The Last Airbender
Experience the thrilling live-action adventure based on the hit Nickelodeon series Avatar: The Last Airbender. Join Aang, an extraordinary boy with incredible "bending" powers, as he journeys through an exotic land filled with magical creatures and powerful friends. As the Avatar, he is the only one who can end the age-old conflict between the four nations, Air, Water, Earth and Fire. An inspirational journey, The Last Airbender is exciting entertainment for the entire family!
Member Reviews
Rushed, Cliff-Notes version of a fantastic series. - estefan
This film had a lot of potential to work, but unfortunately, M. Night Shyamalan felt the need to rush through a story that needed at least two and a half hours to be told, rather than the paltry ninety minute running time given to The Last Airbender. Because of this, the characters are barely developed and have no personality, due to the lack of time devoted to them. The especially important Katara and Sokka are surprisingly given little to do and fade into the background most of the time. It is also not helped by almost piece of dialogue being exposition and the acting is poor across with the board, with Noah Ringer and Dev Patel especially embarrassing themselves.
The bending lacks any excitement and is actually quite dull, do the action scenes leave very little impact, not to mention the special effects looked like they were created at the last minute. This is especially evident when Appa the Bison and Momo the Lemur are placed off-screen as much as possible. To the film's credit, though, the score by James Newton Howard is great and the costumes do a much better job of bringing the characters to live-action form than the questionable casting does. Why an Asian group of nations consist of mostly white suburban Californians, I have no idea. Contrary to other peoples' comments, I think Shyamalan did have an immense amount of respect for the animated series and occasional glimmers of hope pop up now and again, but in the end, The Last Airbender just doesn't come together in a satisfying way.Some nice cgi graphics - mxg123
The story is abit difficult to follow, but one does get the general idea. Some of the filming was good, but overall there was something else missing from this film. I just wish it was a bit better. But I have come to learn to not expect so much when Shyamalan is involved.hoping the potential will be unleashed for part 2 - Kliner
M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender is an epic adventure with no emotional depth, it’s a film kids will enjoy but won’t be captivated by, it’s a story adults can appreciate but won’t bother to remember the characters by name. It’s a film worth your time, but not till DVD. Here is a story ripe with potential, originality lurks in every scene, and yet, very little is made evident because the storyteller failed to recognize the value of formula; the formula of the genre and the formula of his own making. I am a huge M. Night Shyamalan fan, I deeply respect his work and am constantly inspired by what he puts on screen. Over the course of six films Shyamalan has created a genre all his own, some might call it a product, but truthfully they are simply his methods, colours and strengths that make him a good storyteller. Some of these strengths appear on screen, these are the elements that make The Last Airbender an enjoyable experience. With this film, however, Shyamalan has approached two new frontiers: the adaptation and the epic. For me, Shyamalan’s greatest strength is finding the humanity amidst the absurd. A child sees dead people but he has a fractured relationship with his mother. A security guard is ‘unbreakable’ and yet his marriage is falling apart. Aliens are attacking the earth but a pastor has renounced his faith. These are the characters and circumstances that make everything believable; this is what truly captivates an audience. But alas, these are elements that are absent from this adventure. There is hope that this story will continue, and that Shyamalan, who I do believe is the man for this material, will unleash the potential of this story, the value of this genre’s formula (Star Wars, The Matrix), and the originality of his own voice.
So while we wait we can enjoy what we have been given, an adventure the whole family can share.
Member Reviews
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Rushed, Cliff-Notes version of a fantastic series. - estefan
This film had a lot of potential to work, but unfortunately, M. Night Shyamalan felt the need to rush through a story that needed at least two and a half hours to be told, rather than the paltry ninety minute running time given to The Last Airbender. Because ...Some nice cgi graphics - mxg123
The story is abit difficult to follow, but one does get the general idea. Some of the filming was good, but overall there was something else missing from this film. I just wish it was a bit better. But I have come to learn to not expect so much when Shyamalan ...hoping the potential will be unleashed for part 2 - Kliner
M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender is an epic adventure with no emotional depth, it’s a film kids will enjoy but won’t be captivated by, it’s a story adults can appreciate but won’t bother to remember the characters by name. It’s a film worth your time, ...