The Last Airbender (2010) Movie Review, Trailer, Film Still and Poster

USA 2010
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Cast: Noah Ringer, Dev Patel, Nicola Peltz, Jackson Rathbone, Shaun Toub, Aasif Mandvi, Cliff Curtis
Rating: PG
Release Date: 30 June 2010; 4 August 2010 (Indo)
Running Time: 1 hour 44 minutes

The Movie Review

The Last Airbender film still 1


The LAST AIRBENDER
Storyline:
Cast:
Ending:
Overall:

There are a lot of bad rumors equaled only by harsh criticisms and/or bad sayings which somehow misleading for some (young) movie buffs. I am here reviewing not as a fan of Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender, but only as a simple film fan looking for a good movie this weekend. My wife is responsible for many fantasy movies swarming our home and I snatched this tonight out of her collection. Frankly, this CGI-filled motion picture is not all bad... The story is interesting and the CGI effects are good but there are considerable eye-poking flaws? Anyhow, I watched The Last Airbender also with the intention to compare it with the extraordinarily Lousy Dragonball Evolution (2009).

There are 4 Nations in this world of The Last Airbender and the earth is divided into four nations of air, water, earth and the troublesome fire nation. Fire nation is an aggressive kingdom filled with warmongers who aimed to control the world through any means necessary. Each nation is unique to their culture and bending abilities. Water tribe can bend water element and use it to their advantage according to their own level of prowessness. Every tribe has their own benders unless... the Air Nation.

The fire nation is feared and worried of the foretold legend of Avatar. An Avatar is the only person in the world who can bend all four elements to his will. And... His first skill is to bend air! Avatar's pacifist nature certainly does not match the cruelty of the fire nation. Mysteriously, a young boy with a distinctive tattoo named Aang (Noah Ringer) emerged from the ice in the Southern Water Tribe where siblings Sokka (Jackson Rathbone) and Katara (Nicola Peltz) live peacefully. Fortunately, Katara is the last waterbender in Southern Water Tribe and with her help, Aang will travel and learn to master water bending from the great teachers living in the huge kingdom of Northern Water Tribe. Nevertheless, they must race against time because Fire Lord Ozai (Cliff Curtis of Colombiana (2011)) sends his own son, Prince Zuko (Dev Patel) and brutal Commander Zhao (Aasif Mandvi) to hunt for Aang. Will Aang free the innocent people from the clutches of Fire Nation army?

CGI Fiesta! That's what this fantasy film is... I can sense why fans of the original work despise this movie which is based on Nickelodeon animated series. Honestly, I didn't know too much about Avatar: The Last Airbender. But as a movie reviewer, I can surely say there are a lot of flaws in this motion picture. It runs too long with scenes that are prolonged. The acting is surprisingly lousy and fake. And Aang in this motion picture is depicted as a whiny boy. The absence of any comedy is a shame fact. The fighting scenes are not that attractive and when seeing Avatar and his friends (or his foes) bending fire, air, water or earth elements wanting to knock down their opponents, I feel like seeing the senior citizens practicing their Tai Chi skill in public parks when I visited Hong Kong.

Not that Tai Chi is not good, but I don't think it fits a story which requires great action with rather fast-acting movements. In the end, it's still necessary for you to know that The Last Airbender was given 5 Razzie Trophies and won the title of Worst Picture of 2010. I really do not recommend this for adults even though how great the CGI is and how beautiful the bending process of those elements. But if you have little ones probably around the age of 4-8, maybe they will get amused this weekend.