M. Night Shyamalan sure can’t catch a break, lately. But then,
that’s what happens to you when you make the hysterically funny (in a completely unintentional way) The Happening,
which I enjoyed so much, for all the wrong reasons, that it became one of my
turkey reviews. When The Last Airbender was released in the summer of 2010, the
reviews for it was just as bad, and I was honestly expecting to see another
gloriously funny turkey from MNS. But it didn’t turn out that way. Airbender is based on the popular animated series about a
young boy named Aang, who is discovered frozen in the artic
ice by siblings Katara and Sokka. He had been trapped, along with Appa, his
flying bison-like pet, for a hundred years.
In this land made up of four countries--the Fire, Air, Water and Earth
Nations--Aang is known as the Last Avatar, a mystical figure who commands all
four elements. He’s seen as being a major threat by the Fire Nation, who--in
their march towards world domination--had killed off all of the Airbenders and
subjugated the Earth and Water nations. Katara and Sokka agree to help Aang in
his quest to free the world of the Fire Nation’s grasp by learning to master the
remaining elements of water, earth and fire. Aang is being hunted down by Lord
Zuko (Slumdog Millionaire’s Dev Patel), who is sworn to capture the boy in order to
regain his lost honor in the eyes of his father, the Fire Nation ruler.
The major complaint I’ve seen lodged at The Last Airbender was that the effects
were too dark and shoddily done. But it must be noted that the studio, in its
infinite wisdom, had decided to convert the film to 3-D at the last minute. And
as James Cameron will tell you, converting a film that wasn’t meant to be seen
in 3-D is a very bad idea, often leading to a bad looking film overall. Having
seen Airbender in its restored 2-D format on DVD, I can say that the film is a
visual feast. Both the live action and special effects sequences look sumptuous,
as befitting for a far-flung fantasy film of this type. But if only the tacked-on
3-D were the only problem.
The main problem I had with Airbender was that it felt very rushed. Plus, the
characters and situations are presented here in a very flat, almost unmoving
tone that makes it hard to sympathize with them. Peter Jackson’s storytelling
wizardry pulled me into the Lord Of The Rings, and even though I had never read
the books, I still became enthralled with those tales. MNS just didn’t do that
here with Airbender. At best, I was just intrigued enough with the film’s concept
to want to check out the animated series. Airbender may not be one of MNS’s more
laughable, ‘it’s-so-bad-it’s-good’ flicks, but it’s a still a huge disappointment
for those expecting the first installment of a major cinematic fantasy series.
--SF
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