Review by Justin Bateman
Stars Noah Ringer, Nicola Peltz, Jackson Rathbone, Dev Patel, Shaun Toub, Aasif Mandvi, Cliff Curtis, Seychelle Gabriel, Katharine Houghton, Francis Guinan, Damon Gupton
Written by M Night Shyamalan
Certification UK PG | US PG
Runtime 103 minutes
Directed by M Night Shyamalan
Time was when M Night Shyamalan had a novel idea and delivered something original, interesting and entertaining. The Sixth Sense was terrific, Unbreakable had a dark, quirky charm; hell, I even enjoyed The Village, although I concede I may be alone in that. Now, it feels as though not only has M. Night's well run dry but he's forgotten the basics of moviemaking because The Last Airbender is almost unforgivably poor.
Based on a cartoon TV series, the story revolves around Aang (Ringer) who is not only the last survivor of the Air Nation but also the avatar, someone who can master "bending" all four elements – air, fire, water and earth. Each of the other nations can only bend their own element and with the Air Nation already wiped out, the power-hungry Fire Nation are on a mission to capture Aang. However, the young airbender has help in the form of two fellow youngsters, Katara (Peltz) and Sokka (Rathbone), benders from the Water Nation. This is crucial because only Aang can unite the nations and ensure peace.
Clearly the word "bender" doesn't have the same meaning in the US as it does in the UK, but I tried to put this to one side and concentrate on the action. However, very early on Katara and Sokka's grandmother tells them that she always knew they "would be benders" which had everyone giggling like schoolkids. That isn't really an issue not least because there are much bigger problems to contend with. Perhaps most obviously is the script which is just plain terrible, and in turn doesn't give the actors much of a chance. But even then they don't help themselves, with Ringer particularly unconvincing. Peltz and Rathbone aren't much better although Dev Patel does as much as he can with the most interesting character in the entire film – it's just a shame he's not in it more.
Patel's Fire Nation friends (and foes – it's complicated) are mere cyphers, one-dimensional, po-faced baddies with nothing but evil-tinged banalities pouring forth from their mouths. The dialogue could be overlooked though if the story or the action worked but incredibly, neither do. At 103 minutes it's not that long a film but feels at least twice that length, and when Aang and chums aren't moving fire and water around using an elaborate combination of generic martial arts movements and looks of fierce concentration, the plot is being explained over and over again, word by painful word.
Even taking into account that this is a film for kids, The Last Airbender is flat in the extreme, slow moving, uninvolving, lacking any sort of dramatic tension and anything approaching fun. It may be close to the original series but it credits the viewer with little intelligence and the less said about the post-production 3D effects the better. Occasionally there are flashes of Shyamalan's directorial flair and at times the production design is impressive but overall this is thoroughly disappointing. Come on M Night, we know you can do better than this.