View Full Version : The Last Airbender - Disappointingly Short
Paranoïde44
07-01-10, 03:33 AM
Just came back from the midnight show. The movie was really good but I wish I hadn't spent $15.50 to see it in realD. Also to note that the teaser trailer of last year wasn't even in the movie.
The only thing I found to be truly disappointing was that the movie was too short. When it comes to movies like these you expect a 2 hour or more movie and instead you get a movie that is 1 hour and 43 minutes. This movie could have been greatly expanded without it feeling like filler scenes. As a fan of the cartoon there was a lot of things that could have been added without threatening the sequal(s).
I don't know maybe its just me. I would love to read other's thoughts on the movie :) .
Hey all, I just saw The Last Airbender 3D, I must say, it was horrendous. I am a die hard fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender, which is a masterpiece, but what this movie did is unnameable. There are way to many things for me to say because I would be here for days writing this so to start off M. Night got pretty much ALL the names wrong and so many other words. Aang is not pronounced Eng, Iroh is not pronounced Eroh and Sokka is pronounced like Socka not whatever they said in the movie. Also they mention the word Agni Kai in the film yet they pronounce it like Agni Kii with emphasis on the "ii" which sounded messed up! And then when they visit the Earth Kingdom, he somehow manages to smush like 4 different villages into one and we don't even know the names of the people that they meet. They don't even mention Appa or Momo's name, total mess up. I will give him credit for the CGI which does look amazing but for the 3D, there was nothing, in the very first scenes he gives homage to the show by showing the 4 elements but the elements didn't jump out of the screen as if they were attacking you and it never happened in the movie either. Another point is the firebenders...like WTF?! why cant they produce their own fire unless they are a "master" like "Eroh" and can only control fire that is already made. And how does he expect to make a the other 2 books when he didn't even finish the first, there are so many things that have been left out its unbearable, like where was Roku? and was the "Dragon Spirit" Roku's dragon Fang? and was that boy in the Earth Kingdom Haru? One last thing, WHATS WITH ALL THE FACE SHOTS? like I know M. Night makes horror movies, but The Last Airbender is NO WHERE CLOSE to a horror movie, I don't want to see a 12 year olds face when hes about to airbend, and another thing since I reminded myself of bending, how come the movements took 400 hours to do to get the smallest result and non of the movements flowed with the bending taking place. The Waterbenders are supposed to have long graceful movement that flow like water, they had short quick and erratic movements that didn't resemble the movement of water at all. That's all I'm going to say now since I don't want to get carpal tunnel from rage writing all this and the movie gets a 2/10 from me...the only reason is because of the CGI.
I can't see how you liked the film. I was truly disappointed being in love with the cartoon and it could have been WAY longer with WAY more fill-ins, he pretty much took some episodes smashed them together and hoped it would be good, don't see how he's gonna make book 2 and 3
Do I pronounce your "name" Cur-bee, Curb-ee, Cur-bI or Curb-I? Happy Bending.
rikzricci
07-01-10, 05:51 AM
Wow... You were really a die hard fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender.. do you really disappointed when you watch The Last Airbender Movie? Looks for sure to me.:(
Harry Lime
07-01-10, 05:54 AM
That is definitely a review for the wall...
Do I pronounce your "name" Cur-bee, Curb-ee, Cur-bI or Curb-I? Happy Bending.
Ok my name is pronounced Cur-bee and since I see where you got stuck I will aid you, Aang is pronounced Ain-g, Iroh is pronounced I-row, Sokka is pronounced Sock-aw and Agni Kai is pronounced Ag-ni K-ai. In the film M. Night for some reason no one knows decided to change the pronunciation which doesn't make any sense to me. Hoped that helped you
Wow... You were really a die hard fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender.. do you really disappointed when you watch The Last Airbender Movie? Looks for sure to me.:(
Yes I was actually my friends and I all went to see it because we love the show and on the way back home I think for 40 mins out of a 1 hour car ride we just talked about how bad the movie was. We were all just so livid after the movie that the only thing we could talk about was how bad it was.
Thanks. I was kicked in the head by a horse when I was young, so some things are still difficult...
Ahh I see, sorry about that and can't say the same thing happened to me
Paranoïde44
07-01-10, 08:27 AM
Knowing who wrote & directed the movie I went into to film with very low expectations especially after paying money to see his last disaster The Happening. And thats the key to watching this movie and any movie I seen so far this summer. I went in expecting a complete butchering of Avatar, but was surprised that while Night did butcher the original it was still an engaging film to watch. You need to completely blank your mind and forget the original exists for 1 hour and 43 minutes.
And it will be interesting to see how he will put the books together after leaving so much out in the first movie.
:rotfl:
I know absolutely nothing about the source TV show. I just wanted to highlight my favorite moments of your review.
I am a die hard fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender, which is a masterpiece
he somehow manages to smush like 4 different villages into one
They don't even mention Appa or Momo's name
Another point is the firebenders...like WTF?!
was the "Dragon Spirit" Roku's dragon Fang?
WHATS WITH ALL THE FACE SHOTS?
I don't want to see a 12 year olds face when hes about to airbend
Well, it seems the critics agree with Curbi's conclusion. Last I checked, it was at 0% on rottentomatoes.
This makes me sad, actually. It's like what is wrong with M. Night?
It is barely hanging on at 5% and it is a shame, too; I rather wanted to see it.
Critical opinion seems nearly unanimous on this one, which is a shame. It looked fantastic. It really did.
The complaints I'm hearing really ring, true, too: that it feels too childlike, and that it keeps throwing weird rules and conventions at us so that we never feel situated in their world. That second one, in particular, is a problem with a lot of films like this, so I don't have any trouble believing it's spot-on.
Such a bummer. This seemed like such a good fit for Night, both in terms of getting back to more populist fare (which he does incredibly well; certainly better than the esoteric stuff), and to kickstart a promising franchise. Meh.
Damn man, I was hoping this would be decent. :(
Yoda, this must be a bummer since I know you are a fan of his. :(
Are you going to go see it?
Meanwhile, I really believe Anime is Anime because that's where it belongs. The concepts and style fit best in that medium. Live Action attempts never seem to work well.
Meanwhile, I really believe Anime is Anime because that's where it belongs. The concepts and style fit best in that medium. Live Action attempts never seem to work well.
Sigh. Poor Akira, Bebop, and GiTS.
Yoda, this must be a bummer since I know you are a fan of his. :(
Are you going to go see it?
It'd be more of a bummer if I didn't have Lady in the Water and The Happening (and, to a lesser extent, The Village) to prepare me for the possibility that it could be bad. That said, it just seemed like such a terrific marriage, and the trailers looked awfully good, and the source material...
Gah. Can't even talk about this. For a solid 6-8 months I was convinced that this was exactly the sort of project Night needed to get his head right and start making the kinds of films he's so clearly capable of making again.
Funnily enough, that might happen anyway, but out of desperation rather than a resurgence. Having to scale back to more modest, minimalist projects could go him a lot of good. I was looking forward to The Last Airbender in its own right, but I was mostly looking forward to what it might do for Night's projects going forward. In that sense, a terrific failure might be just as valuable as a terrific success.
I realize I haven't answered your question: will I see it? I honestly don't know. I'm leaning against it, at the moment, but the ways in which it goes wrong could be interesting in their own right, and sometimes the best reviews come out of the worst movies. :D
Sigh. Poor Akira, Bebop, and GiTS.
I hope they aren't trying to do Akira in Live Action form - that just will NOT work, ever. GitS would just end up being Blade Runner II, which we do not need. I have seen only an episode or two of BeBop, so I can't really comment on it. The animation is what makes (good) Anime so much fun, methinks.
honeykid
07-01-10, 02:49 PM
I can't believe people thought this'd be good. It looked terrible. Utter shite. Anime's bad enough, but 'live action Anime"?!?! It seems that no one's ever happy with that.
alex5455
07-01-10, 03:40 PM
Yea, Should have been longer. Since the movie was kept to a normal length, M Night had to pack too much into such a short time and therefore character development and dialogue was hindered. Should have taken the "Lord of the Rings" approach and made the movie 2 to 2 1/2 hours long in order to actually develop some personality is the characters.
Also, whats with the alternative pronunciations of names?
I totaly agree with alex5455 on how M. Night should have taken The Lord of the Rings approach with a movie 2 to 2 1/2 hours long. He would have been able to fill in so many details, actually mention all the people that Aang meets and actually give true homage to the anime.
I can't believe people thought this'd be good..
I don't think anyone was thinking this was going to be good, I went in to this movie right after I watched the anime and was about to compare the flaws of the movie to the anime and also if he got some parts rights from the anime, but what M. Night did was so wrong, I'm surprised that he's going to make a second because it's going to be just as bad or worse because I can't see how he's going to connect the two films.
I can't believe people thought this'd be good. It looked terrible. Utter shite. Anime's bad enough, but 'live action Anime"?!?! It seems that no one's ever happy with that.
Zuh? It looked great. It's good source material with an intriguing premise and lots of opportunities for inventive action sequences. I don't really know if it matters that it's based on an Anime; there haven't been tons of attempts to translate them, have there? There may be, I'm genuinely asking. Regardless, that seems to be a concern for visual adaptation, rather than the quality of the story.
Anyway, I know quite a few people who were very intrigued by the trailers. I'm surprised you're surprised that I'm surprised it's bad.
I hope they aren't trying to do Akira in Live Action form - that just will NOT work, ever.
Leonardo DiCaprio is attached to an Akira Live-Action film set for 2013.
Yeah, I figured you would retort with something like that.
Color me unhappy about the idea.
Islandofcapri
07-01-10, 09:55 PM
For starters, I’ve been anticipating this movie for about a year now. As a preface, I’ve been following the Avatar series since it first came out and, as many fans would agree, was incredible (and what made it even more incredible was the mere fact an American company, Nickelodeon nonetheless, was able to come up with it). Avatar incorporated traditional and very real martial arts into a “cartoon” and was (as a kung fu student myself) extremely accurate. I remember one day watching a re-run of one of the episode’s in the third book and thinking to myself, I just learned that exact move in class today. A friend and I learned the “Dragon Dance” for our performance video, though it was just for laughs, it was so much fun thinking we could do what Zuko and Aang could do. Speaking of the characters, they’re simply remarkable. They’re lovable, ‘hateable’, mysterious, unforgettable, and yet they’re just drawings.
But enough about my way too obvious love of the show, how about the movie? From the very beginning of the movie, the very first scene, I could tell something was off. It may have just been the theater I went to, and there’s a 99% chance that it was, the words were so blurry, they were almost illegible. The intro was almost exactly the same as the show, except re worded differently. Who would of thought? Now, I knew before I walked into the theater, and tried to prepare myself, that Sokka would not be funny, Zuko was casted horribly, they pronounced Aang’s name like “Ung”, and a few other little facts here and there. They condensed a lot of the beginning (which was expected because they had to fit an entire season into a two hour film). But honestly, the movie was horrible. It took every ounce of strength not to walk out of the theater in the first 20 minutes. I know that sounds dramatic, but I seriously questioned it. The acting was truly a nightmare. It was Noah Ringer’s (aka Aang) first acting gig, so I can accept that his acting skills aren’t up to prime. Plus who am to judge? I actually really liked him as Aang, though I thought he could have been a bit more “cheery”, his martial arts skills were extremely impressive! I said prior that the casting to Zuko was a bad choice; I still pretty much stand by that. Zuko is supposed to be quiet and, occasionally foolish with decision making, but in the movie Zuko seemed fairly level headed, like he knew what he was doing. He was also very outspoken. They originally were going to cast Jessie McCartney as Zuko, but later decided against it. I don’t think McCartney would’ve been a better actor, Dev Patel is actually very good, but I think he appealed to the role of Zuko a lot more.
Inaccuracy: A key player in why this movie was crap. The Air Temples? According to the movie, the sanctuary where the statues of past Avatars reside is located in the Northern air temple. In actuality Aang, Katara, and Sokka, stumble upon it in the Southern air temple within the first few episodes. This is where they find Momo, it’s how Aang entered the “avatar state” for the first time. In the movie, they ignore all of this and decide that they’re going to use the statues as a lure for the Fire Nation to capture Aang. The Fire Nation Soldiers were hiding behind the statues and were able to catch Aang. They then bring Aang somewhere within the Northern air temple and hold him captive. Zuko, disguised as the “blue spirit”, then releases Aang and drags him away so that he may bring him back to his father instead of the Fire Nation Army. None of this actually happens in the show. At least not in the sequence, and in many cases not at all. There is a point when Zuko dresses as the “blue spirit” and frees Aang, but it certainly does not happen when or how they described it in the movie. But this is just one point, what happened to the Kiyoshi Warriors? Oh, they don’t exist. Which means Sokka doesn’t have a girl friend, it means Azula and her gang never infiltrate Ba Sing Se. It means Aang and Zuko would never escape The Boiling Rock -The Fire Nation’s top security prison-, and many battles would be lost. The special effects could have been remarkable. Avatar (The one by James Cameron) had a basic plot, nothing inconceivable, but the effects and design were impeccable. “The Last Air Bender” could have done that, even though they’re plot was twisted and inaccurate; they could have gained it back with the bending effects. But they were no more than average. The fighting scenes were interesting to watch, to see the elements in full effect of live action, but it didn’t “put you there”. No matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t even begin to imagine that it was “real”. The bending was awkward as well. Fire benders had to have fire to fire bend (Except for Iroh, who could somehow magically make fire shoot out of his arms) I seriously question the judgment of the director, who claims he knows “everything there is to know about Avatar” It’s ironic because that statement is a joke, except the movie (which is supposed to be intense yet have elements of comedy) is lacking any ounce of humor what-so-ever. Then there are the small things, like pronunciation.
Uncle Iroh (Eye-Row). In the movie it’s (Ear-Row)
Sokka (Sa-Ka). In the movie it’s (Sow-Ka)
Aang (well it’s pretty much how it looks). In the movie it’s (Ong)
Agni Kai (Ag-knee-Kie). In the movie it’s (Ag-Knee-Kee). It sounds a lot different, trust me.
I’m writing this on the first day it came out, and every review on the internet right now is completely and utterly negative.
I could go on, because I tend to make my arguments extremely excessive, but I’ll stop for your sake. I’m no professional critic, and who am I to judge the actors or producers, because honestly I probably would have done a 100 times worse job then they did. Avatar was just not meant to be live action (like many anime <--- hence the term “anime”) It was also not meant to be directed by the chosen director. I was thinking throughout the movie that this looked fan-made, something you would see on YouTube.
Cries&Whispers
07-01-10, 10:48 PM
OK, I just got back from seeing this in theaters with some friends. It is not very good...at all. I genuinely like Shyamalan, and am sincere when I say I want him to be successful. But pretty much since Signs in 2002, he hasn't made a movie that audiences really embrace. His bad luck streak continues with this movie.
It's entertaining at parts, but really, how can a movie about a kid who can bend air, fire, earth, and water not be exciting? Shyamalan's pretty good in those scenes, but they are few and far between and almost non-existent for the first hour. Honestly, the pacing, dialogue, and above all the acting in the first act of this movie are painfully bad. The last twenty minutes or so is epic, though. I'll give it that. But overall, I agree with the popular critical consensus of the film in saying it's more or less a failure.
His abilities as a director are undeniable; Unbreakable was slick and well done, Signs is a tremendously underrated masterpiece in my opinion, and of course, The Sixth Sense is just one of the 25 best movies of the last decade. Again, these are just my opinions, and I'm no director myself.
But after Signs he seemed to say to himself, "Okay, now I'm just going to make a bunch of self-indulgent movies for myself without regard for whether or not I engage the audience." That's probably a little strong, but The Village, Lady in the Water, and The Happening just were NOT very interesting stories, plain and simple. At least from an entertainment perspective. I often like directors who reward the audience's patience and intellect, but the material has to be stimulating.
Again, he's still on top of his game as a director, especially in the The Happening. I thought it featured some of the best directed scenes of that year, (2008?) and of Shyamalan's career. For those of you who've seen it, I'm referring in particular to the scene where a Jeep hits a tree, the construction workers falling off a building, the single-shot gun scene, and the scene in the country house where the lady walked around banging her head on things. The guy knows how to film people killing themselves.
But I say self-indulgent because he seems content in staying in his own world of fantasy and slight thriller in Philadelphia, with dialogue that's contrived and trite, a shocker ending, and child actors who are way too mature or smart for their age.
THE REMEDY? Easy. He needs to direct someone else's script. I don't know if it's because he's too close to his own material or if he's creatively bankrupt, but his stories fall flat. So yeah, you can still keep your signature style, but branch out M. Night! Do a political thriller starring adults as main characters; do a Hitchcockian adventure movie; do a CG blockbuster action fantasy adaptation. Actually don't do that last one cuz Airbender stunk.
Then again, my expertise is limited to thousands of movies watched and some film classes. You're a major studio Academy Award-nominated screenwriter/director/producer.
I can't believe people thought this'd be good. It looked terrible. Utter shite....
I don't think anyone was thinking this was going to be good...
The Last Airbender sucks according to everyone
http://filmonic.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/last-airbender-noah-aang.jpg
Aang’s first words were “I don’t deserve their praise”, and looking back it’s quite funny considering The Last Airbender has received hardly any from critics who have seen the film. And when I say ‘hardly’ I mean it is currently the worst rated film of 2010, with a measly 8% on Rotten Tomatoes (http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/last_airbender/).
Each film from M. Night Shyamalan has been progressively worse than the previous one following his hailing as the ‘next Spielberg’ thanks to The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs. Many thought that The Last Airbender could be a chance for M. Night to redeem himself as a huge summer blockbuster has never crossed his path before, but he seems to have dug himself into a deeper hole by making the worst critically received movie of the year.
Here’s what a few critics are saying:
The New York Times (http://movies.nytimes.com/2010/07/01/movies/01last.html?src=me&ref=movies&partner=Rotten%20Tomatoes):
The long-winded explanations and clumsy performances are made worse by graceless effects and a last-minute 3-D conversion that wrecks whatever visual grace or beauty might have been there.
Roger Ebert (http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100630/REVIEWS/100639999):
The dialogue is couched in unspeakable quasi-medieval formalities; the characters are so portentous they seem to have been trained for grade school historical pageants. Their dialogue is functional and action-driven. There is little conviction that any of this might be real even in their minds. All of the benders in the movie appear only in terms of their attributes and functions, and contain no personality.
Variety (http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117943102.html?categoryid=31&cs=1):
Even without one of Shyamalan’s trademark twist endings, “Airbender” easily fits into the helmer’s portfolio of brooding genre inversions: Here, we expect an epic martial-arts movie and instead get a soul-searching adolescent’s decision to spare his enemies — a character-driven approach that’s ill served by the largely amateur cast.
Metromix (http://newyork.metromix.com/movies/movie_review/the-last-airbender-review/2035278/content):
Tedious, overstuffed, visually flat … emotionally inert, filled with painfully expository dialogue and mostly poorly acted, it’s simply an all-around misfire.
But of course bad reviews don’t necessarily mean a poor box office. With The Twilight Saga: Eclipse taking over the weekend young males may be inclined to see The Last Airbender, however with a budget of over $280 million ($150 million to make, $130 million to market) Paramount will need Airbender to generate more than $580 million worldwide at the box office and on DVD to turn a profit.
M. Night Shyamalan may want to halt work on that sequel (http://filmonic.com/m-night-shyamalan-already-working-second-airbender-movie)…
Source: Filmonic (http://filmonic.com/the-last-airbender-suckage#more-9787)
Brodinski
07-03-10, 07:13 PM
I can see this film doing well at the box office. Even if it's utter garbage, people will still watch it. There's plenty of examples: Transformers 2, all Twilights.
And Night will probably be pleased again. "One hit wonder" is beginning to sound like a justified description of this overrated director/screenwriter. He's rapidly becoming the most overpaid hack in Hollywood.
Oh sure it will do well out of pure curiosity. Transformers 2 was actually fun to be honest. I wouldn't call it utter garbage though. It was popcorn excitement :D.
And one hit wonder? I don't think so. One hit wonder describes person having only one hit on their hands and never having another in their life. He's had many hit movies in his life.
FrodoBagginsDazzlesMe
07-06-10, 10:01 PM
I saw The Last Airbender sunday :)
I loooved it and I'm a huge fan of the show too. There were several things that bothered me though and it wasn't perfect but it was still really awesome xD
Just to see the benders bending the elements was enough.
FrodoBagginsDazzlesMe
07-06-10, 10:03 PM
I can't believe people thought this'd be good. It looked terrible. Utter shite. Anime's bad enough, but 'live action Anime"?!?! It seems that no one's ever happy with that.
What 'anime'? Avatar: The Last Airbender is an american cartoon. ^^
honeykid
07-06-10, 11:52 PM
OK, fair enough. Though I have to say that the phrase "potato, potarto" comes to mind. :D
But you are right, so I'll +rep that. :)
FrodoBagginsDazzlesMe
07-07-10, 05:14 AM
OK, fair enough. Though I have to say that the phrase "potato, potarto" comes to mind. :D
But you are right, so I'll +rep that. :)
Hehe :) But I can see where people get them confused since the animation of Avatar is based off japanese anime.
Normally I'd write something here to sort of "introduce" the review, but I doubt it needs much introduction at this point. It's bad. Not bad in the many understandable ways it could have been bad; bad in very easily avoidable ways.
The Last Airbender
http://www.movieforums.com/images/main/the_last_airbender_main.jpg (http://www.movieforums.com/images/main/the_last_airbender_main.jpg)
...more expository dialogue than the end of an Agatha Christie novel. All the elements for an engaging fantasy are here, but Shyamalan, unlike his characters, just can't control them ...READ MORE
1.5
The Prestige
07-09-10, 08:28 PM
Boy, I was actually considering giving this a chance as well. Put off to the max. M Night needs to really sort it out it.
genesis_pig
07-11-10, 08:19 PM
Saw the movies today...
I kind of enjoyed it a bit... It was not at all disappointing, I am growing fond of the franchise even more now. I hope they make a sequel to it.
I know it might be disappointing to hardcore fans.. but I think it wasn't all that bad,,
I enjoyed it a lot more than Prince of Persia (whose success still beats me).
honeykid
07-11-10, 10:10 PM
I enjoyed it a lot more than Prince of Persia (whose success still beats me).
It's a big, stupid action movie. Ergo, it'll almost certainly make money worldwide during the summer blockbuster season.
genesis_pig
07-11-10, 10:26 PM
But I felt in comparison to PoP, Last Airbender was atleast faithful in someway to the original material.. While PoP, turned a complex videogame concept into something silly and predictible..
And still people like PoP over Last Airbender, I dont get why people hate Last Airbender so much.. it isn't that bad as most people make it appear to be.
Last Airbender has some really bad acting though, the lead character seemed like Keanu Reeves son, they taught him how to fight, but not how to act....
But one can easily forgive all this, As I am sure noone went to see an oscar winning performance..
The movie also avoids the traditional fantasy elements like a comic relief..
juli888
07-16-10, 06:55 AM
And I consider that quite enough 1 hour and 43 minutes. I do not love when films are tightened. The film has by the way turned out very much even interesting.
Cinefilles
09-03-10, 06:17 PM
Curbi, as a non-Avatar fan, I still agree that it was horrendous. Believe me, non-fans had no advantage to enjoying this film.
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