The Last Airbender
Review
by Anthony Morris
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The Last Airbender
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For reasons that have less to do with his films and more to do with his annoying attitude in interviews, M Night Shyamalan (Signs, The Village, The Happening)
is seen by a lot of people these days as a one-trick hack, a man whose
only story-telling idea is the twist ending that everyone now expects.
That's
a little unfair : better a twist ending than no ending at all, and
judged purely as pulp fiction most of his films have at least something
to recommend them.
So ignore the hate directed towards The Last Airbender :
while it's not a great film, we've seen plenty of bigger duds in the
genre of kid-friendly fantasy over the last few years (remember Eragon? The Golden Compass? You get the idea).
Based
on the anime and manga series, it doesn't take too long to realise that
whatever the plans Shyamalan and company may have made for their
adaptation of the series, they sure didn't budget enough film
time. A lot of the elements here could have worked (and
presumably do work in the original versions) if they were given enough
time to breathe.
Instead, we are told about the four tribes
(earth, water, fire and air), the long-missing 'Avatar' that was their
connection to the spirit world, and the ruthless way that the
machine-making Fire people have used the Avatar's absence to wage war
on everyone else.
But if that isn't enough - suddenly a young
boy is discovered under the ice, the Fire people start rounding up old
people from other tribes, the boy escapes with some water people on a
giant flying dragon-creature, the fire people are revealed to have
various factions, the air people are revealed to be all dead...
We're maybe twenty minutes into the film and there's no sign of things slowing down! Chunks
of vital plot and important character building are delivered in
voice-over as this races along to get to the element-using fight
scenes, and they're really not worth it. This looks good
and certainly has it's moments, but considering its struggle at the box
office ending on a cliffhanger was probably not the best idea. 3.5 out
of 5
The Last Airbender
Australian release: 16th September,
2010
Official
Site: The Last Airbender
Cast: Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Thomas Haden Church, Patricia Clarkson
Director: Will Gluck
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