IIf you’re new to the Airbender universe, Netflix’s adventure drama Avatar: The Last Airbender is a live-action remake of the popular Nickelodeon animated series of the same name that premiered in 2005. It’s related to the 2010 M Night Shyamalan-related film The Last Airbender – which was also a live-action version of the animated film – but none of the Airbender properties have anything to do with the highest-grossing film of all time, Avatar, The film’s copyright lawyers secured the simple one-word title. wanted. Being forced to add a colon and a clunky subtitle to its title didn’t stop Avatar: The Last Airbender from becoming one of the most popular animated series of all time. Nearly two decades later, the fanbase remains, ready to refocus on the story.
The storyline fits the template of countless fantasy series, with the world divided into kingdoms that are perpetually at war or on the verge of war, young people wielding unusual influence, and magical powers existing to be used or abused. Here, there are regions defined by fire, earth, water and air, and each population contains “benders” – people with the ability to bend the local elements to their will and use them as weapons. At any given time, there is one being, the Avatar, who has the potential to learn how to bend all four elements and become an all-powerful celestial peacekeeper whose eyes turn blue when they’re out to take down bad guys.
The first episode introduces 12-year-old Aang (Gordon Cormier), a brilliant airbender who has just received shocking news from his elders: he is the next Avatar. Then, using the comet to increase their power, the evil Pyro invaded and killed all the airbenders except Aang, who had been suspended in an iceberg for a century before emerging and meeting 14-year-old waterbender Kata. Ra (Kiawentiio) joins forces with her warrior brother Sokka (Ian Owsley) and sets out on a mission to complete her training and rebuild the shattered world.
We’re not sure how people knew Aang was the Avatar, or how this comet thing worked, or how Aang knew he was supposed to trap himself in an icy pod, but that’s not meant to detain us. This is a familiar story about a child with a bright future. Aang comes from a tribe with a big arrow pointing towards his face – so everyone can see that this is the main character here – who would rather reject his fate and just go around like a normal kid. “I never asked to be special!” This is one of several striking lines of dialogue that reinforce the idea that the garlanded child will have to sacrifice his youth to fulfill his sacred duty.
Soon after, however, Aang has his first conflict with the warlike Prince Zuko (Liu Dallas) of the Fire Nation—who we know is a self-hating villain because of his facial disfigurement (which is Slightly disturbing visuals) Grammar of the fantasy genre). The burn marks on his eyes indicate that he was an exile, rejected by the king, and filled with violent impulses and unresolved father issues. When Zuko reveals his willingness to hunt Aang across continents in hopes of capturing the new Avatar and proving himself to the people back home, burning any civilians who stand in his way, Aang’s eyes turn blue and the arrow on his head begins to glow , when he accepted his calling and said yes: let’s do it.
So, Aang and company are chased from one place to another – Katara and Sokka’s homeworld looks a lot like Alaska, and the island kingdom the heroic trio visit next is undoubtedly similar in style Feudal Japan. Life lessons are learned and hand-to-hand combat takes place wherever they go, with well-choreographed fight sequences adding an exciting rock/scissors/paper-style twist to regular martial arts combat as fusions of disparate elements face off. Can fire evaporate water? Can water turn earth into mud? Will the air extinguish the flames, or will it create a bellows effect that makes everything worse?
The landscape sparkles and a giant six-legged flying bison carries everyone from place to place through the clouds, a task the young actors are up to. Owsley and Chiaventio establish a snarky brotherly relationship as Sokka and Katara, while Cormier gives Aang the boyish cheeks and inherent authority that all three of them carry. Impression: A child and two teenagers can defeat a genocidal dictator with a healthy dose of courage, gentle sarcasm and the ability to summon hurricanes. The Airbender series has been confidently revived; this won’t be the last we see of it.
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