Remember "The Sixth Sense"? Remember how good a movie that was? I honestly have no idea what M. Night Shyamalan has been doing these last 10 years, but improving his craft hasn't been one of them. With each of his successive movies being slightly more terrible than the last, culminating in the complete disaster of the unintentionally hilarious "The Happening", Shyamalan attempts to rebuild his credibility by taking a slightly unconventional project in "The Last Airbender." And while he doesn't quite redeem himself, the effort is far more entertaining than "The Happening."
Based on the Nickelodeon television show, "The Last Airbender" is about the reincarnation of the "Avatar", Aang (Noah Ringer), whose native power is airbending. He is not only the last remaining airbender, but the only person in the world who is able to tap into the other elements of waterbending, earthbending, and firebending. Other benders exist but are limited to their individual element. Of course, the Fire People want to control the Avatar to rule the world, but our heroes will have none of that.
There is no question that Shyamalan proves himself to be an interesting visual director. The way in which he composes many of his shots is visually arresting even if the meat of that individual scene is disposable. And despite this being his first foray into action, he handles himself rather competently with much of it. This part really isn't the problem.
The problem lies with too many characters plodding through too much plot while delivering far too much exposition. Every ten minutes or so all of the action stops so that the characters can stand around and tell us what they just did, their own personal history, what they're going to do next, and why they're going to do it. Other times we're treated to a visual of them traveling while Katara (Nicole Peltz), the girl who originally found Aang, gives us background info via voiceover. Clearly Shyamalan is trying to provide the audience with as much information as possible but much of it isn't necessary. While there certainly seems to be an interesting and wide ranging mythology of this universe, all of its richness is stripped out when the attempt is made to force feed the audience every missing piece, instead of just showing it.
Additionally, none of the characters are really all that interesting. Aang is not only a poor actor, but a bland character. He apparently attempted to run away from his duty as the Avatar because he wanted to have a normal life. But upon his reemergence, he almost immediately accepts his mistake and decides to take on that mantle. No real growth, no real life changing experience, he just somewhat arbitrarily changes his mind. His two companions, Katara and Sokka (Jackson Rathbone) are even more uninteresting, serving the purpose of essentially kick starting the whole journey but providing little more than ancillary support. We're downloaded with information at the beginning of the movie as to why we should care about them, but again, we're never shown. The only time Katara is really worth having around is when she uses her waterbending powers to assist in battle.
What was surprising was the way in which the most interesting characters in the movie was supposed to be one of the villains. Slumdog Millionaire's Dev Patel plays Prince Zuko, the disgraced son of the king of the Fire People. Forced to live in exile, he can only return if he brings back the Avatar and regain his place as king. None of his actions are evil. Just misguided in his attempts to join his family again and go home. His entire purpose is to go home and as a result, you can understand why he acts in the way that he does.
Attempting to stop Prince Zuko to take the glory for himself, however, is Commander Zhao, played by Aasif Mandvi of the Daily Show. Let me say that again. A guy from the Daily Show is supposed to be the primary antagonist. Occasionally he made me forget that he's primarily known for comedy bits on television, but for the most part I was just picturing his hilarious line delivery from the show. Maybe if they had Jon Stewart as his assistant or something we could have really had something awesome.
Shyamalan needs to stop writing. Period. Or get someone to rewrite his stuff. Because it's obvious that while he does have some skill as a director, his writing just seems to get worse and worse. He even attempts to shoehorn in a "twist" at the end of the movie. But it's not a twist. It's a plot development. Punctuating it as some kind of surprise does a disservice to the entire audience and just makes you more disliked than you already are.
As a side note, this 3D was probably the worst 3D I have ever seen. It completely lacked depth. In fact, I feel as if I paid an extra $2.50 to darken up the screen because that's really all the glasses did. Occasionally there would be some sort of depth perception but then it would immediately go back to two dimensions. Subtlety is one thing, but charging me extra for something that does not even come close to enhancing the experience is something else entirely. I really wish they would do away with these post converted 3D movies.
Clearly they're attempting to set up a franchise with "The Last Airbender" by ending with a "cliffhanger" and I can't say I'm all that interested to see what happens next. In fact, while I'm intrigued by the world but not by the film, I may seek out the television show which is most likely leaps and bounds above what was offered up here.
GRADE: C
