 5 August 2010

Synopsis:

Air, Water, Earth, Fire. Four nations tied by destiny when the Fire Nation launches a brutal war against the others. A century has passed with no hope in sight to change the path of this destruction. Caught between combat and courage, Aang (Noah Ringer) discovers he is the lone Avatar with the power to manipulate all four elements. Aang teams with Katara (Nicola Peltz), a Waterbender, and her brother, Sokka (Jackson Rathbone), to restore balance to their war-torn world.

Movie Review:

To Mr M. Night Shyamalan,

Upon previewing your recent work, i do have mix feeling upon the thousands of slamming befallen onto your name. Not that they were wrong but credit must be given when due and i must say, it had potential. So much potential that it was such a disappointment that it didn’ lived up to my expectation which i so hopefully wanted it to. As you can tell, I'm a big fan of the Nickelodeon hit show Avatar - The Last Air Bender, the cartoon series. I never knew i could enjoy such an epic cartoon at my tender age of 30. Damn you James Cameron for stealing the title and forced upon M. Night to change the film title, unknowingly, a sign of the fate that is to come. Your work has been on a decline ever since "The Village" but i kept on holding on because, you sir, are a story teller. Lady in the Water was bombed by many but it has a special place in my heart. I know you have this little kid inside you always wanting to come out and play and see the world differently with much curiosity. Just like me. Then came "The Happening", The only gripe I had was the strange quality of acting throughout but i understood the classic film dialog style played in hand. Its a pity "The Last Air Bender" didn't lift you out of the sticky mud that you’e slowly sinking into. Lets layout the good and bad points here.

The bad points:

• Character development. Or lack of it. Everyone seem to be in their own little world and not much chemistry was felt. Even between Katara and Sokka, the sibling bond, somehow felt forced.

• Where was the humour? Sure, there were some sprinkled around but it had a hard time balancing the seriousness and humour. Aang is suppose to be a kid even when he had the daunting task of being The One.

• Of all the characters in the series, Prince Zuko, in my opinion, is the most interesting character. Kudos to Dev Patel. He did quite a performance as the tortured soul. Too bad the storyline didn’t really show the extent of his desperation.

• Awful cinematography. Some shots were badly framed added with boring angles during epic periods. This caused a pacing problem where scenes come too fast and everything had to be gulped down and figure out what we ate later.

• Great opportunity of epic action sequences that could have blown my mind but fell short, fizzled away and gave up. What gives? You had too much power and scared yourself?

Now its not entirely your fault for the downfall. I mean cramming 20, 1/2 episodes into a 1 hr 40 mins time frame is a daunting task. Impossible in my book but i have to give it to you for managing it. To your doom alas.

The good point:

• Great special effects. Water, air, fire bending was a jaw-dropper. LOVED the water effect. Earth, not so much. Awaiting for the sequels where they truly show the power of earth bending. Its going to knock our socks off.

• Awesome soundtrack. Fell in love with it in the teaser trailer. Loved it even more on the official site. It’ll definitely be in my iPod play list.

• Jackson Rathbone (Sokka) and Dev Patel (Prince Zuko) had potential. I can see their character growing. Just need the rest to catch up.

Like how the film plot drives Aang to let go of his emotion in order to control and release his full potential power as an Avatar, M. Night should have listened to his own script. Take a rest while you let others helm your ideas cos, man, you have some wild ideas. So don’ you give up. Keep on telling your stories and seed those ideas into our dreams and mind.

PS: ‘evil’ better be good. I’ hyperventilating just by the trailer. But that’ what i said about Air Bender too...

Yours Truly,
Your Fan.

Movie Rating:



Review by Lokman B S

(A little cold, sometimes lukewarm, too airy and groundedly flat)