M. Night Shyamalan's Last Airbender

Confusing! Drab! Sluggish! Where's the twist?

A A A Comments (6) By Robert Wilonsky Tuesday, Jun 29 2010

Details

The Last Airbender
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Paramount Pictures
Opens July 1

More About

While the message boards continue to fume with charges of racism aimed at writer-director M. Night Shyamalan for changing cartoon characters from Asian to Caucasian (except the villains), let's pursue a less arguable crime—that of lousy filmmaking. Adapted from a Nickelodeon cartoon about a young boy who's part Luke Skywalker, part Neo, and all heroic hodgepodge, this is one muddled attempt at franchise-making: confusing, drab, sluggish. (Ugly, too, if you're forced to see it in 3-D.) Aang (Noah Ringer) is the boy savior who disappeared 100 years ago and took with him the power to, ya know, bend air—which is to say, manufacture poorly computer-generated gusts of wind after performing what appears to be capoeira. Aang was frozen, somehow, in a ball of ice beneath a pond, and, in his absence, the Fire Benders (led by Daily Show correspondent Aasif Mandvi as the main—and hilarious—baddie) have seized control of the planet and banished the Earth Benders and Water Benders to ghettos. Aang, naturally, will liberate them if only he can learn how to use The Force . . . or the Matrix . . . or something? Perhaps followers of the series will be more forgiving; this installment—with a sequel-teasing final scene that feels awfully desperate—is written entirely in fanboy shorthand. But to those of us who lose patience quickly with blurry, poorly acted, clunky kung-fu movies, The Last Airbender appears to have been shot using stereo instructions. Worse still: This could have been directed by anyone. Or no one.

Check out this week's featured ad for Movies

CAVO CAFE LOUNGE

View Ad View Website

More Ads >>

Email
to Friend

Write to
Editor

Print
Article

bubble626 08/04/2010 9:40:00 PM

Its not about racism that's how the cartoon is and they are acusing people of racism!? That's crazy! They should keep it the way its supposed to be!
undersea 07/27/2010 10:23:00 PM

I would just like to point out that the world in 'Avatar, the Last Airbender', the cartoon, is not Earth. There are NO Asians, caucasians, etc in this world. Maybe two of the characters in the series actually look and sound Asian - General Airo, and um, actually, I think he's pretty much it. Aang is a little white kid! Kitara and Sokka or however it's spelled, seem more 'Indigenous' than they do Asian. Zuko is white. Azula is white. Etc etc. The movie doesn't have to reflect the racial makeup of Earth, the cartoon was never trying to in the first place.
BABOHOLIC 07/26/2010 4:45:00 AM

As an avid movie-goer,and lifetime kid,I must say that The last Air Bender was a decent shot at turning a great cartoon into a live action movie. I agree that it was a poor 3-D movie,and the FX could have been better,but overall I think M. Night did alright. I am an Avatar:The Last Air Bender fan,and so I paid the $17.50 to see it;but while watching,I was also critiqing. Looking for reasons to say that the movie was trash,but overall,left feeling that the sequel is going to blow the box office up. I will agree that it was/is a crime to change the obvious nationality of characters to please Hollywood. on a scale of one to ten,I give this movie a 7. baboholic,a true movie critic
JesseG 07/21/2010 2:59:00 AM

I really wanted to see this movie when it was being released, When i did see it.. I was pissed. This is a poor excuse for a movie. It feels thrown together and the important stuff isn't even in there. I pray that M.Crap Night Shyamalan dose not do anymore movies about the series.
P. Thompson 07/08/2010 10:05:00 AM

Fanboy shorthand? I'm sorry, but even as a huge fan of the series, I was COMPLETELY lost throughout this movie. As for the effects, I didn't care about them; I wasn't even watching the movie about halfway through--I had my hands over my eyes and my thumbs in my ears to keep myself from hearing any more of Katara's horrendous dialogue. That said, the movie was confusing, and not worth the $11 I had to pay to see it. And the whole race thing isn't racist, in my opinion. Yeah, I raged when I found out. But racist? That's going too far. I think it's just a stupid move on the part of M. Night Shamwow.
Morgan 07/02/2010 10:47:00 AM

Honestly I think it was worse if you have seen the show. All that potential for an incredible movie from great source material squandered in this sham of a film. The disappointment is just that much more pronounced.