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Soy Nero (2016)
Pointless
There is an unpleasant trend with indie movies showing just a sequence of images, leaving it to the person who watches them to make any sort of sense out of them and celebrating themselves for being oh so philosophical. Don't get me wrong: A movie can well be mysterious. But there's a difference between mysterious and pointless. And this is one of the most pointless movies I ever watched.
Characters and story arcs are brought up in quick succession and disappear shortly after, never to be seen again. The conspiracy theorist in the beginning? Meaningless. Jesús' girlfriend clearly trying to seduce Nero? Meaningless. The entire military thing? Meaningless. Heck, I feel quite reluctant to even put a spoiler alert on this review because of talking about the last scenes, as there is no real ending that could be spoilered, strictly speaking. We see Nero picked up by a patrol after losing his entire unit - and then, without explanation, he's out in the desert again, you wonder what's that about, and - credits. The movie just stops. And at the start of the credits, you read that this movie is dedicated to people who got deported despite having served in the army because they were promised a green card - but there was no mention of that in the entire movie. Do I have to say more to make clear why I considered "Soy Nero" a waste of time?
The Last Airbender (2010)
If you didn't watch the series, it's o.k.
So, I heard much about how bad this movie was. But I also noticed that most of the negative feedback was about how different from the series it was. So I thought I'd give this movie a try. Please keep in mind that I'm reviewing the movie as such, from the perspective of someone who didn't watch the series.
In the first five to ten minutes of the movie, I tended to agree with the scathing reviews, although much of my disapproval was due to the (at least at the beginning) partially horrible German sync. Then I started to like the movie better. It's actually built on the base of an interesting story, although some parts of the interior might be a little shabby.
The characters contain the entire spectrum from great to bad. The best character, in my eyes, is prince Zuko. You can really see how tormented he is, torn apart between the wish to just live a normal, peaceful life on one side, and on the other side the need to redeem himself, to please his father, to avoid a life as the laughing stick of an entire nation. Katara and, for the most time, Aang are alright. Zhao? Meh. Not very impressive as a villain. Sokka was painfully boring. He could have been left out of the movie, and it would have changed nothing. That's okay with minor character, but not with alleged main characters. Only thing he does is berating his sister and courting princess Daenerys... sorry: Yue, which both does not affect the story in any way.
"The Last Airbender" is in no way a masterpiece; several side aspects are quite flawed. The bending movements are absolutely over the top and not very well choreographed. Spirits living in the water without any protection, so basically everyone can just come over and kill them? Come on. But the worst thing of the entire movie, in my opinion, is Katara's water bending skill going from zero to hero in one moment; she just wasn't able yet to perform even small tricks, and as soon as the battle begins, she easily blocks fireballs and quick-freezes Zuko?
But apart from those flaws, it's a nice heartwarming story about friendship, teamwork and finding your path in life. Yes, if the story really doesn't catch the spirit of the series, I understand everyone who dislikes the movie because of that. But it's absolutely possible to like it if you have nothing to compare it with for the entire time...