The Last Airbender (2010)

(Director) M. Night Shyamalan

(Writer) M. Night Shyamalan

(Producer) M. Night Shyamalan

(Distributor) Paramount Pictures

At this point in time, what could possibly be addressed about Mr. Shyamalan's filmography that hasn't already? This is a man who at one time had audiences uttering words such as "genius", "visionary" and "the next so-and-so". The same man who, in 1999, wrote one of the most memorable horror movies of all time, "The Sixth Sense"; spawning countless parodies, gaining mass critical acclaim and brisking its way into classic cinema history. He went on to create "Unbreakable" a movie that most people consider (including myself) to be one of the most underrated films in, not only Shyamalan's career, but in the history of film. After that came "Signs" and it was at this point that the fan base of Night's split into two; people who believed he could return to his creative roots and those who were too disappointed to keep hope. I can honestly say that every single movie created by this man since has been a breathing disaster. With "The Village", "Lady In The Water" and "The Happening" being the atrocities that they were, I found myself bewildered by my surprise at how insultingly awful "The Last Airbender" was.

Based on the critically acclaimed Nickelodeon cartoon "Avatar: The Last Airbender", "The Last Airbender" takes place in a war-torn world where people, with training, are capable of controlling the key elements of nature: Earth, Wind, Water and Fire. The story is centered around a young girl named Katara (Nicola Peltz) and her elder brother Sokka (Jackson Rathbone) who are both clan members of the Southern Water Tribe. While out hunting on the icy tundra their nation is built upon, they stumble upon a giant sphere of solid ice. After some tampering with the mysterious object it explodes and inside lays a young boy who calls himself Aang (Noah Ringer). It turns out that Aang is an important figure role in history known as the Avatar and has been asleep for over one-hundred years.

An average person would probably read one of the many premises for this film and safely assume that it's really interesting, unique and could be something intriguing. They couldn't be more right; nothing is wrong with the story that was cooked up for "The Last Airbender". The idea is full of thrilling adventure, whimsical humor and mature fantasy elements that all together mesh into a really good story. The problem? Every. Single. Other. Aspect.

Everything the characters in this film do, and I mean everything; every little action, interaction, choice and emotion serves no purpose and has no clarified justification. Throughout the one and a half hour running time I lost track of how many times I had to ask the questions: "Why is he doing that?" "When did they get there?" "Why are they here?" "Who is that?" "Are they important?" "Is this person supposed to be key to the story?" "How did they arrive so quickly?" "Why would he say that?" "Why would she do that?" "Who in the world would say that?" "How does that make sense?" "But didn't (insert name here) just say something completely different?" "I thought it was supposed to be like this?" "What happened to that character?" The inconsistencies with these character's actions are simply unfathomable. When they interact with one another it feels so forced that ,at times, you catch yourself noticing the actors making strange faces because not even they know how to convey what the script gave to them. When they conjure up an emotion there's no natural depth to it and you're left laughing inside or completely confused. Whenever they speak you're questioning what is being said and pointing out the contradictions in their personalities because even though there is literally NO character development in this film, the lack of consistency in what's given to you is atrociously obvious.

Usually it can be rightfully said that such terrible furthering in a character's persona is at the mercy of the screenplay. "The Last Airbender" seeks to defy such by giving the audience some of the most dull acting to be put forward in the past decade. From beginning to end, the actors cannot act and it's a struggle trying to find words that can emphasize my point. From facial expressions, to body movements, to delivery of dialogue, to messily choreographed action sequences, to what are supposed to be emotional moments, the acting leaves the viewer with nothing more than a migraine. For me, this immense flaw in the film became overwhelmingly infuriating to watch because I kept hoping the acting would improve so I could properly immerse myself in the experience. It never happened and I was left nearly tearing my hair out.

As time goes on I become more attached to the idea of there being a small group of elite film editors and that a law is put in place where it's mandatory to have this small group edit your film for you. Why? So that jumbled up garbage like "The Last Airbender" never sees the light of day. This entire movie feels like deleted scenes and something that would be on the "The Last Airbender: Director's Cut" edition of the DVD release. Certainly not on a finished product because I've seen far too many low budget art films with better editing to believe it was actually this bad by choice. The entire pace of the film is all over the map and results in what feels like a story that took place over a week that has three to four hour time skips every three to seven minutes. Not only does the storyline feel rushed but there's a sense of emptiness. You begin to feel as though nothing is being accomplished in the plot and there's no point in caring. Everything works like a robot in the sense that it's being done because it was told to be. No heart, no soul.

If there's anything positive to gain from this three month belated April Fools joke it's that the cinematography is at times, something to behold. I found myself spending more time wanting to look over the scenery of the movie and not have to literally watch it anymore. Something I found scratching my head over was that, at first, the CGI brings a lot of life to the magical elements of the film. Then halfway in it was like somebody murdered the production value and everything magical or beautiful looked fake, plastic and hollow. I'm not sure what happened there but mixed in with everything else this movie had to offer I felt like the second half lasted an eternity.

One final issue I had was the film took itself too seriously. Without giving the audience a single breath or moment to try and piece together this puzzle with no picture, the film tries far too hard to attain that feeling of an epic adventure. Everything feels overdone, overacted, over scored, over hyped and over dramatized to the point of emptiness.

In the end there's nothing redeeming enough to justify subjecting yourself to this kind of cinematic torture. The plot is incomprehensible, the dialogue is trash and the emotions are empty. Imagine, if you will, an hour and a half of a very tall, intimidating person standing over you. You're strapped to an extremely uncomfortable wooden chair that won't stop squeaking when you wiggle around. This very tall, intimidating person is poking you non-stop on the forehead with enough force to knock your head back but not give you whiplash. As he continues, two people stand next to you and, with megaphones to their mouths, scream in both your ears as loud as they can. Then, when their voices are worn out, they switch to two new people, with higher pitched voices, who proceed to finish the job. Throughout all of this your feet are sitting in a bucket of ice cold water, your eyebrows are being plucked out by a blind person and there's bamboo shoots under your fingernails. Again, imagine enduring this for an hour and a half. Congratulations, you just sat through "The Last Airbender".