The Last Airbender (2010)

Somewhere deep within his mansion, filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan must have a safe filled with photos of studio executives engaged in the most perverse acts known to man. How else can you explain his involvement with The Last Airbender, the latest 3D monstrosity to come down the line?

His last three films have consisted of The Village, Lady in the Water, and The Happening–all ho-hum efforts and more indicative of his abilities as a director than previous successes such as The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. And of the latter two, one featured a thoroughly unsatisfying conclusion, while the other’s popularity hinged entirely on a twist ending. While he may not be Michael Bay just yet, he sure isn’t the Indian answer to Steven Spielberg, either.

But despite previous missteps, here comes Shyamalan with the latest entry into the 2010 summer 3D sweepstakes. Based on the Nickelodeon animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender, the film received a massive budget ($150 million), and Shyamalan was allowed to write the screenplay and have full control of the casting process.

Boy, at least one of those photos must involve a naked Paramount exec strangling a baby seal while rubbing against the crotch of Satan himself.

The film is set in a world where special individuals can “bend” the elements, and the cruel Fire Nation has long waged war for dominion. All hope for peace disappeared when the latest incarnation of the Avatar–the only being who could control all four elements–mysteriously vanished 100 years prior to the beginning of our tale.

That gets fixed within the first five minutes, as brother/sister duo Sokka (Jackson Rathbone) and Katara (Nicola Peltz) uncover the Avatar while hunting for food. Still only 12 years old thanks to a state of suspended animation, the Avatar introduces himself as Aang (Noah Ringer) and appears enthusiastic to return home. But there’s no home to go back to thanks to the Fire Nation, as they wiped out all of Aang’s friends and mentors long ago.

As he and his newfound friends begin journeying across the land righting wrongs and freeing people from the tyranny of the Fire Nation, they’re pursued at every turn by Prince Zuko (Dev Patel), a banished royal who can’t return home until he captures the Avatar. But Zuko has problems of his own, as he’s constantly belittled and plotted against by the treacherous Admiral Zhao (Aasif Mandvi).

And so it goes as each side pops around the globe performing either acts of heroism or villainy. At least, that is, until everyone winds up in the lands of the Northern Water Tribe for a climatic showdown littered with ample opportunities for 3D effects.

I wish just a fraction of the film’s budget had went towards purchasing Shyamalan some screenwriting courses, as that proves to be the area consistently lacking in The Last Airbender. And since everything runs through the script, its ineptness spreads like a cancer into every cell of the production. Just look at some of the brilliant pieces of dialogue uttered during the film (with a straight face, I might add):

• “He will need you…and we all need him.”
• “I will stop them.”
• “I know what to do.”

I know The Last Airbender is aimed at kids, but does that mean the dialogue has to sound like it’s from a brightly-colored book for 5-year-olds? And if the above lines sound difficult to sit through, just wait until you get a load of the endless exposition and cheery, fortune cookie wisdom dispensed by characters so forgettable or annoying that you’d think George Lucas had something to do with them.

Speaking of the Star Wars franchise, 25-year-old Jackson Rathbone plays 15-year-old Sokka with all the charisma of Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker. Thankfully, his speaking parts are few and far between. The same can be said of Nicola Peltz as Katara, a role so bland that you’ll literally start forgetting her performance while the projector is still running. Ditto for Noah Ringer in a thankless role as Aang, the annoyingly exuberant savoir of mankind. But, again, I ultimately blame the paint-by-numbers script for these career missteps. The only real exception is Shaun Toub as Iroh, the noble uncle who accompanies Prince Zuko on his banished wanderings.

As for Zuko, the conflicted royal and hot-blooded warrior who yearns to regain the respect of his father and his rightful place in the Fire Kingdom, Shyamalan demonstrates his ineptitude in a whole different area by casting Dev Patel in the role. That’s right, Dev Patel, better known as “the kid from Slumdog Millionaire.” I rest my case.

The fight scenes do show flashes of what could’ve been, but the flying balls of flame, icy restraints, and watery orbs aren’t utilized for maximum effect until the waning moments of the film. And while Aang and his friends are presented in 3D, this isn’t truly a three-dimensional work. It’s simply a kid’s movie that underwent the process in order to squeeze a few extra bucks out of each customer, leaving you with nothing but a headache and another pair of glasses to clutter up your life.

In order to fulfill his true role as the Avatar, our hero must command all four elements. Aang begins with a mastery of air, and the opening title states “Book One: Water.” That means Earth and Fire would be the next entries, but I suspect a better title for The Last Airbender would’ve been The Last Film of the Series.

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