Everyone told me not to see, but I just didn't listen...
It all happens in a fantasy world where people are directly related to natural elements. Therefore, there are 4 coexisting nations: air, water, earth and fire. Among each one of them there are individuals capable of manipulating (bending) their respective element. And there is ONLY ONE person who can bend all 4, and that's the Avatar, who on top of that can communicate with the spirits, and whose purpose is to maintain the balance in the world.
At some point this Avatar disappears, and the things go slightly to pot because one of the nations wants to control the world...the Fire nation, who else?!
The film starts with the return of the Avatar, but who only masters his birth-element, and thus leaves on a quest to learn the other 3, also liberating the villages on his way. Of course, the Firey boys (an annoying commander on one hand, and the banished FireKing's son on the other) don't quite appreciate this and want to capture him.
The plot has potential but it was presented in a sloppy way. It shifts from narration to dialog at strange moments, with no reason.
The movie is short (1.5h) so it doesn't develop much of the story but on the other hand it tends to bore you. I was expecting some awesome element fights all the way, but you get a total of 5 minutes of those, the rest is cliched dialogs up the wazoo and some kind of kung-fu ballet done by one side while the opponents sit around and watch. The "combats" really look more like turn-based strategy than real action.
From time to time, there are some beautiful landscapes but that doesn't counterbalance the whole; because the acting doesn't help either. You might get attached to one of the characters (mostly the Responsability-issued or the Daddy-issued) but it's only because of the idea they represent and not because of their performance.
One last thing, the 3D is a major BS, there is a tiny perspective but nothing that the mind couldn't develop on its own without paying extra.
Sorry...but this one doesn't deserve spoilers!
Holy Cinematic Reviews, Batman!
ReplyDeleteA deserving spoiler would be: it ends with a teaser of Part 2 of the Bending world.
After seeing this movie i wanted to go on a bender of my own... that's how fast i wanted to forget about it.
I agree with you when it comes to the 3D factor *(i watched 75% of it without the glasses. i felt the lighting was better that way.)
Extra comment: I don't know if your rating system is in any way similar with the IMDB one or not*(prolly not), but i would suggest moving on to a more elaborate one: 10 point system/ category(sound, effects, acting, storyline...etc) and do an arithmetical mean or smt. A 5 point rating system does not always show the complete picture in my opinion
true, i forgot to mention the sequel hint, my bad.
ReplyDeleteconcerning the rating system: it's a 10 point system (there are half points involved also) and it's more like the flixter system. at the beginning I thought of a more elaborate rating plan, but it got pretty complicated; also i don't have the knowledge to objectively rate some aspects, so i stuck to a more subjective way of grading: the feeling i get during and at the end of the movie.
promise i'll take into consideration your idea and list a bunch of 'ratable' criteria and see how it goes ;)
i suspect you could at least use the storyline and sound/video effects category (if not in your overall rating, at least casually mentioned inside the review). Either way, looking forward to the next review. :) Cheers!
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