‘Lady in the Water” wasn’t an accident. Nor was “The Happening.”
They were warning signs, neon indicators that M. Night Shyamalan’s directorial bag of tricks was empty.
“The Last Airbender” merely puts an exclamation point on the matter.
Based on the popular animated series, “Airbender” is a grinding bore, a messy attempt at franchise construction that looks like the work of an in-over-his-head hack, not “the next Spielberg.”
The joyless “Airbender” begins badly and never lets up.
We’re thrown into a world shared by four distinct populations – one for each core element.
A girl with the power to control water inadvertently cracks open a giant frozen sphere, freeing a child dubbed the Avatar.
We’re told through endless exposition that the Avatar, a bald-headed boy named Aang (Noah Ringer), is destined to bring the element groups together in peace, love and understanding. That doesn’t sit well with the Fire crowd, which demands nothing less than world domination and sees Aang as a threat toward that end.
Can Aang hone his powers in time to save the day? More importantly, will audiences be able to stay awake long enough to see the film’s bald pitch for a sequel?
“Airbender” exposes Shyamalan on any number of fronts. He fails to leverage clever source material into a coherent, enjoyable tale. His characters must recite plot points meant to bring this fantasy realm into focus.
Why burden a film destined to appeal solely to children with such dramatic cargo?
No character emerges from the wreckage as worth rallying around, and the stilted dialogue is so awful you’ll wince when you’re not chuckling.
The sole romantic subplot would have to be upgraded to become one-dimensional, and the film lacks any sharp supporting characters to steal a scene or two.
What’s even more shocking is how badly Shyamalan directs the child actors. Didn’t he steer young Haley Joel Osment toward a brief but high-profile film career via “The Sixth Sense?”
“The Last Airbender” is more than just a sad summer film entry. It’s all the proof audiences need that Shyamalan shouldn’t be trusted with franchise material – or our $10 ticket stubs.
(Photo: Noah Ringer plays a child with the power to bring peace to the land in “The Last Airbender.”/Paramount Pictures)
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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
This is so discouraging! I was really hoping that this movie would be good as the cartoon series is excellent and “The Happening” not withstanding, I have usually enjoyed the movies of Shyamalan. Here’s hoping it’s an audience movie and not a critic movie
Who would have thought this movie would be THIS bad? That’s the twist!
Dustin, I’m afraid the audience reviews haven’t been much better!
Heh!!! I swear I didn’t read your headline, before writing my own! Great minds…
This film was an utter disgrace and a giant slap in the face to the fans worldwide. I hope that if Book 2 ever comes out they hire a whole new production team. May I suggest Alfonso Quarin??? Or hell ill direct it myself!! M Night Shamalan is a thief!
The actual genders and races of what the elements represent are in Rodney St.Michael’s book, Sync My World: Thief’s Honor GA SK. (myconnected.webs.com)
Air = Yellow “race” = male = scholars
Water = Small Browns = female = shaman
Earth = Blacks = lesbian = social ubuntu business class
Fire = Whites = gay = military, militant business class
Ether or Metal = Big Browns = bisexual = working class, bi-military
(females & bis go together like Katara & Sokka or brown females and males)
Therefore Aang should be Chinese.
Katara should be a Malay like a Filipina.
The Earth Kingdom should be African.
Zuko should be White like Hitler, Alexander the Gay or Gen. Arthur McArthur.
The Fire Nation’s army should be like the fiery Sacred Band of Thebes (an ancient elite gay army that Don’t-Ask-Don’t-Tell troops would be envious of) or the much-feared homosexual stormtroopers of Hitler.
And the Slumdog Millionaire (casted as Zuko) should be Sokka.
This film is just as messed up as the movie Angels and Demons. The branding of the priests were incorrect.
But anyway, from the guy who gave you the Sixth Sense, which did not portray childhood schizophrenia accurately or anywhere near the real world, what do you expect?
Bisexuals love horror and terror. They also scam people, just like the Wizard of Oz. The old Oz film which is also about the Elements is understandably all-white because they were ignorant back then. People have higher standards now, and realism is a must.
But M.Night, the Wizard of South Asia also has lessons for everyone after conning them:
1) Clearly, when people don’t play roles that fit them, everything is messed up. (e.g. “male” clergy in what should be a female realm, forbidding gays in the military which is their territory)
2) Whites are not fit to play the leading roles of Air and Water in the world scene. Leave that to the ASEAN+3 (China, Japan, Korea and South East Asia).
3) Arabs are not necessarily the greatest evil in the world. Ocassionally, they float like Ether to the ranks of Water. It is fiery whites that fits the role of Lucifer or Satan.
4) By acquiring objective reviews from leading critics, they have agreed themselves that these are all factual objective realities.
Thus, the Wizard, even if he is a con man, is also an accidental pseudo teacher. Partly, it’s called sunyata or “emptiness.”
Words cannot describe how bad this movie. Is the aggregate amount of “bad” could somehow warp the fabric of space and time, The Last Airbender would be a black hole. Beyond the inescapable gaping maw of its event horizon, you will realize the true depths of how bad a movie can be before you spirit to ripped to pieces by its inexorable force of failure.
The Last Airbender is every bit as terrible as critics say it is.
Honestly, folks, avoid the film at all cost. Do not let Paramount Pictures give M Night the money to make a sequel.
And I don’t care if the film is inaccurate. I want the film to make sense for crying out loud. I want to be able to follow and care about characters. I don’t want to be repulsed by characters due to the BS coming out of their mouths.
M. Night is talentless. It’s obvious he thinks making movies is really easy because he doesn’t try to hard. I don’t even have a problem with the casting, just the poor, shallow attempt at directing. I agree with authors comment above how the excellent source material was completed ignored to make this empty shell of a movie. It’s extremely disappointing that Hollywood can never seem to match the right talent, or in this case any real talent, to the project. This film should have been directed by Ang Lee or Zhang Yimou and we would have had a great movie with great kung fu that would have matched the epic tale contained in the cartoon. If it was good enough to adapt into a movie in the first place, why must it be completely destroyed in the process?
Can we just start the whole thing over with Ang Lee directing? This could have been great.
This movie broke my heart. I can’t agree more with the comments stated above. The potential of this movie could have been on par with Lord of the Rings but instead we got a hollowed out shell. I don’t understand why the creators, DiMartino and Konietzko, let M. Night write the story on this given his history of hurried movie making. They must have seen this coming after reviewing the movie upon completion. My suggestion is, DON’T let M.Night Shyamalan any where near Book 2…if there IS a book 2. At least don’t have him writing the story. If you can’t tell,..HE CAN”T WRITE!!! Bottom line is,..M. NIGHT,…..GOOD NIGHT!
What a disappointment! I was excited to hear they were making The Last Airbender into a movie but that excitement was immediately tempered when I found out M. Night was directing it. I hope they finish the “books” but with a different director.
M.Night Shamamalala really upsets me and “he just made my list” really love avatar:the last airbender the TV series on Nick, but this guy just made me hope to god he does not get to direct the 2nd and 3rd.