To those of you who don't know me well I am a very passionate person. I put that passion in and towards many different things. Just to name a few: Hockey, The St. Louis Blues, Hockey, Harry Potter, Film, and Avatar: The Last Airbender. Now some of you might have heard that a little film called "The Last Airbender" was being released this weekend. Of course I was excited and had preordered tickets and just ready to see some live action bendification on screen... little did I know how disappointed and pissed off I was going to be coming out of the theater with a VERY pissed off, and rightly so, Maxwell.
Avatar: the Last Airbender was a cartoon on Nickelodeon for quite a while before talks of a live action movie started. It had a successful 3 seasons that covered a wonderfully spun story about a world where people (Benders) could manipulate the four elements of Earth, Water, Fire, and Air. But the Avatar was a member of one of the four nations (Fire, Water, Earth and Air... if you haven't caught on...) reincarnated for thousands of years, he/she alone could master all four elements and communicate with the vast and mysteriously powerful spirit world.
I started watching the cartoon with my little brother about 5 years ago when I was a sophomore in High School. I saw it from the beginning and fell in love with the characters and the story and the world itself. It was a beautiful mastering of a serious and dark story blended with a layer of humor and pure entertainment value. I diligently watched every episode after the pilot premiered. When I started College the series was in its third and final "Book" and went through a brief hiatus because of a little dispute between Nick and Disney over the rights of Dante Basco's contract. After watching Cloverfield one night I tried to find one of the newer episodes of Avatar to watch. I happened to make a new friend that day that was actually on a mission to find the exact same episode. Of course that friend turned out to be Max and we bonded over Hockey and Avatar. So last night Max and I trekked out to the Midnight showing of “The Last Airbender” since we both had high hopes after seeing several previews. Afterward wasting 2 hours away at the theater we both came out extremely ready to start a baby punching rampage.
The film started out with a live action incarnation of the television show’s introduction of the four elemental bending styles. I did in fact find this to be a proper introduction but also a little out of place for a big screen film that was to first of a “trilogy”, now if it was the second or third I could see it working a lot better and more effectively… Now that being said… The damn Star Wars like story introduction with someone dictating it to you as what she is saying is displayed on screen was so ridiculously stupid… that is where it started… I HATED that moment. I realized then that we were in for something that I had wished id just waited to find a bootleg of the Internet instead of giving this shittious director my money.
I won’t go into the story, or lack there of, because I don’t want to spoil the TV show for those that have not witnessed its brilliance. I will say that the acting, again or lack there of, was so flat and lacked personality. The only character that was remotely good was Dev Patal’s Prince Zuko, I use the term Remotely very loosely here. Mr. Patal had mere glimpses of showing me something that actually embodied the character of Zuko. To me it seemed that every time he reached the glimmer point it was quickly snatched away and he reverted back to something that felt forced and as if he had been directed in a way that created a confusion with in him or a frustration. This can be said for all of the actors. I don’t blame them really. I believe that this is all M. Night Shamafuckface’s fault.
The film felt rushed and even then it felt like HOURS before something happened… I felt like I was being told a story instead of witnessing or being part of the story, which the original tv show included you on the ride and made you love and care for each character for their strengths and flaws. As a viewer I got none of that from the film. There was literally no character development and way to much narration that didn’t have to be there. Even the dialogue was campy and just parody worthy… In all honesty, the CARTOON felt more realistic then the LIVE ACTION movie did… there is something wrong with that picture if you ask me.
The movie’s technical side was also poorly executed. First things first why in the world was everything pronounced in such a funny way!? Like AVATAR… it’s an easy word to say… they defiantly got it right when James Cameron was all up in arms about the damn thing… SO why did it sound like each person was starting to say Avocado instead of Avatar…? But honestly that wasn’t the worst… first and for most… its AANG NOT ONG, I-ROH not EAROH, SOKKA NOT SO-KA!!!! For me changing the pronunciations of the names of almost every character or even not giving the name of the character… did anyone ever hear Aang name and or call MoMo or Appa??? Cause I sure as fuck didn’t!
The Cinematography would have been good had we not sat at the same close up or weird depth of field shots. One in particular was a shot with Aang in the foreground all out of focus and Katara in the background in focus… was that really necessary… NO… it never shifted or cut, which that isn’t the Cinematographer’s fault by any means because I commend him or her for actually being one of the only things that kept me interested through out the worst 2 hours of my life… this was even more worse then me having to sit through a horrible Blues/Blackhawks game on my 21st birthday!
One of the biggest things that kept pissing me off even more then anything else was the Editing, it was choppy and very sloppy… I came out of the theater demanding to see the dailies and the rest of the footage to re-edit and maybe put the spirit of the show back into the film. There were instances where characters were having entire conversations just in close ups… not once did it pull out of an extreme close up of their face. The close ups were jarring and it made the editing VERY noticeable which is RULE NUMERO UNO for an editor… NEVER let your audience notice the editing! The entire film also seemed to be underplayed with music… the entire film, yes there was not once that the music seemed to cease to exist during the 2 hour film. I got criticized in my first semester of FILM SCHOOL for doing this with a film. It’s a basic and rookie mistake that doesn’t always work unless there is a purpose for it.
All and All M. Night REALLY fucked everything up... and I mean EVERYTHING… the life of the show was GONE and everything just was like watching paint dry. So I really can’t blame the actors for this one… because I did feel as if I at least liked the actors portraying Katara, Sokka, and Zuko... I thought they were decent enough actors just horribly directed. I really feel that the actors were instructed to act like this not because they came up with it on their own...
Many people have told me that a decent adaptation of the TV Series just could not be done but I respectfully disagree. This adaptation could have been done. It would have been hard but they should have taken there time and made it worth the wait. This is something I feel that M. Night can and never will do. He botched it and ruined it, The studio should have gotten someone who could pull it off... they said Lord of the Rings could never be done for YEARS and Peter Jackson did it and did spectacular. this could/can be pulled off and done amazing if you don't just pick and choose through the episodes story lines you actually have to have a central plot and character development and passion for the material, Which it is my semi professional opinion that M. Night neither had or attempted to have.
So here I sit in complete and utter distain and my final words are… Fuck you M. Night go back from where you came and never touch my avatar again!
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