The Last Airbender – 2*

The draw of a good film is mainly in the story it has to tell, and for this reason, The Last Airbender scores higher because it’s a thought- and imagination-provoking tale of feuding parts that if they lived in harmony could be as one. The problem is the concept was given to such a hit-and-miss director who in all fairness is a better writer, but is only best known for his 1999 film, The Sixth Sense. M. Night Shyamalan strikes again but sadly makes little dramatic or noteworthy impact, appearing to just be tagging onto the Hollywood 3D craze and trying to ‘keeping in the game’.

Shyamalan has a ‘golden egg’ opportunity to mimic the global success of other action-fantasy blockbuster series like Lord of the Rings with this captivating tale of earth, wind, fire and water. Disappointingly, his adaptation of the TV cartoon series suffers from lack of character establishment (and care), cringeworthy and wooden acting from its young leads, and misleading plot elements that seem to serve no real purpose. Plus the ‘bender’ comments get in the way of taking anything seriously in this film, which suggests that Shyamalan is not fully engaging us enough in a visually powerful spectacle to avoid this diversion and have it live up to its TV legacy.

In addition, the 3D is virtually non-existent throughout – the film was watchable without specs in parts – but it did work wonders on the stylish title sequences. The film’s only redeeming feature is the story behind the whole affair that is a potentially fascinating and alluringly spiritual one with a compelling value. To make up for the poorly filmed action scenes at the start – embarrassingly like those found in a low-budget US TV fantasy import – the water-fire battle in the finale scenes makes for geninuely exciting viewing.

On the whole, though, you beg for more depth and sumptuous visual thrills, as well as more character engagement. We needed to root for our Avatar, but instead he is fairly charmless, too wrapped up in his own world to warrant our empathy – or having his Southern Water Tribe friends there to assist. In fact the less we are exposed to their presence, the better the film, too, which is an even sadder state of affairs. An attack of the giggles is inevitable, but this is where the film’s enjoyment lies in the sexual inuendos that may seem childish but help us through the more meaningless parts. If the proposed sequel happens, it may be better to let Shyamalan do the writing and another more capable director take over to save this potentially fascinating saga from screen history obscurity.

2/5 stars

By L G-K