A load of hot air!

Grade: D

The Last Airbender

Indian Release Date: 09/07/10
CBFC Classification: U
Running Length: 1 Hour 43 Minutes

Cast: Noah Ringer, Dev Patel, Nicola Peltz, Jackson Rathbone, Shaun Toub, Aasif Mandvi, Cliff Curtis, Seychelle Gabriel
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Screenplay: M. Night Shyamalan
Cinematography: Andrew Lesnie
Music: James Newton Howard

There was a time nearly a decade ago when Manoj N. Shyamalan was Hollywood’s new blue-eyed boy. Fresh off the phenomenal critical & commercial success of his second feature ‘The Sixth Sense’, opportunities were limitless. After some solid follow-ups including, Unbreakable (2000), Signs (2002) & the vastly underrated ‘The Village’ (2004), he took a major misstep with ‘The Lady in the Water’ (2006) & then as one wrong turn deserves another, along came ‘The Happening’ (2008). For those hoping that he’d bounce back with ‘The Last Airbender’, I have only one thing to say, keep hoping.

Shyamalan tries (tries being the key word) to adapt the popular Nickelodeon cartoon series, ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ only to end up butchering the source material finer than mincemeat. In his haste to make his own epic fantasy franchise on the scale of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ or ‘Star Wars’, Shyamalan forgets to do anything that makes those movies so damn enjoyable. Trust me when I say that the racism row that was kicked up due to the casting choices of the director is the least of the movie’s worries.

The movie tells of a time, where different tribes exist on earth based on the four natural elements, earth, water, air & fire. Each tribe specializes in one element & those amongst the tribes, who can manipulate the elements by their will, for battle mostly, are known as benders. (E.g. someone who can control air would be called an Airbender & so on & so forth.) The one who can master control over all these elements is known as the Avatar & he/she is much like the Dalai Lama, reborn from time to time in different avatars.

The movie opens with a voiceover that informs us that the world is in turmoil thanks to the war-mongering Fire Nation Tribe lead by Fire Lord Ozai (Cliff Curtis) & his second in command Commander Zhao (Aasif Mandvi). The other tribes are forbidden to practice the art of bending & those who do are either captured or killed. The only one who can save them all is the Avatar; the one who can manipulate all four elements; it is only he who can bring peace & restore balance to the force err sorry, middle earth, err sorry again, the planet. Katara (Nicola Peltz) & her brother Sokka (Jackson Rathbone) are ‘Waterbenders’ who come across a little boy & his flying yak (just kidding it’s some kind of animal named ‘Appa’) trapped in an air-bubble in the ice. When the boy is released it turns out that not only is he the last of the now extinct Airbender tribe but, Aang (Noah Ringer) is also the Avatar. Thus after a brief encounter with the banished fire-nation prince Zuko (Dev Patel) Aang along with Katara & Sokka start on their great journey to find out more about the Avatar & to train him in elements other than air so he can help the people. Prince Zuko can only restore his lost honor by capturing the Avatar & presenting it to his father Lord Ozai so he too gets on Aang’s trail. At the same time Commander Zhao doesn’t want Zuko to succeed hence he wants to capture Aang before Zuko does. So with Aang being more popular than a celebrity on twitter, the plot sputters forward to an ending that promises a sequel.  

A little bit of exposition dialogue to explain things to the audience is fine at times, but what do you do when an entire screenplay is written like that. Characters do not hold conversations amongst themselves, they either comment on what’s already happening on screen, as if the audience is blind & cannot see for themselves or they simply ask questions to each other in such an obvious manner to fill in the back-story which hasn’t been revealed in the movie; ‘breaking the fourth wall’ was never so obvious. The only thing left to do was actually turn to the audience & tell them what the hell is going on; I doubt even that would have helped smoothen out this bumpy ride.

The plot that was so well laid out in the cartoon series, is rushed through here to get from one CGI action sequence to the next. Probably Shyamalan thought that since it’s a kid’s movie, they might not have the requisite attention span. Thanks to this approach, themes of sacrifice, loyalty, responsibility, love remain only as words that get repeated throughout the movie but mean little in the overall scheme of things. The only story that was remotely interesting was that of the turmoil faced by Zuko.

The movie does have a very bright palette & some of the sets & locations look very pretty but they barely register thanks to the ineffective utilization. The fire-nation’s smoke spewing ships that look like metallic monstrosities are impressively constructed from the outside but we never get to see what’s on the inside. The city of the Northern water tribe would be a marvel to behold onscreen for all of those who have never seen Minas Tiirth in ‘The Lord of the Rings’. But sweeping shots of those kinds of cities situated in mountains are common as grass in most of today’s epic fantasy movies.        

The 3D is something I cannot comment on because the screening I attended was in 2D. However since the movie has been converted to 3D in post-production much like ‘Clash of the Titans’, I expect the 3D to be underwhelming to say the least.

The action sequences seem more like elaborate twirling dance sequences that have the lamest payoff fathomable. One hilarious scene probably straight out of the ‘Step Up’ movies has a group of Earthbenders perform a stomping move together in perfect synchronization while fighting some fire-nation guards. I know the moves have meaning to them but they are choreographed & performed in such a manner that it is assured to either make you laugh or put you to sleep. The climax overuses slow-motion shots with fake C.G.I. backgrounds so much that it feels like a trailer for ‘The Last Airbender’ video game.

I can’t remember the last time that the entire cast of a movie took a vow to display such poor acting skills. Even if the actors had been able to convincingly deliver those terrible lines, then just maybe it would have elevated the movie out of its comatose state. Noah Ringer looks perpetually clueless, Nicola Peltz looks like she’s going to cry any second now while Jackson Rathbone looks & acts like an irritated teenager on babysitting duties. The worst acting in the lot is easily by Aasif Mandvi, who’s over the top turn as General Zhao, with a ridiculous accent makes, the character nothing more than a snooty teenage drama queen. The two actors who rise above the material are Dev Patel & Shaun Toub. Shaun Toub has given quite some good performances in supporting roles in the past, notably in ‘Crash’ (2005), ‘The Kite Runner’ (2007) & ‘Iron Man’ (2008), here too his dignified approach to the performance helps. Dev Patel who jumped to international stardom with ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ wears a scowl throughout, that it epitomizes the phrase “if only looks could kill”.      

‘The Last Airbender’ is an unsatisfying, incomprehensible & boring mess that should be an example of “how not to make fantasy flicks” or any kind of movie for that matter.

Final Verdict: Go ahead & watch it, if you are brave enough to do so.

Grade: D

- Reviewed by Danish Bagdadi

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