Filmshaft: The Last Airbender- Review

The Last Airbender – Review

By: Martyn Conterio

One doesn’t usually take such asinine delight in watching a director’s career descend into a maelstrom of total crud, but M Night Shyamalan has been getting deeper and deeper into trouble with each passing effort and he’s up to his ears in it.
The thing that does it – and it really annoys – is the man’s inability to see the woods for the trees. He seems completely oblivious to the dreadful nature of his own movies. The rot set in quickly after Unbreakable with each successive entry worst than the last. The Happening was so dreadful people assumed it was a big joke.
Only it wasn’t.
Famed for ‘twist’ endings, he never saw his own downfall coming. The Last Airbender is bloated and dreary and features some unfortunate dialogue for UK audiences.
This is Shyamalan’s first time away from his own imagination. He has adapted a cult animation series – Avatar – and given it his special brand of lacklustre polish.
Aang (Noah Ringer) is ‘the last airbender’, a spiritual warrior monk who is like the Dalai Lama meets Bruce Lee. When he is discovered frozen in ice by two teens (Jackson Rathbone and Nicola Peltz) they set off on a grand adventure while being chased by Dev Patel’s angry Prince Zuko. The problem is – and it’s a major one – Noah Ringer can’t act. He delivers each line with wide-eyed amateurism. It’s so glaringly obvious that this young lad can’t act it borders on the surreal.
So, how will dialogue such as “he’s a bender!” and “when you were young we knew you’d grow up to be a bender” be met by UK audiences? Probably with giant howls of laughter like it was in the press screening I attended. It is incredible British star Dev Patel didn’t have a word with his director on this issue. Perhaps he didn’t want to ruin his big Hollywood shot?
There was much made of the film’s $280 million dollar budget (including advertising) and many saw this as the last chance saloon for M Night Shyamalan. Each movie has eroded good will. But let’s face it, his career was founded on a ghost movie eleven years ago that some how blind-sided audiences into thinking it was a great piece of cinema.
Unbreakable had a killer concept and remains his most interesting film to date. But some fans are seeing a grand illusion: something that isn’t there. The Last Airbender proves he’s bankrupt of ideas and running on empty.
The short running time – 96 minutes – and some useless 3-D don’t add up or equal enjoyment. This film is daft and bereft of any entertainment value. Shyamalan wants this movie to be the start of a trilogy. Shudder.
He needs to seriously up his game or hit the bricks.
Rating: 
UK Release: 13th August

SOURCE: FILMSHAFT