A big ol’ mess of atrocious acting and terrible scripting- The Last Airbender is a definite nominee for worst film of 2010. Another entry on the ever expanding list of director M. Night Shyamalan flops, the film is based on popular Nickelodeon animated series- Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005-2008), which combined the aesthetic of anime and western cartoons. Already released in the UK and USA, The film version has angered some of the TV show fans who have accused the filmmakers of whitewashing the cartoon’s racially diverse characters (click here for a detailed discussion). Whether you are a lover of the source material or new to the fantasy world of ‘benders’, there is little joy to be found in this lacklustre family adventure film.
Set in a world where people are divided into four tribal groupings- Air, Earth, Water and Fire. Within these communities certain people possess the ability to harness the power of their element- ‘benders’. A spiritual figure called the Avatar holds the elements in balance, but after he disappears the Fire nation grows dominate attacking the other regions and subordinating other clans, focusing on the other elements’ ‘benders’. This is the background to the film’s starting point where 12 year old Aang (Noah Ringer) is found trapped in the ice by members of the Southern Water clan, teenage sister and brother- Katara (Nicola Peltz) and Sokka (Jason Rathbone, Twilight). Aang is the last of the Airbenders- but is he the missing Avatar, the one the Fire nation are desperate to find. Hot on the trio’s tail is Zuko (Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire) the exiled Fire prince who cannot return home until he captures the powerful Avatar, who possess the ability to control all the elements.
This is a film with next to no redeeming qualities. The acting is excruciating across the board, with a complete lack of subtlety and volume control. The script (written by Shyamalan) is ridiculously convoluted – the whole thing is yawn inducing. The only slight glimmer of enjoyment is the odd bit of visual excitement (this is another 3D offering) and moments of unintentionally hilarious dialogue. The word ‘bender’ has a secondary vulgar slang meaning in UK (that doesn’t exist in USA and Australia) which makes it hard for any Brit watching the film not to involuntarily snigger at the unfortunate double entrendre throughout the script (for more on this read Peter Bradshaw’s review for The Guardian). Why this was never picked up by the filmmakers is a mystery.
Set up to be the first in a trilogy of films, despite the title, The Last Airbender looks to be just the first in a line of tedious and uninspiring films. Critically panned around the world, this film will have you scratching your head and wondering what happened to M. Night Shyamalan who seemed to show such early promise.
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First publlished on Trespass
