The Last Shyamalan by: Ben Hayle, NMTV There was a time when everything M. Night Shyamalan touched turned to gold. These days Shyamalan would settle for at least bronze. The director who brought us The Sixth Sense and Signs is stuck in such a huge rut that soon it is going to be hard for him to get a studio to take a chance on him. With his latest failure The Last Airbender, Shyamalan has moved from not only ruining his own stories and ideas but to now ruining someone else’s creative concept.
The Last Airbender is based on a wildly popular Nickelodeon cartoon. In the movie Earth has been divided into four kingdoms: Water, Earth, Fire, and Air. The Fire Nation has ruled the land with an iron fist for several years. They have waged war against all the other nations; they have eliminated the Air Nomads and imprisoned the Earth Kingdom. Only the Water Tribes, specifically the Northern Water Tribe, have escaped the wrath of the Fire Nation. The only hope to defeat the Fire Nation is that one day the Avatar will return. The Avatar is a member of the Air Nomads who can not only control the air but all the other elements as well. The movie begins with two young members of the Water Tribe discovering a young boy incased in ice. They break him free and amazingly find him alive. Soon they learn that he is no ordinary child, he is an airbender. We quickly learn that the young boy who was freed from the ice is indeed the Avatar. From there the story takes off as young Aang(Noah Ringer) travels to the Northern Water Tribe to help defend against the Fire Nation attack. The movie concludes with a cliffhanger leaving audiences waiting for the second chapter in this three part story. While the story I just described might sound appealing, you have to remember that this film was not only directed but also written by M. Night Shyamalan. He takes an interesting concept and destroys the movie going experience with dry dialogue and wooden actors. The script is void of emotion, depth, creativity, and intelligence. This script leads to acting performances that are stiff, forced, and uninspired. On the bright side most of the special effects are great. The effects that are done with water and fire are especially impressive and make the movie at least enjoyable to look at even if you need to plug your ears. The effects might be enough to entertain some young kids, but anyone older than 12 is most likely going to find themselves bored. As agonizing as it was to sit through this film, I will say that with a new director and screenwriter I would like to see how the story evolves in the next chapter. I can still only give The Last Airbender 1 star out of 5, but I think that the concept is solid leaving hope for a better sequel.