The Last Airbender Review

‘The Last Airbender’ is the Last Time I Have Faith in M. Night Shyamalan

-----There’s no need for a plot description, because anyone who watches the film will have it dutifully relayed to them in fits of dialogue from our protagonists. But here’s to all you who haven’t seen the show or won’t see the movie. In the ‘Avatar’ universe, certain individuals can control or “bend” the element native to their nation. However, Aang-the Avatar-, is the only one who can master all four elements and bring peace to the world. Inexplicably absent for 100 years, the four nations (Earth, Water, Fire, and Air) have gone into turmoil under the tyrannical rule of the evil Fire Nation, who have also completely wiped out all the Air Nomads. When Sokka and Katara, two young citizens of the all-but-depleted southern water tribe discover the young Avatar frozen in a block of ice, they take it upon themselves to help him in mastering the four elements and saving the world. But for some reason, Shyamalan has completely skipped over the relationship between the three, and they have about five minutes onscreen together. So basically, the audience never gets to know the protagonists, and it becomes a question of why we even care about them. They’re so painfully underdeveloped anyone who hasn’t seen the show will be rightfully confused by their role in the film.

-----Noah Ringer, who plays Aang, could have been passable do to looks alone had Shyamalan given even the slightest attempt to properly develop the character. Instead, we get nothing except a few half-baked fight scenes in the way of getting to know Aang. Jackson Rathbone’s (Jasper of ‘The Twilight Saga’) Sokka also could have worked out, had he had any legitimate screen time. Not to mention the fact that Shyamalan’s script has all but sucked the quintessential humor that was ever present in the series, so there’s hardly a chance for Rathbone to break the typical sidekick archetypes and become a real character. Nicola Peltz’s Katara just doesn’t work out at all. There’s maybe one line, which like nearly all good things about the film can be seen in the trailer, where she manages to convey some sort of emotion or chemistry with Aang. Other than that, she plays a character too young and complacent to ever begin portraying the stubborn and even feminist Katara from the show. Perhaps Seychelle Gabriel would have been a better choice, instead playing the Moon Princess who is, like everyone else, underdeveloped; but at least, like Ringer’s Aang and Rathbone’s Sokka, looks more like the role.

-----On a better note, Dev Patel’s ('Slumdog Millionaire') Zuko is hardly as passionate or angry as his counterpart in the show, but he’s suitable enough for the role and his chemistry with one of the film’s other consistent performances in Shaun Toub’s Uncle Iroh, prove the film’s highlight. As for Toub’s Iroh, the script doesn’t afford him the classic humor portrayed in the show, but he nonetheless seems to get the character, capably playing the wise old mentor figure. Zuko’s father is a huge misinterpretation however, as Cliff Curtis’s portrayal seems very normal and even loving of his son. In the show he’s a monster who disowns his son completely, without a care for what happens to him. In the film, all he seems to talk about is Zuko’s attempt to capture the Avatar. All in all, none of this really matters too much because Shyamalan’s script is so worried about laying the plot groundwork for an epic that it never once takes time to develop a scene or a character, instead having Katara give a ridiculous narration that tells us what’s going on. Appa (a giant flying bison)’s vocals, funny and authentically relayed in the show, are dimmed here to nonchalance. This is relative because his animal counterpart on the show is more affectively developed than Aang, the most important character, in the live action version. Not to mention the CG work outside of element bending is very blunt.

-----‘The Last Airbender’ seems blissfully unaware it’s even a movie. So much of the plot and details are put into spoken word it may as well have been someone just telling us what was going on rather than showing us through any sort of visual. The action scenes range from unfortunately staged and slow to some half-decent effects driven outings. The problem also comes in the way of Shyamalan’s interpretation of the bending. Rather than moving the elements as part of them selves, the characters on screen seem to need to do about fifty karate moves just to muster a splash of water; a splash which then looks nearly independent of their controller’s actions. The occasional scene seems to capture a semblance of air-bending or fire-bending in its correct context, but you can see all that in the trailer. Some of the action sequences also come off a bit choppy in their ultra slow-motion, with people falling into blows and the aforementioned bending seemingly independent of its manipulator, all combined with repetitive and non-fluid attacks from our hero.

-----I did mention that Shyamalan seems to have a love, or at least a liking, for the material. This seems evident in some of the films few positives. He gets the nation set up, and rightfully stresses it. Each nation is unique and distinct to its element and tendencies. The set design is also strong, often giving the feel of the shows elaborate art direction to a high caliber of detail. Ringer and Patel manage have a good moment or two, and their relationship is actually more fleshed out than that of Aang and his water-bender companions. Now back to the ridiculous stuff. Shyamalan has inexplicably chosen to change the pronunciation of numerous lead characters’ names. Aang is annoyingly and obnoxiously called, “Ong,” not mention Sokka being called “So-Ka,” like ‘soda.’ Why would you do that? What is the purpose other than annoying the fan base you depend on? He even goes so far as to elementally change the all important source of power for the Fire Nation!

-----The musical score is rightfully epic, if not very derivative from the show, as would have been preferable. However, this score is also wrongfully pushed to the back of the effects, being cut off before its crescendo at nearly every turn to make way for the next scene we don’t see but are hastily informed about by one of the characters. The epic scope is fleshed out, but every little thing is left by the wayside. Including more individual episode tidbits than are necessary, Shyamalan’s film comes off like a fans’ homemade reproduction of the show rather than a coherent bit of storytelling. Much like the fourth ‘Harry Potter’ film, ‘The Last Airbender’ is so worried about encompassing everything form the source material that it instead accomplishes nothing. Now imagine if the fourth ‘Harry Potter’ film was the first in the series, with no groundwork laid for nearly any of the characters, and you begin to get the idea. The studio may well deserve plenty of the blame in the way of the final film, which clocks in at only 103 minutes, not even nearing two hours. To tell a story as epic as this one without at least two hours is absurd and a longer runtime would hardly have deterred an audience looking for an epic. After all, we’re talking about an adaptation of a 22 episode season! Indeed, there seem to be many lost scenes that the studio decided to cut or speed up, only to have them quickly relayed to the audience by a snippet of artificial dialogue or horrific narration from Katara. “She and my brother became friends immediately.” Oh, that’s great Katara, we couldn’t tell by their incessant staring at each other.

-----The film slowly tips in the way of bad as it becomes apparent that it will never get into its flow, or even develop anyone to their fullest extent. Perhaps the breaking point for me was the showdown between Katara and Zuko, where Katara makes a point to tell us once again that she is “The last water bender in the southern tribe!” We get it! After this point the film actually improves in its last ten or so minutes, as we finally have a few slowed down character moments, and remember why we love the show in the first place. But by then the laundry list of complaints for all fans of the show and the utter confusion of subjective viewers has made this an irredeemable episode of frustration. It’s too little too late, and never enough for the film. New viewers will be lost in the frantic journey from nation to nation, the shows fans will be completely distraught, and both of them will be witness to horrific basic filmmaking.

-----‘The Last Airbender’ never gets boring, but this a result of the films’ worst feature, its ridiculous pace that never stops to develop anything. This is not the movie it should have been, and it breaks my heart. If it manages to make enough money on the show’s fans and small children alone, there may well be a sequel despite the reviews that are likely to tear it apart. In that light, there may be the smallest glimmer of hope in a sequel if the first thirty minutes are just a simple conversation between the leads where we can begin to get to know them. Shyamalan will also have to up his directing of the young stars and his scripting needs a complete reworking and a lot more help from…pretty much anyone who’s still willing to associate themselves with the project. It’s a long road, but maybe someday we can see a good live action film come out of the animated series, which has tragically been associated with this project, and which definitely shouldn’t be looked down on for Shyamalan’s mess. As for the 3D work, I was unable to see it in this format, and seeing as I get free movies, I’m going to watch it if it becomes available. It’s very much a matter of me getting over the shock of terror upon seeing this, the year’s biggest disappointment to replace ‘Clash of the Titans’ for the title, a film which was also converted to 3D late in the game.

-----A part of me wants to view it again to reexamine just what went wrong from an adjusted viewpoint with adjusted expectations. I’d likely be a bit less harsh if I had no stock in the film’s show, and thus could offer this as passable entertainment for some of the action, set pieces, and location work alone, in a sort of ‘Transformers 2’ recommendation where you give up on the story and just enjoy some robot smashing and slapstick comedy. Unfortunately, the script is so horrendous it doesn’t allow for this, and the ultimate lack of humor certainly doesn’t allay any room for self-aware shamelessness. It’s a good enough ground floor idea that it can only get so bad as a standalone venture, show not considered. The potential is evident, the execution nonexistent. As for unknowing and uncritical younger fans of the series, they may be blissfully ignorant of the films’ problems until they’re older, and they may even make the sequel a reality. I didn’t hate the film alone, just in comparison to the exceptional source material it should have used to its advantage. It’s very similar to the ‘Superman Returns’ fiasco, where a typically strong Director in Bryan Singer made a film that didn’t begin to capture the magic of the source material that inspired it. If you’re still with me, you’re likely a fan in pain…and if you’re new to the ‘Avatar’ mythos, then I encourage you to watch the show in spite of this mess; give it a chance wash out all of Shyamalan’s missteps.

Official Trailer

Based on a Toy Line/Animated Series

Co-Stars Jackson Rathbone

Based on an Animated Series

Stars Dev Patel -----

Based on a Toy Line/Animated Series