3.7 | / 10 |
Users | 2.2 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Air, Water, Earth, Fire. Four nations tied by destiny when the Fire Nation launches a brutal war against the others. A century has passed with no hope in sight to change the path of this destruction. Caught between combat and courage, Aang discovers he is the lone Avatar with the power to manipulate all four elements. Aang teams with Katara, a Waterbender, and her brother Sokka to restore balance to their war-torn world.
Starring: Noah Ringer, Dev Patel, Nicola Peltz Beckham, Jackson Rathbone, Shaun ToubAdventure | 100% |
Action | 88% |
Fantasy | 81% |
Family | 65% |
Martial arts | 14% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 MVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
French: Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1
English, English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Blu-ray 3D
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
It is in the heart that all wars are won.
Where have you gone, M. Night Shyamalan? A waning fan base turns its lonely eyes to you, wondering what happened to the once-remarkable
director who captivated audiences with The Sixth Sense, put a fresh new spin on the superhero in Unbreakable, and dazzled with the extraordinarily well-crafted Signs. It's been almost a decade since Shyamalan's alien invasion movie
seemed to settle the director into the "can't miss" category and ascend him to the heights reserved for the best of filmmakers: the Spielbergs, the
Kubricks, the Hitchcocks. Then, disaster struck. The Village, Lady in the Water, and The Happening confused, disappointed, and alienated fans, respectively.
Shyamalan had followed up three great-to-classic pictures with a trio of mediocre-to-bad outings, changing his fortunes from universally praised
can't-miss filmmaker to, sadly, the butt of many movie fans' jokes, effectively relegating him to has-been irrelevancy. Even with his lackluster string
of
failures, his careful approach to filmmaking, breathtaking steadiness behind thd camera, and that unique style still shined through even in his lesser
pictures. There remained
a glimmer of hope, a knowledge that behind the bad scripts was still a brilliant filmmaker, maybe even on the verge of breaking out of his slump;
after all, where else was there to go but up after The Happening?
Shyamalan fans prayed for a miracle with The Last Airbender while cynics balked and wondered why the disgraced filmmaker would even
bother trying to revitalize his career. With his talent still evident but the results simply not maturing to fruition, the aptly-titled The Last
Airbender seemed like the last chance the director had to win back his fans and prove that he still had within him the ability to make a great
movie. Alas, it simply wasn't to be. The Last Airbender is a disjointed and disappointing outing that's just another generic special effects
extravaganza with little heart, bad acting, subpar editing, and no real purpose.
Are his eyes tattooed as well or is that just to make him look "cool?"
The Last Airbender received plenty of criticism when it was released to theaters, not only for the quality of the film but for what was reported
as
an underwhelming-at-best 3D experience. On Blu-ray, the 3D transfer is no Open Season or A Christmas Carol, but it gets the job done despite some problems and a
few scenes that look downright awful. Airbender was filmed with traditional 2D cameras and converted to 3D in post-production, the same
approach taken by Clash of the Titans, another oft-maligned 3D presentation that left
audiences sour on the technology. The Last Airbender does fare better than Clash does on Blu-ray (or, at least the German release; a review of the U.S. release is coming soon) -- and much of
the
transfer looks quite good -- but there are some disturbing and distracting issues that, ultimately, make the handsome 2D-only release the better choice, even for 3D owners.
The Last Airbender's general attributes do seem to take a slight hit when directly compared to the 2D version of the film. Of note are black
levels that appear to exhibit crush, a problem that wasn't readily evident on the 2D-only version. Here, darker scenes feature overwhelming blacks
that
seem to suck all of the surrounding details into some nether region where they're not perceptible by the human eye. Fortunately, the 3D transfer
offers
about the same level of excellent detailing when compared to its 2D counterpart. Viewers will note the same jaw-dropping textures on faces, clothes,
and the like, though several shots go inexplicably soft, and the image as a whole occasionally lacks the crispness and definition of the standard 2D
transfer. Colors appear to have retained the same vibrancy as those seen in the 2D image; Aang's flashback scenes deliver some very nicely realized
reds and oranges, while both the film's many earth tones and the cold and blue Arctic imagery remain steady and accurate when compared to the
non-3D version. Also of note is the blemish-free print, but slight banding and blocking are visible on the rarest of occasions.
The transfer's 3D components seem like a hit-and-miss grab-bag made up of part visual delights and part obnoxious eyesores. As to the better pieces
of the
puzzle, the 3D image often takes on the appearance of a film playing inside a box (giving a new meaning to "idiot box?"), where it seems edges are
extending far back into the frame. Most every scene offers a fair amount of depth with characters, objects, and landscapes usually offset one against
another to fine effect. It's certainly not as seamless, deep, or jaw-dropping as Open Season, but for a 3D image thrown together at almost
literally the last
minute (Paramount announced the conversion about two months prior to the film's theatrical release), it looks fairly good in many places. Several
scenes do stand out as relatively impressive; a few straight-on shots of the deck of one of Fire Nation's massive seafaring vessels practically places
viewers on it as they look from stem to stern or vice versa. Better yet, 3D playback, as sampled on Panasonic's TC-P50VT20 50" 3D plasma, displayed
very little of
the dreaded "ghosting" effect; the strongest instance appears on the Paramount logo at film's start with the cursive "P" looking like it has a ghostly
twin, but
otherwise, such an effect is kept to a minimum.
Unfortunately, there are parts of the 3D transfer that look downright awful, but like the "ghosting" effect, they aren't regular companions during the
movie. When
they do show up, though, they stick out like a sore thumb. Actually, a "sore thumb" might not be the best descriptor; they stand out far more than
that. Maybe
better to say they stick out like a giant "we're number one!" foam finger (that's The Last Airbender blue, of course, with some micro-sized
legal print on the bottom and maybe a mustard stain from that fourth hot dog chased by that eighth beer). Anyway, the 3D transfer does no favors
to
many of the film's green screen effects. Look at several of the opening shots in the Arctic featuring Katara and Sokka; these characters look
completely
detached
from the background, almost like they were sloppily cut-and-pasted into the frame. Such hiccups are visible throughout, and every time
they completely suck the audience out of the movie (not that The Last Airbender does much to pull in its viewers in the first place). At the
6:19 mark, a few
loose strands of Katara's hair look more like strange artifacts floating over the frame than they do her flowing locks; it's as if the 3D transfer was
trying to add depth where none was
really necessary, or maybe whatever process was used to convert the movie into 3D didn't handle the stray hairs properly. Either way, they look like
a
tangled mess and, for even such a small problem, manage to completely distract from the entire shot. The same effect may be seen on several shots
of these characters' fur coats. Additionally, there are several instances where characters literally look like 2D cardboard cutouts inserted into a 3D
environment, and the results aren't very good. It's important to note that these anomalies aren't regular occurrences; on the whole, the 3D image
isn't bad, but when it does go bad, it really goes bad. Though the 3D transfer looks fairly good, the 2D version bests it by leaps and
bounds.
Please note that all screenshots in this review were captured from the 2D version of the film found on the actual 3D release.
Besting the video presentation is Paramount's reference-quality DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack, the same found on the 2D-only releases of the film. The Last Airbender sounds fantastic on Blu-ray, and from the opening seconds that feature the Paramount stars shooting across the screen and onward it delivers a nonstop barrage of quality sound effects, music, and dialogue that allow it to settle in as one of the year's finest audio presentations. The opening shot that features the distinct sounds of earth, air, water, and fire hurtling towards the audience sets a great tone for what's to come. Indeed, distinctive and spacious effects rule the day, as crackling ice, popping flames, gushy air, and crunchy dirt are all key sonic elements throughout the film that spring to life with amazing clarity in every instance. The sounds spread across the listening area with unmatched ease, often supported by potent and pleasantly tight bass that's aggressive but not overwhelming. Atmospherics are nicely handled by the 5.1 configuration, too; whether the constant chugging of the Fire Nation's hulking vessels or the slightest of breezes blowing across the back channels, listeners will enjoy the steady and satisfying immersion into the worlds of The Last Airbender that this track provides. Supported by a pitch-perfect presentation of James Newton Howard's incredible score and smooth and satisfying center-focused dialogue reproduction, The Last Airbender delivers an amazing sonic experience that has few equals.
No supplements are included, and the menu is not in 3D.
M. Night Shyamalan demonstrated a once-in-a-generation talent with his trio of terrific films, but the last four -- including The Last Airbender -- seem so far removed from those glory days that one can only wonder from which galaxy did aliens come down and replace the once-brilliant director with a replica that just can't get those filmmaking instincts down pat. The Last Airbender is the latest debacle from the once universally beloved filmmaker; it's a smorgasbord of missed opportunities saddled with bad acting, a haphazard plot, a boring pace, a scattershot structure, and dull action scenes. The end result is so bad that it's almost implausible that this was made by the same director who crafted Signs; that's the real story here. Slap "Alan Smithee" into the credits and remove "M. Night Shyamalan" and The Last Airbender would just be another miss of a big budget movie. Unfortunately, it seems to have sealed the fate of Hollywood's one-time can't-miss prospect; even that trademark Shyamalan style is absent in this one, and the movie seems to have been made on cruise control with half the crew half asleep at the switch. There are some fans (ahem) who will always hold out hope that the M. Night of old will make a triumphant return, but it's not looking too good. Paramount Pictures' Blu-ray 3D release of The Last Airbender features a fair but occasionally maddening full HD 3D transfer, a splendid lossless soundtrack, and zero extras. Whatever the reason may be, it seems rather dishonest to force 3D customers to buy the disc twice to access the special features found on the two-disc 2D release. Put them on a second Blu-ray disc if space is the problem (and even maybe toss the 2D version on disc two as well to facilitate the retention of the picture-in-picture supplement), but no matter the reason, paying a premium for 3D and then not receiving any extras on top of that just won't sit right with most buyers. Hardcore fans of The Last Airbender who are 3D-ready might want to consider giving this a purchase if there's a good sale on. Otherwise, better to stick with the special edition 2D version.
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