Hey folks, Harry here - and it looks like last night in Phoenix they had a test screening of THE LAST AIRBENDER - and so far we have two wildly divergent reviews. One that seems to equate the film to the NARNIA films and the other... well, you'll have to read for yourself. The first review loves the kid playing the titular character, the other... not even close. However, this must be said... this isn't coming out till July 2nd, and at this point the film could change quite a bit. But if you want to know the state of THE LAST AIRBENDER as of 2.3.10... well look no further. Here it is...

Hey guys,

So I just watched The Last Airbender here in Phoenix, AZ! I thought I’d write a little something up for you guys to put on your site.

First off, I’ll state right from the start that I’ve never seen the TV show that this is based on, though I had heard of it so had an idea as to what to expect. I’ll also state that the movie is still REALLY rough. A lot of effects to finish, scenes to massage, and possibly (hopefully in a few cases) even scenes to reshoot. They’ve got some time, though. (At least the music sounded like a great James Newton Howard original, unlike other test screenings I’ve seen where it’s all music from previous movies.) Because it’s so rough, I don’t think it’s too fair of me to comment on my overall opinion of particular problems I had with the movie as most of them will undoubtedly be fixed by the time it’s released. At least I hope so. I will comment on a few specifics, though.

I’m assuming that the story is similar to that of the TV show so I won’t go into it, but it’s very clear – and was made even more clear by the guy speaking before the movie started – that this is the first of a trilogy. (Let’s hope it fares better than The Golden Compass so they actually get to make the other two.) This movie deals with Aang, the Avatar, learning to master water and stopping the firebenders from taking over everything. Aang is played by Noah Ringer who absolutely looks great in this role. For a kid carrying the film as the titular character, he does a great job for the most part. I’m convinced that with a few roughly edited and performed scenes fixed by the time it’s released, he’ll prove he’s worth his salt. It looks like this is his first movie too, so I’m even more impressed.

Shaun Toub plays Uncle Iroh and is totally one of THOSE guys who is in a million things but I never knew his name. Anyway, by far he is the BEST thing about the movie. Great character, great performance. And Dev Patel was also good as the cast out son of the fire lord. A lot of the others were neither here nor there for me, but I had a really hard time watching Jackson Rathbone, who plays Sokka. Talk about overacting. Not a fan of him in this film. Ugh. Here’s hoping they find a way to smooth his performance out, or at least downplay him a bit. (Then I have to keep telling myself that maybe he was cast to draw the tween and teen girls who love him in Twilight. Who knows…)

The action scenes work pretty well, but only one really stood out for me at this time, which takes place in an ancient airbender temple and had some nice set pieces. Plus it was fun to watch Noah Ringer’s double (a woman with a shaved head) performing the fight scenes – they hadn’t gotten around to doing a face replacement yet. The climactic end sequence was hard to judge because some was just so rough. Still, Aang managed to pull off some great work in this scene and when finished, I think it’ll be a great sequence with a definite Part I ending.

Overall, I think they have a fun-to-watch summer movie here. I’d put it more on the Narnia level rather than the Lord of the Rings level, but still it has a nice feel to it and unlike most of the other test screenings I’ve been to, I’m actually really looking forward to watching this one again when released to see how it looks in the end, and hoping I am not as bothered by Rathbone then. I’m hoping it’ll help Shyamalan get out of his rut, because I haven’t liked anything he’s done in quite a while (though I’m convinced that if he made Lady in the Water a children’s fantasy with the characters all kids, it would’ve worked and been accepted). Anyway, there’s my two cents.

The Movie Monkey

Then there's this very negative take on the film...

Harry,

Longtime reader of your site (since 98 or so) and I wanted to contribute what I experienced at my very first test screening.

I saw a test screening of "The Last Airbender" tonight at a theater in Glendale, Arizona. They said we were the 1st audience to see this, and based on what I saw, I hope it was the last audience because the movie was pretty horrible. I saw an extremely rough cut of the film (missing special effects and I assume music) but I seriously doubt they can go back and fix the acting.

Whoever cast this film should be taken to task, because, if this was the best group of actors you could assemble, I'd hate to see the ones you rejected. This was some of the most wooden acting I've ever seen. The lead child actor was the main culprit and he seemed amateurish compared to some of the others, his two friends weren't much better. Out of the adult actors, the guy who portrayed Commander Zhao should never be allowed to act again. His line reading was atrocious, especially when acting next to others such as Cliff Curtis (although he's been better) and Dev Patel . They were actually the only ones coming out of this one unscathed.

There were also some weird scenes here and there interjected throughout the movie. An oddly miss-placed scene featuring a foot massage as well as some corny attempts setting up romances. One scene that I laughed at (but was intended to be serious) is when a certain baddy punches a fish to death. The horror the horror!

The only redeeming value of it was the story which was pretty cool as it dealt with the different elements (Air, Water, Fire and Earth) and groups of people who are able to control it. I've never seen the tv show this was based on but I thought it was cool.

M. Night sets this one up for a sequel or two because I guess the Airbender has to 'learn' new elements (Fire and Earth) to complete his destiny. I doubt this series will get past this first one.

If you use this, call me Sharkfarts

BTW my friends said M. Night was in the audience, but I couldn't verify it.