Real Movie Review of "The Last Airbender."
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Reviews have been mixed for this movie, but generally just bad reviews. At the time of my review, RottenTomatoes.com has it at an 8% by critics, but a 49% for users, Metacritic has it at 20, with a user's rating of 3.0 out of 10, and Yahoo has it with a D+ for critics, and a C+ for users. All in all, everyone is being WAY too harsh on this movie! I keep seeing people saying that it was the worst move ever made, or the worst movie they've ever seen! Um... seriously folks? Have you seen ANY of M. Night's OTHER movies? Or ANYTHING by Uwe Boll? Or "Snakes on a Plane?" :-) This being said, it was not without it's problems... but I think the visual greatness, cool "element bending" scenes, and all around entertainment made up for those missing parts. Though, I have to say, I kept waiting for "Jasper" to rip the head off one of the enemies in the battle scene(for those of you "Twilight" fans who recognize him in the movie).
Being a fan of the original cartoons, I took this movie to heart IMMEDIATELY! That was, until I saw who was directing it... and writing it... and producing it...
I have to say, plainly, that I extremely dislike M. Night and his stupid twists at the end of a movie. I was so excited for this movie, and yet so scared that he would demolish it (as many seem to think he did). The only movie of his that I can claim to even have the remotest desire to watch, is "Sixth Sense," but even that movie creeps me out. Don't even get me started on "Signs," "The Village," or "The Happening." I find it TRULY hard to believe that almost every one of his movies has rated higher than this, on most sites. I place that blame on people who either:
A:)Have no idea what the story is about and have never seen the cartoons.
B:)Have seen the cartoons, but hate M. Night.
C:)Have seen the cartoons, and were expecting WAY too much out of M. Night.
D:)They fell asleep and woke up after all the amazing parts were over.
E:)They are pulling the race card over the casting, and haven't even seen it.
When you READ these other people's reviews, please try and keep those four possibilities in mind.
Now, in MY defense, I do claim to like some movies that other people don't, and at the same time, don't like some movies that others seem to. I definitely say I have a "unique" taste for movies...
For instance, "The Incredible Hulk..." Loved it. And I'm offended that Marvel would choose to cast someone else for the Hulk in the upcoming "Avengers" movie, other than Edward Norton, who did a fabulous job!
How about "American Beauty?" I'm sorry, but any movie that starts off with a guy masturbating in the shower is near the bottom of my list...
That being said, I felt this movie was highly entertaining. Knowing the story myself, I was able to fill in the plot holes without even thinking. And the lack of character development some are complaining about, was already built in my mind, due to my love of the cartoons.
One good point, that I do agree with, that came in a very negative review, was why was the movie so short? At only an hour and forty-five, it definitely felt a bit rushed. With movies creeping well over the two hour mark, and into the three hour mark these days, there was no excuse for M. Night not to expand the story and fill in the needed missing details. Perhaps when it is released on Blu-ray and DVD, it will contain an extended version that will make many more people enjoy this movie.
And to those people who are whining about racism in this movie, being that it's an Asian cartoon but the main characters are white, give it a rest. It was beautifully cast (with the exception of a few of the "bad guys"). The cartoons are VERY ambiguously drawn (that is, they LOOK white in the cartoon), and number two... M. Night IS Asian (Have read multiple articles lately about Indians also being considered Asians)! If he was white and he made these selections, I could see some people freaking out, no matter the cartoons. But he HIMSELF is Asian, so he's allowed to make a switch like that! ;-) It's in the rule book. Besides, I couldn't picture any one else playing the roll of Ang. He did an amazing job! Plus, being that they look white in the cartoon, I think it would just be odd to throw a very Asian person to fill that roll. It wouldn't look right, to me at least. The Earth Kingdom are all Asians, Fire nation are all Indians... granted the many of the Water Nation are white, but again, in the cartoon, all the Water Nation people had blue eyes. Ever see an Asian with naturally blue eyes? And a good deal of the Southern Water Nation look like Eskimos. So it looks to me, that whining about racism in a movie that pretty much encases EVERY RACE, has lost it's evidence...
So, to wrap up the first of my many movie reviews, I will rate these movies as the critics I follow do:
Rottentomatoes Style: Certified Fresh! (Though may still be a bit green in places.)
Metacritic Style: 8.5 out of 10 (For visual greatness and battle scenes!)
Yahoo Movies Style: B+ (May have been lower, but extra credit for keeping me entertained!)
And in closing, my only fear... Since this was only half of the story, it's clear they were expecting to make a sequel (even making it a trilogy!). With reviews as low as they are, that may not happen. I sincerely hope he takes what is being said about this movie (Too short, missing details, thin plot, etc), and builds a much better sequel. I think people could really get to enjoy it, if they had the whole story. I'm just glad that I was able to enjoy it as much as I did! (AP)
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