Even in 3D, ‘The Last Airbender’ is totally lame
Published 9:25 pm Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Love him or hate him — and I have a soft spot for his movies myself — M. Night Shyamalan makes films that are immediately recognizable. When you’re in the realm of “The Sixth Sense” or “Signs” or, yes, “Lady in the Water,” you’re seeing a filmmaker’s distinctive point of view.
Until now. “The Last Airbender,” Shyamalan’s picture, and his first adaptation from a pre-existing source, is a truly anonymous venture.
The main audience for this “Narnia”-like franchise will be kids and fans of the Nickelodeon animated series (although some of them already have issues with the movie — more on that below).
The world is divided into four nations: Air, Earth, Fire and Water. Much in the way the Dalai Lama is selected, a 12-year-old named Aang (Noah Ringer) has been recognized as the new Avatar, a great leader of the future. (Wonder why they didn’t use the title “Avatar.”)
Aang can bend air: Using his karate-like movements, he can summon up wind gusts at will. Other chosen types can bend fire and water and earth, but only Aang has the potential to do all four, and his journey to learn new skills forms the backbone of the story line.
Although for much of the film, there doesn’t seem to be much story line. Shyamalan is busy introducing us to the big cast of characters and setting up the various rules and regulations of this universe, which means conventional suspense goes by the wayside.
Even that might be bearable if the writing or acting had some oomph. But some of the young actors are downright amateurish, and Dev Patel (“Slumdog Millionaire”), as the main villain, is a bust.
The only performer having any fun is “Daily Show” cut-up Aasif Mandvi, as another Fire-related villain. The nominal heroes, who appear to hail from an Inuit-like tribe, are played by Nicola Peltz and Jackson Rathbone (he’s also part of the “Twilight” world).
Their casting caused some of the TV show’s fans to bristle, since the show was drawn with mostly Asian characters and those two actors and others are Caucasian.
As much of a compromise as that casting might be, the movie is so tepid overall that it doesn’t make much difference in the end.
Even though it explicitly sets the table for a trilogy, “The Last Airbender” will really have to connect with kids to make its budget back, because adults are going to have a rough slog.
Oh yes, the 3D: Like “Clash of the Titans,” this movie has been converted to 3D (available in some theaters) even though it wasn’t shot in 3D.
Unlike the reasonably fun “Clash,” you can’t even tell the movie’s in 3D most of the time, except that you happen to be wearing glasses. This is an instance of Hollywood trying to squeeze the audience for a benefit that isn’t really there.
