Now here is I movie I saw completely out of boredom. It was last night, my friends Ryan and Zak were over and we were trying to find something to do. It took us a while but we eventually decided to go see a movie, at the Tyngsboro cinema. Last Airbender was playing and there were no other movies up that I had wanted to see (other than Knight and Day, but the final showing had already started). The guys were up for seeing it, and I thought to myself, "Why not? It can't be all that bad. It looks interesting enough." Of course, this was after I subdued the thoughts of what my cousin and uncle had said about this movie. They are both avid fans of the series it is based on, and seeing the movie didn't do much to better their part of the vacation in Florida.
It was supposed to start at around 10:15, but with the mess of previews flooding the screen for what felt like a half hour, most of which were for movies that looked bland and unoriginal (one was for a sequel to Nanny McPhee; the cost of the CGI effects used in the movie could have been used to feed starving children, no doubt), it actually started at about 10:30. Great.
The first thing we see of Airbender: three or four company logos arranged with element effects behind each one. Somewhat cool, I'll give them that. Once we actually got into the movie, though, I was surprised that they would even want to brand their names onto this...."film".
The first thing I notice when the actual movie starts is that the main characters, Katara and Sokka, are the whitest Eskimos I've ever seen. Unlike most staunch, opinionated people with internet connection, though, I can put race aside when it comes to movies. It's the characterization, the acting, the persona, that matter most. And just like your average Shyamalan endeavor, that's where things went completely wrong. Not just "completely wrong", too. It went so utterly wrong that what the movie could have been was crushed under the weight of this fact: the acting in Airbender makes the standard second grade play look like Citizen Kane.
It's difficult to remember much else from the movie, mainly due to the distracting nature of the acting. When the way the main characters are reacting to situations feels as far from natural as possible, it's hard to focus on what they are saying throughout. From what I can gather though, it's about four nations that each represent one of the classical elements (fire, water, earth, air). People that can use their element in combat are called Benders, hence the title. Chaos has (apparently) spread throughout the nations and the only thing that can stop it is the Avatar (and no, not the nine-foot tall blue alien), a savior with the ability to master all four of the elements. It sounds interesting enough I guess, but the main problem here is presentation.
Ironically enough, and humorously enough, even though no one's acting ability seems to hit the mark, each of their executions of "not hitting the mark" vary:
The three main characters dramatically suffer (no pun intended) from having no personality whatsoever. For example, in a good movie, such as Star Wars, you can actually attribute specific traits to the main characters. You know how they will act in basically any situation because you feel a connection to them throughout the movie. You know Luke Skywalker is the naive and good-hearted farmboy who represents the hero archetype to a T, though not necessarily in a stereotypical way, and then you have Han Solo, who is the foil to Luke in terms of personality, motivation, etc. In Airbender, someone who has never seen the source material (someone like me) will have no way of knowing anything about the characters. The actors' tones are almost always flat, and the different pronunciations they use for names throughout the movie show their obvious lack of authenticity. One thing that also bothered me was that the brother, Sokka, had the same facial expression consistently, a look that seemed to combine intensity and a trance of highness; the problem here is that this expression may only be sometimes appropriate, but in most circumstances, it isn't. I thought emoting was covered in Acting 101, but perhaps I'm the crazy one.
All of the interactions between the three main heroes also felt contrived, artificial, and last but definitely not least, incredibly awkward. This can be attributed to abysmal writing alongside the godawful acting. This awkwardness is most obvious during a scene that takes place in an Earth village, where not one, not two, but three noticeably clumsy moments are thrown into the viewers face. It would be quite difficult to describe them properly if you haven't seen the movie, but I'll try my best.
1. The three heroes enter the village and then random guards show and start complaining that a boy was throwing rocks at them. One of them basically says, "It is illegal to use bending powers here! That boy is under arrest! He was throwing rocks at us...it really hurt!" The "really hurt" line was obviously meant to be funny, and despite the writer's attempt to be humorous here, Ryan, Zak, and I were laughing for different reasons, mainly at how stupid it sounded. AWKWARD.
2. The next moment involves the guards making fun of (or something to that effect) the main character Aang. I forget exactly what they were saying about him, probably because whatever was said was overshadowed by what happened next. Since he is being made fun of (or something), the lead girl, Katara, who is off-screen at the moment, literally comes running from off-screen to on-screen, from the right side of the screen all the way to the left, just so she can shove the guard slightly, telling him apathetically (like all her lines) to stop mocking. My god. This had the three of us in stitches. Literally. We could not contain our laughter for at least the next minute. This was easily the most awkward scene in the movie.
3. The last awkward moment from the Earth village was when Aang gives an "inspirational speech" to the citizens. He basically says (half-heartedly, obviously), "Hey, you guys are Earth people. You have earth beneath you. Don't give up now. Blah blah blah..." Yet another awkward moment that could have been prevented had the actor actually possessed talent.
Keep in mind that the three scenes mentioned all take place within a minute of each other. Just think of how many more clumsy moments take place over the hour and a half of "film".
Anyway, moving on, while the three main characters make an art of underacting, one of the main antagonists/anti-hero, Prince Zuko (played by the actually talented Dev Patel), makes an art of OVERacting. Like most movie buffs though, I find it much more entertaining to watch overacting as opposed to underacting, mainly because it's far less boring. Also unlike underacting, overacting has already been recognized as an artform (*cough* William Shatner *cough*). Even though it seems like Patel puts in legit effort, the end product looks funky when put side-to-side with the leads. His first appearance involved him yelling at the top of his lungs and possibly emoting more than the scene required. Still though, it was nice to see something from the on-screen actors other than apathy.
So, after breaking down all the negatives about the movie, are there any positives to speak of? Well, ironically, yes, there are. It certainly looks nice; the atmosphere, scenery, and special effects definitely have an appeal to them. Also, the storyline is pretty good too. Too bad these things are ruined strictly because of the actors' performances, which is basically the most important part of any movie.
With all that being said, I have been told by both Ryan and Zak (and everyone else who has seen this movie and hated it as much as I have) that the TV series Avatar: The Last Airbender beats the movie in leaps and bounds. And hey, as long as the characters have actual personalities and feel genuine, I bet I can believe that statement.
