The Last Airbender sucked

[Wolfy]

I'm going to go watch it tonight..o3o...

[PureImagination]

I'd still rather see this than sit in a theater full of screaming fangirls for Eclipse... >_>;

[Wolfy]

I'd still rather see this than sit in a theater full of screaming fangirls for Eclipse... >_>;

Just remember: Only one more movie, and then it's done forever..

O-o..I hope.

[PureImagination]

Two movies. They are stealing the Harry Potter bit and splitting up the last movie. ._.;;

[Chikannochichi]

MY wife is a huge fan of the series, and has been ballistic since she heard news that the new movie sucks. I wasn't expecting much, but from what I've heard, I'm not even sure I could sit through it.

[Brandon]

Well I went to see it tonight and it was an interesting experience. Keep in mind that Im coming at this from a not really a fan but I know a little bit about the series perspective. However my date was a huge fan of the TV show...I was unaware that the goth lifestyle of dress and such a series could intersect very well but hey she was into it. Overall I think the problem is once again Fans, Fans wont enjoy it as much while those that dont know the show at all or know little (like me) can enjoy it for what it is without memories of the orignal getting in the way.

The two points avatar really had going for it were the cenematography and special effects, I dont think you could have asked for better from an avatar movie. The problem with the movie is the narrative.The movie just tried to pile to much into one movie, if they had just done the creation mythos of avatar and stuck with that a little traveling as Ang tries to learn control of the different elemental bending I think it could have done a lot better. They just piled to much into it forcing the movie to have next to no character development/personality (consequently givign us little reason to care about them or the impending war) and to bog everything down with long drawn out explanations. Once it gets done explaining everything its a damn good movie that works but the problem is theres only like 20 or 30 minutes left by that time

The problem here probably lies in the trilogy mentality. Everyone tries to do these huge oversweeping stories in trilogy format and while that worked with Lord of the rings and Back to the future it doesnt work as well with other products. Twilight would be even worse then it is (scary right?) if it were bogged down into a trilogy, as would harry potter, or Xenosaga. With large franchises like these the trilogy line of thinking needs to be done away with and they need to slow down and not try to pile too much together. If avatar was 6 movies, or even 4 or 5 then I think it would work much better. As is its still worth a look, I dont think it sucks but its not exactly good either

[Dunnuck]

Im wondering if you laughed at some of the stupidity in it. Like doing a giant like 8 second long interpretive dance to throw a (small) rock, then turning around and raising a slab of earth in one movement, or perhaps moving from scene to scene as quickly as a fart in the wind. "You are saying my son is this rogue?" "Yes" *next scene*. Or, this is rich, let me go and start a rebellion while under watch from soldiers, and not have them jump in until I rally the people. Lets also provide next to no fluent action and an incoherent story. Lets waste all this money on sets that are in the fil, for a total of like 2 minutes. While we are at it, lets show literally ever piece of action in the commercials and cut out any fights that may actually be cool (katara vs. zuko). And cinematography? You mean how the camera was up the characters nose while they were talking? Like all the time? The good cinematography was few and far between. The special effects were not intergrated well, either. Yeah they are good alone, but set against the movie, it looks cheesy. I will admit, it had its (two) moments, but I dont understand how anyone could say the movie doesn't suck. All that had nothing to do with being a fan of the show. The whole last section (the attack on water tribe) was (kinda) good. Everything else felt like it was slipped in at the last minute (most of the scenes feeling like deleted scenes).

[Brandon]

I guess we will have to agree to disagree then. I think the major problem was they tried to put to much into the movie because it was all from the first season. If they had done the first season in two movies rather then one then Im sure that the quick pace the movie took wouldnt be a problem because there would be more time for character development/personalizing, plot development, and better done action scenes.

Once again, I think fandom more then anything else is going to get in the way of enjoying the movie for what it is and it could have been better if it didnt spread itself so thin. I walked out of the theatre thinking it was alright while my date thought it was horrible due to it not following the TV show more closely

[Wolfy]

Well..they used the first movie to get the exposition out of the way. (And I love how there's that little kid that Zuko calls over, who's ONLY purpose is to explain what the hell happened to him with his father.)

Sooo...hopefully the Second should be better. Especially if Azula is Bat-sh*t Axe-Crazy....and if they include Boomy, damn it!...D: Seriously, they missed a perfectly good chance to inject some comedy.

[Will]

I guess we will have to agree to disagree then. I think the major problem was they tried to put to much into the movie because it was all from the first season. If they had done the first season in two movies rather then one then Im sure that the quick pace the movie took wouldnt be a problem because there would be more time for character development/personalizing, plot development, and better done action scenes.

The movie is only 103 minutes long.  There could have been more to it, if the writers/directors had wanted. :P

[Inkidu]

The movie is only 103 minutes long.  There could have been more to it, if the writers/directors had wanted. :P

So sure? Surprising as it may seem not everyone is Cameron (why God?) or Spielberg. They don't get limitless funding to churn out whatever their hearts desire. I don't think  M. Knight falls into that circle. A ton of special effects later and there goes the budget.

[Brandon]

The movie is only 103 minutes long.  There could have been more to it, if the writers/directors had wanted. :P

Most movies get cut down if they run longer then that just because of the industry's preferences.

Just a minute ago I went to look at this weeks Zero punctuation and I noticed this video. He makes an interesting point that if you had to tell a story in 1/6th of its alloted time as well as keep all the plot points, backstory, character developments, and setting information the same your story would seem spread to thin too.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escape-to-the-movies/1849-The-Last-Airbender

[Will]

So sure? Surprising as it may seem not everyone is Cameron (why God?) or Spielberg. They don't get limitless funding to churn out whatever their hearts desire. I don't think  M. Knight falls into that circle. A ton of special effects later and there goes the budget.

O.o

Dude, I can't remember the last time I saw a movie that was an hour and forty-three minutes.  You don't have to be "Cameron (why God?) or Spielberg" to make a two hour movie.

[Inkidu]

O.o

Dude, I can't remember the last time I saw a movie that was an hour and forty-three minutes.  You don't have to be "Cameron (why God?) or Spielberg" to make a two hour movie.

I've seen plenty of movies that fall under the two-hour mark and are good or bad. I'm saying special effects are expensive as hell and that M. Knight is probably not up on the list of directors that gets to use as much as he wants. Especially with his movies being questionable. People always want to know where their money is going.

[Will]

I just can't give M. Night Shyamalan (Night?  What a ridiculous name to self-apply) the benefit of the doubt.  Is it possible that he simply ran out of budget and had to cut the whole thing short?  Sure.  Is it more likely that he did what he usually does and screwed up the whole flow of the movie, leaving movie-goers with the feeling that there should have been more?  Yeahaaa.

[LIAR]

I was looking forward to this movie. I didn't expect anything super-amazing considering it was smushing an entire season into a mere movie-going experience. But I figured 'at least the bending will be cool.' It wasn't. The acting was terrible, the characters were not well played, the plot was incredibly rushed, the bending was sparse and kind of lame. There was nothing good about this movie.

[consortium11]

As a complete non-fan of the source material the blatant whitewashing got me as soon I saw the cast list on another site I frequent.

[Dunnuck]

That guy (on the escapist) was far to lenient. He made some good points, but watching that movie was painful. Cinematography was good, but there was also really bad. Like being in the characters grill whenever they talk. It made it feel awkward. The script was also terrible, giving the exposition in a stupid way. He also failed to mention the pace of the film, which (in combination with the script) single-handily ruined the movie. I mean, yes the sets are amazing. Music is amazing. Outfits are amazing. But you don't see them enough and a lot of decisions shymalan made with his directing was just bad.

Example: Having Aang run out into a fully guarded camp and start preaching about protest (with a bad script)
Example: When the fire nation was about to attack the Northern Water Tribe, having them jam their (spears?) into the ground like flamming idiots. Lets face it, they looked stupid
Example: Back to example one, after Aang finishes his terribly written script and the baddies come, katara stupidly runs over and pushes one of the guards screaming 'leave him alone'. Weak.
Example: Possibly the best example of bad script writing and terribly quick pace was when the general confronts the firelord about Zuko being the Blue Spirit...everyone in the theater laughed
Example: The interpretive dance moves required to do some (stupid looking) bending, then a single movement for something far cooler and complex. It just doesn't make sense.
Example: Like said by Brandon, a lot of the problems come from trying to jam too much content in....but that spawns the bad pacing, the bad script, the odd flow of the movie, and the incoherent story. Which took up until the last like ten minutes when the movie actually started getting good....

[Brandon]

As a complete non-fan of the source material the blatant whitewashing got me as soon I saw the cast list on another site I frequent.

I might have complained about that if it wasnt a Hollywood thing. It seems like theres some rule that you have to have Caucasian actors in the main leads when it comes to anything fantasy or historically based. Remember prince of persia had that problem too, as do a lot of movies in the past where the inhabitants of the area should have been "Brown" people. Its more of a blame the producers not the director thing because usually its the producers of movies that are responsible for casting (I dont know who exactly was responsible for casting in Airbender or Prince of persia)

That guy (on the escapist) was far to lenient. He made some good points, but watching that movie was painful. Cinematography was good, but there was also really bad. Like being in the characters grill whenever they talk. It made it feel awkward. The script was also terrible, giving the exposition in a stupid way. He also failed to mention the pace of the film, which (in combination with the script) single-handily ruined the movie. I mean, yes the sets are amazing. Music is amazing. Outfits are amazing. But you don't see them enough and a lot of decisions shymalan made with his directing was just bad.

Example: Having Aang run out into a fully guarded camp and start preaching about protest (with a bad script)
Example: When the fire nation was about to attack the Northern Water Tribe, having them jam their (spears?) into the ground like flamming idiots. Lets face it, they looked stupid
Example: Back to example one, after Aang finishes his terribly written script and the baddies come, katara stupidly runs over and pushes one of the guards screaming 'leave him alone'. Weak.
Example: Possibly the best example of bad script writing and terribly quick pace was when the general confronts the firelord about Zuko being the Blue Spirit...everyone in the theater laughed
Example: The interpretive dance moves required to do some (stupid looking) bending, then a single movement for something far cooler and complex. It just doesn't make sense.
Example: Like said by Brandon, a lot of the problems come from trying to jam too much content in....but that spawns the bad pacing, the bad script, the odd flow of the movie, and the incoherent story. Which took up until the last like ten minutes when the movie actually started getting good....

Interesting, what you call leniancy I call being fair. People should judge the movie on all its good and bad points but something I notice about most reviewers is when they see a lot of bad points (and there are a lot of bad points in airbender) they disregard the good and are to quick to say "oh this sucks".

[Dunnuck]

No, I stated the good. The good was just greatly outweighed by the abysmal

[Wolfy]

Bending in the Original Show only usually took one, quick movement. Especially fire bending, where in it only takes one simple forward punch to launch a fireball.

I also liked the part in the movie at the camp, where 10 earth benders all move in unison, and manage to levitate a rock the size of a basketball, and send it at the fire nation soldiers at a speed a snail would laugh at. >_>

[Wolfy]

Also, Mr. Dunnuck. I found a problem with your review on the first page.

Sozin's comet IS mentioned, rather specifically (There's an entire scene devoted to it being mentioned near the end), and it's said to arrive in 3 years time, just like in the show. The Fire Lord also said that it would give his troops ultimate power....and the ability to create fire. (Which was something I don't understand..>_> I mean...Couldn't they already create fire from nothing in the original?)

[Chris Brady]

I thought Avatar: The Last Airbender was far more than three seasons?

Technically there's four 'books', but two were compressed into a single season, hence 3.

[GeekFury]

So I heard there is penis hair in it, true?

[Nyarly]

I only heard that it is so bad, it's like watching your sister getting raped. At least, someone in full Nerd Rage mode said so.