A professor once shared, a film is not just a visual treat; not just a feast for the ever unsatisfied eyes. A film should be a full-meal-- and unless you embrace the totality, you never really watched it for what it was made after all. Remember, you paid not to criticize, but to enjoy.
M. Night Shyamalan's film started faltering down the sinkhole when James Cameron made up his fantasy world of the Avatar, taking the name of what has been perceived to be the main title of the story of Aang. Some people became too much concerned that they started attacking The Last Airbender, and it suffered greatly as it was shown.
This review will not be a spoiler, but in reality, you can't spoil something that has already been spoiled. Long before it was made into a film, the movie was actually an animated series--- go google it for the facts. What I'm trying to say is, we (those who appreciate the series and did not watch the film just to ride with the flow) know what's gonna happen. :D
Few things people should understand:
1) If you watched the series, remember that film adaptations usually "kill" the sense of the story. There are a lot of factors: production cost, screenplay issues, and in this case, a worldwide release funded by the Caucasian ones leading to a change in the diverse citizenship involved. See Harry Potter and Twilight... Include novels of Nicholas Sparks.
2) If you did not watch the series, you must remember that Book 1: Water introduces us to Aang's world. Do not expect a bloody hell of a fight--- there's 4 books, if I'm not mistaken. Don't get too excited.
3) When people say "Pangit ang film. Sayang lang." , it's your prerogative. That's when the reason why you're watching comes in: If they say it's pangit and you think that as a fan you must see this film, then bring that reason with you. Do not bring with you comments made by filmmakers or rotten vegetable visitors or tabloids. These may help, but if you really "trust" these people, you should not have bought the ticket to the movie in the first place.
4) Enjoy the film. Nagbayad ka na rin lang. :)
My thoughts:
Well, the Star Wars intro did not help. They started the film much like how the series opens an episode... The narration was enough. :)
I hate putting Indians or Afghan-looking people as Fire Nation people.
May loopholes and mistakes ang movie... Pero alam niyo,
I enjoyed the film. Believe it or not, I was teary-eyed towards the end. Good thing I was wearing the 3d Shades, di halata... hehehe.... I can feel the air and water and fire- and my imagination helps me feel like the world I am watching is real. :) It pays to watch the film and not watch out for the points to criticize, but look for what parts to enjoy. :D
Ranting Hatter advises you to watch this film for what it is, not for what others make out of it. :D
There are actually only 3 books since the Air Nomads have been wiped out completely by the Fire Nation. It's not said in the series but a theory my siblings and I came up with is that the Air Nomads are monks, isolated and do not populate too easily. So they're the easiest to wipe out.
ReplyDeleteI tried to treat the film as a separate entity from the series like I did with Twilight (whose movies are actually better than the books) and other movies that are based on novels and series. Tried. I wanted to prove the critics wrong, but the script was so badly written even the director himself had to admit that he shouldn't have written the script (I guess he realized it when the final cut was being done).
I salute Shyamalan for admitting that. It's very rare for artists to be so humble as to actually admit their mistakes. Although...the last part was pretty good. I wish he just concentrated on the Northern Water Tribe instead because that was when the plot became cohesive.
And there's still hope. There's The Legend of Korra.
But before going to The Legend of Korra (which i know of way before iposted this blog) we must see all the other Aang legends brought to film. :)
ReplyDeleteI guess, maybe, the hope of doing justice to The Legend of Aang rests on the next films, granted that they would do better next time. :)
Still, I understand why they had to crop out good parts of the stories... :) My brother made a lot of comments saying that there are some important factors deleted, but for "starters", Shyamalan's movie is okay. :) A must-see parin... :)
and skysenshi's comment confirmed that I'm mistaken, yeah, there's 3 books. :) :D
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