Film & TV

The Last Airbender

220px-The_Last_Airbender_PosterRating: PG

Running Time: 103 minutes

Release Date: 16 September 2010

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http://www.thelastairbendermovie.com

Based on the first season of the animated television series: Avatar: The Last Airbender it was adapted for the screen by M. Night Shyamalan  (The Sixth Sense, The Village) who also directed and co-produced it. 

Aang (Noah Ringer) is discovered by teens Katara (Nicola Peltz) and brother Sokka (Jackson Rathbone) in this adventure fantasy flick.  Aang is the lost reincarnation of the Avatar who has the potential to hold the world in spiritual balance against the warring tribes of Earth, Water, Fire and Air.  Katara, the last remaining waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe helps Aang to master this skill, as though he is gifted with the ability to bend all four elements, he has only learnt to airbend after running away to escape the huge responsibility bestowed on him.  Fire Lord Ozai (Cliff Curtis) leader of the Fire Nation and father to Prince Zuko (Dev Patel),  after vanquishing the Air Nomads is continuing to wage war against the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes.  Prince Zuko is on a mission to capture the missing Avatar, so  Katara and Sokka band together with Aang to keep him safe as he learns to master all the elements and fulfil his destiny. 

With me so far? Good as this is the simplified version of the plot which is actually more convoluted and littered with a myriad of characters and several antagonists.  Which is fine if it is well written and compelling but unfortunately this is not the case and only serves to confuse and bore the viewer.  It relies heavily on special effects combined with martial art inspired moves in this “paper/scissor/rock” 3D battle.  As well it is packaged in the latest every film must have 3D format which is becoming passé and a seemingly excuse to forgo actually storytelling.

Even though the Industrial Light and Magic team was engaged to work on the visual effects particularly of “bending” of the elements which is pretty spectacular the attention on style over substance is to its detriment.  There is no sense of engagement with any of the characters so you end up not caring about what will happen, just hoping that the film will end soon and put you out of your misery.  No amount of special effects can save this film with the poor dialogue giving rise to stilted performances by all.  It will be interesting to see if a sequel ever gets made as M. Night Shyamalan was writing the sequel during filming.

2/5 stars

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