In 1999, one of the biggest and most surprising hits to be released all summer was the groundbreaking thriller The Sixth Sense.  That film, which featured one of the most famous twist endings of all time, introduced audiences everywhere to an up-and-coming young director named M. Night Shyamalan.  After the massive success of The Sixth Sense, many people thought that Shyamalan was in line to be the next Steven Spielberg, but others remained skeptical of his talent.  After a few respectable films, Shyamalan seemed to loose his way and the results were some of the biggest disappointments of the past few years.  Well, Shyamalan has attempted to break out of his funk and venture into the world of both children’s films and epic moviemaking with his live-action adaptation of the popular cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender.  Well, unfortunately for the legions of fans awaiting it’s release, The Last Airbender is one of the biggest busts to hit theaters all year.

The Last Airbender takes place in a world where society is divided into nations based on various elements.  In these nations of Air, Earth, Fire, and Water, there are special people who are known as ‘benders’ who can manipulate these elements and control them at will.  There is also a prophecy of a very special bender who is known as the ‘Avatar.’  This special bender, who is constantly reincarnated in a different nation, not only has the ability to bend all of the various elements, but has the ability to communicate with the spirit world and unite all the nations peacefully.  Wanting as much power as they can muster, the fire nation has waged war on all the remaining nations in an attempt to control this very unique world.  Also, because it is known that the Avatar is to be born into the air nation, they completely wipe out this very peaceful nation to prevent the rise of this very powerful being.  Things become complicated when a pair of siblings from a very poor village in the water nation discover a young boy frozen in a sphere of ice, who may not only be the long lost Avatar, but the very last of the Airbenders.  While this tale is steeped in a rich mythology, this feature film, while stunning to look at, fails in almost every way to satisfy both the fans of the original series, and newcomers as well.

Aang is the Avatar

First, not everything goes wrong with The Last Airbender.  The film contains some truly fantastic special effects and can be simply beautiful to look at.  Experiencing The Last Airbender theatrically was one of the coolest visual experiences of recent memory, and looking at the vast landscape of this very unique reality was really cool.  The effects hee are very impressive, and the production of this movie was truly great.  Looking at The Last Airbender reminded me of the world featured in fantasy films such as The Chronicles of Narnia or The Golden Compass.  Everything from the locations to the wardrobe were presented in a very classy way, and the talented people who worked on the look of this film have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.  Also, the film does contain one memorable performance from Dev Patel.  Patel, who captured the hearts of audiences everywhere with his starring role in Slumdog Millionaire, is very convincing as a young exiled prince from the fire nation who is obsessed with finding the Avatar so his father will allow him to finally return home.  However, here in lies the problem.  Aside from Patel the acting here is pretty much terrible.  Also, nothing couples terrible acting better than some of the hammiest and most poorly conceived dialogue to hit theaters in quite some time.

Prince Zuko of The Fire Nation

Overall, besides the look of the film, not much goes right here.  The story featured in the original Avatar series contains a very complex and interesting mythology.  This mythology is presented in the film in a very quick way that is sort of reminiscent of looking at the cliff notes of the story.  The entire back-story of this world and all the nations is rushed through in a way that I had absolutely no idea what was going on at times.  Really, not a whole lot is explained about these different water, earth, and fire benders and how exactly they come to be.  Also, there is a mention of this ongoing siege by the fire nation to the different nations, but not much is shown of this ongoing war and occupation.  While fans who are familiar with the story from the source material may get what is going on, I was absolutely lost throughout much of the movie’s runtime, this story is almost incomprehensible.

Then we get to the acting featured here.  Now, as I said before, Dev Patel really has nothing to be ashamed of, but he is the only actor who can hold his head up high after this failure of a movie.  What else can I say?  The actors in The Last Airbender are simply terrible.  Newcomer Noah Ringer, who stars as the Avatar named Aang, falls into the same category as Jake Lloyd as a very bad child actor.  Now, I know when you take a performance of someone this young, you really have to consider their age and cut them some slack.  However, this is the main character of what could be a successful franchise, and this kid just butchers the material he’s given.  There are certain scenes of Aang trying to learn how to bend certain elements, where Ringer’s performance is just laughable.

Sokka and Katara try and help Aang

In the end, Ringer is still a kid, and through the majority of the film he’s accompanied by a pair of characters from the water nation who deliver equally bad perfomances.  Nicola Peltz (Deck the Halls) and Jackson Rathbone (Twilight) play Katara and Sokka, who are siblings from a small village who decide to help Aang unite the nations.  Katara, who is a waterbender, is a headstrong young girl who is assisted by her brother in delivering two of the most wooden performances in any movie all year.  The film features many scenes of Katara attempting to train Aang in waterbending that could have easily been featured in a comedy.  The fact that these two young actors have such serious looks on their faces, while doing these totally ridiculous moves with the uplifting music reminded me of the high school plays that were directed by Max Fischer in Rushmore.  There is also a plot where Sokka seems to fall for a young princess in the water kingdom that really goes nowhere.  These two characters have zero chemistry, and the relationship is given so little screen time, it is not emotional at all, and just seems like an unnecessary plot point.  Needless to say, all of the good guys in this movie are just awful.  They ride this giant fluffy white creature, which looks like a mix of one of the guys from Where the Wild Things Are and Falcor from The Neverending Story.

Aang uses his powers

The film also features a very small role by the great Cliff Curtis (Sunshine) as the ruler of the fire nation, but he really isn’t given much to work with.  Now, this film has been set up to be the first in a series, so if, by any chance, the series continues his character will probably be featured more.  It’s hard to point the finger at exactly what went wrong with this film.  The acting was bad, the story was nearly impossible to follow, and Shyamalan has directed yet another clunker.  While not as disastrous as The Happening and Lady in the Water, The Last Airbender will probably turn Shyamalan into the devil in the eyes of fans of the series.  Perhaps if plans go forward with a second film another director may be able to salvage this franchise, but that would be a truly master feat after this mess of a film.

While The Last Airbender delivers some impressive visuals, the end result is just a mess and I have a feeling that this franchise may hit a dead end the same way that The Golden Compass did.  This marks yet another disappointment in a summer that is full of them.

The Last Airbender: 3.5/10

- Krycek