Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Avatar: The Last Airbender, “Aang”, Review!

Avatar: The Last Airbender is a dramatic live action adaptation that feels fresh with its incredible cast! The series debuted on the cable channel, Nickelodeon, in 2005. Created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, the popular show ran for three seasons. A film, The Last Airbender (2010) was made after the show finished in 2008. Fan appeal just increased though and moved onto the sequel series, The Legend of Kora, with DiMartino and Konietzko from 2012 to 2014. Albert Kim is the showrunner for the live action show, he was the producer fo the animated series, Pantheon. The series currently streams on Netflix along with the three seasons of the animated original! We see a comet falling through a night sky. We move to Caldera, the capital of the Fire Nation, the name refers to the rounded part of a volcano after an eruption. It is refered to just as “Capital City.” 

Fires burn in massive cauldrons around the city. We drop to a street where there is a chase as alarms clang! A man races into alleys trying to lose the soldiers chasing after him. He runs with a scroll. A Fire Nation soldier blocks the way in front of him and start to bend fire! The Earthbender swings the scroll sending up the street to knock away the soldiers. He also uses it to bend a rocky edge to run up and leap to the street! The Earthbender man has reached another alley, at the end is his fellow Earthbender waiting with ostritch horses, riding creatures. A fireball is flung from behind and strikes the man! I don’t know why the rider didn’t bend a wall to protect them. The Earthbender slams his fist to the street and twists it, sending a flurry of bricks at the soldiers. The bending effects look great, not just the look of the elemental powers, but how it is used. 



He hears the sounds of more soldiers and bends the Earth again sending the scroll flying over to the hand of the rider. The Earthbender warns the rider to give the scroll to the Earth King, who is Kuei, about the Fire Nation’s war! He uses his power to lift up a wall, the struggle really feels like he is pulling it up physically, then turns to face the soldiers! The man is a warrior using a flying kick to take down two soldiers, he is formidable, but taken down by the mass of Firebending soldiers! He coughs, now in front of the Fire Lord, Sozin (Hiro Kanagawa), who likes the outcome! Kanagawa played the Headmaster in Percy Jackson and the Olympians. The Earthbender says they will be prepared. Sozin says that the attention of all of the nations will be focused on protecting Earth Nation. 


He says he has sights are “much higher”! Sozin grasps the messenger’s hand and incinerates him! An advistor says that the Avatar is not revealed by the Air Nomads. Sozin says he wants to destroy them all. Kyoshi (Yvonne Chapman) explains all of the elements all bended by members of the four nations. We see a map of the Four Nations. She says there is peace made by the Avatar, we see Kyoshi with her fans. Her eyes blow as we see her bending all of the elements finishing with a spin in the air and shattering all of the elements! We see a stairway with all of the other Avatars, Kyoshi explains that the Avatar spirit is reborn in another body, but the new Avatar has not appeared. Sozin is taking this advantage of this time to stop the one person in his way, an Airbender! We see the rocky spires right out of Thailand and flying over them, Aang (Gordon Cormier), on his kite. On a cliff edge, he folds it into his Airbender staff. This is a great intro, different from the original, setting up the threat and Aang's role as the promised Avatar! 


#AvatarTheLastAirbender, #AlbertKim, #GordonCormier, #Kiawentiio, #IanOusley, #DallasLiu, #PaulSunHyungLee, #DanielDaeKim 


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