The Last Airbender is based on the popular Nickelodeon cartoon of the same name. Having never watched the show, I was able to go into it with a clean slate. Directed by M. Night Shyamalan, this is his first feature film he hasn't written himself, and also his first attempt at directing a big-budget action adventure movie. Having seen all the director's previous works, I was intrigued to see how The Last Airbender would turn out.
Shymalan is well known for his penchant of very slow, deliberate pacing in his films, that usually build up to some sort of twist in the end. This movie would be a total departure from those, so I was interested to see if he could pull it off. The quality of his work though has been steadily declining with each release, so I remained skeptical, and after seeing The Last Airbender, I was rightly so.
The story centers around a young boy named Aang, who's the last of a mythical tribe of people known as "air benders". The Air Benders were one of four nations of people in a fictional world of people with special abilities, which include the Air, Water, Earth, and Fire Nations. The 'benders' of each of these nations have the ability to control and manipulate their respective elements as they see fit, though in order to maintain a balance in the world and co-exist peacefully, the benders previously only used their powers for good. This all changes when the leader of the Fire Nation attacks and wipes out the entire Air Nation in an attempt to take over all of the nations.
Previous to these events, Aang is discovered by his tribe to be the mythical "Avatar", a reincarnation of a long line of benders who are able to bend all four elements. The Avatars are highly revered and regarded as protectors of all the Nations, and are required to train and dedicate their lives into maintaining the balance between them. Upon learning of this sacrifice, Aang decides to run away from his tribe, but is caught in a heavy storm and knocked into the ocean, where his Water bending power protectively freezes him inside an iceberg. One hundred years later, Aang is discovered by two Water Nation siblings, Katara (Nicola Peltz) and Sokka (Jackson Rathbone of Twilight fame), and the film picks up from there.
The problem that plagues The Last Airbender is the same one that has brought down similar films such as The Chronicles of Narnia, The Golden Compass, and countless others -- which is namely bad acting from child actors in the lead roles. For me personally, the success of a film of this type that features a kid in a leading role hinges on the believability of their performance. While it may be a harsh standard to judge by, it's difficult to become emotionally invested in a film when the main character isn't believable. And that's the fatal flaw of The Last Airbender -there isn't one moment in the film when I actually believe that Aang is that all-mighty Avatar character that they claim him to be. Most of his lines are recited like they're being read from cue cards, which totally undermines the impact of his character. Though the actor who plays Aang (Noah Ringer) does have all the requisite martial arts skills to make you believe he actually could be a talented fighter, once his character engages in dialogue, the guise begins to fall apart.
Aang is the most noticeable flaw of The Last Airbender, but he isn't the only one. The actors who play the supporting characters of Sokka and Katara aren't much better. They both come off as stiff and are as unconvincing reciting their lines as Aang. There's just no real emotional connection between them and Aang, and because so much of the plot depends on the relationships between these characters, it's easy to understand why this film fails.
The movie isn't all bad though, as the special effects are actually pretty impressive, though credit there is due more to artists at Industrial Light & Magic than Shymalan himself. The different 'bending' effects do a good job of bringing to the story to life in a way the main actors couldn't. Also strong were the performances by Dev Patal as Prince Zuko and Shaun Toub as his uncle Iroh. Their characters and side plot give the story some real balance and depth. If only the other actors had matched their performances, the film could've turned out much better.
The uneven performances weren't the only thing that hurt The Last Airbender; it also suffered from pacing problems and too many plot holes. The film speeds along at a quick pace, which never gives the viewer time to digest all that's happening on screen. It also makes you wonder how much of the details of the cartoon were skipped over in order to make story fit in the film. There's a part in the movie in which were supposed to believe that two characters establish a meaningful relationship which blossoms and takes place over several weeks and greatly impacts the story. Only we don't see this play out on screen, and the characters are only seen on screen together for about a total of 5 minutes, which renders this plot line useless.
By the time we reach the end of the Last Airbender, there's so much information that's been skipped over and unexplained that it's hard to care about the story or the characters, and instead you're just waiting for the next big action sequence so you can see more of the 'bending' effects. And naturally for a film of this sort, the story ends with an obvious cliffhanger that sets up for a hopeful sequel, but leaves the viewer left dissatisfied.
Overall, The Last Airbender is a disappointing attempt at an epic fantasy-adventure movie. While the source material is popular and highly regarded for having a deep and diverse universe, the film never captures it or brings it to life. Plagued by bad performances and a hollow script, The Last Airbender because another in a long line of films that 'could've been'. Fans of the show will be disappointed by the representation that it receives on the big screen, while newcomers may be discouraged to check the show out afterwards.
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