Only those who have seen the Nickolodeon series will have a strong fastened idea of what is happening in the film. Back then it was called “Avatar: The Last Airbender” but the beginning prefix of the title had to be chopped off once James Cameron got the big-screen rights to it. With “Airbender,” the diminishing talent of M. Night Shyamalan, whose career went from “The Sixth Sense” high to “The Happening” low, gets another whack, although this time, he’s a director-for-hire.
Ditching kitchen-sink suspense for panoramic spectacle, M. Night Shyamalan gets to work with a story that takes place in a land far, far away. How many centuries back (or what planet? Did I miss something) is a mystery, but if there is one thing Shyamalan actually does well here it is composing action scenes with unbroken steadicam shots that move in and out of martial arts and magic powers pizzazz. While the film is immersed in cold Himalayas kind of temperatures, the action choreography warmed my heart nevertheless – an antidote to “A-Team” kinetic nonsense.
What kills the film, more than anything else, is the casting. Jackson Rathbone and Nicola Peltz, as brother and sister Sokka and Katara, are awkward white kids in an Asian setting speaking in Beverly Hills or Malibu, California dialect, while other Indian actors are mixed in randomly, and other whites given shades of make-up and lighting effects to help look Asian. Huh? Yes, this is recipe for disaster, isn’t it?
The little hero is Aang (Noah Ringer, white not Asian) who may be the Avatar that can overwhelm the dark side, in this case, the Fire Nations. Aang is the Chosen One, as big-budget sagas now require, and the character – he’s like a little shaved-head monk with Buddhist tattoos lining his forehead – is only persuasive in this exotic Asian setting when it’s a wide angle shot and he doesn’t have to talk. Dev Patel (“Slumdog Millionaire”) is, hold your breath for this compliment, a nice-looking guy. Can’t wait to see him get another role so he can have a continuing career. Because as Prince Zuko, he sucks. Ooh, I didn’t mean to say that. I mean, I can’t figure out what he’s trying to do with his character except that he’s flexing his eyebrows in order to invoke petulance.
The actors would have been better off not talking, and Shyamalan would have been better off not writing the TV-to-screen adaptation. But – you can loosen up the clench in your face right now – for there is a saving grace as Aang passes the learning stages. In addition, to airbending little thwarting tornadoes, there is firebending (blah in 3D), and then finally its best resource: water-bending – in gulpy round goblets – which leads to enjoyable scenes watching Aang hurling strands of water energy at bad guys whom as a result get swathed in human size totems of ice blocks. Humorously, the bad guys wriggle inside helplessly.
Too often the picture quality is dreary and monotone. Some critics have complained already that “Airbender” is as turgid as “Lady in the Water,” which I’d qualify as a candidate as one of the five worst films of the last ten years. But it just can’t be fair to Shyamalan, whose work was compromised by studio casting pressures, and whose work was hi-jacked with a gratuitous 3D job. Don’t worry people, when 3D is done well again, like “Avatar,” which was shot with 3D camera equipment, I’ll tell you about it. But the usage of 3D has not been merited too often and its demonstration has been a part of Hollywood brainwashing on the American public. Shall we tell theater chains to start tossing out those hunks of junk, those 3D projectors soon?
Go to the official site at http://www.thelastairbendermovie.com/main.html#home
Grade: C-
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