The Last Airbender
by Dante Rosario on July 3rd, 2010
M. Night Shyalaman took a varying approach to the traditional films his audiences are accustomed to with his signature twist to the end. The Last Airbender is based off of a Nickelodeon cartoon where people can control elements of earth, wind, fire, and water. One particular character can control all four elements- a young boy named Aang. He alone can bring peace between all the clans through his ability of controlling all four elements. It all sounds a lot like the once popular cartoon Captain American, but I promise this is different-somewhat.
I had high expectations for the film for being one of the big summer box office hits. After viewing it I was pretty disappointed. The concept of the movie isn’t bad, the writing and the acting are though. Part of this has to do with the fact that the story is very rushed. I wonder when/if directors are going to figure out that one shouldn’t cram a long story line into an hour and forty minutes? A lot of the character building is missed in part because there are several characters in the film that play important roles, and also because the film was cut to short.
I’m reluctant to provide any comments related to the level of acting- primarily because I don’t really have anything good to say about it. I do have a responsibility though to say what I thought, so I shall proceed with caution. The acting was…terrible. M. Night Shyalaman had the wrong cast for the motivational epic adventure that he was attempting to attain. Most of the dialogue is cheesy and delivered half-heartedly. Many know Jackson Rathbone for his role played as Jasper in the popular Twilight films. I thought his performance in those films were what the director was calling for. After seeing The Last Airbender I see that may be the capacity of his acting ability. Dev Patel after performing extremely well in Slum Dog Millionaire didn’t perform nearly as well in The Last Airbender. I’m not sure if any of the actors performed to their full potential in this film, and I think the blame falls on the writer.
4 out of 10
Loading ...
