Time: 103 Minutes
Age Rating: PG – Contains Low Level Violence
Cast:
Noah Ringer as Aang
Dev Patel as Prince Zuko
Nicola Peltz as Katara
Jackson Rathbone as Sokka
Shaun Toub as General Iroh
Aasif Mandvi as Commander/Admiral Zhao
Seychelle Gabriel as Princess Yue
Cliff Curtis as Fire Lord Ozai
Director: M. Night Shyamalan

I actually watched The Last Airbender when it came out in the cinemas back in 2010. I didn’t have a strong opinion on it at the time, but I distinctly remember it quickly becoming one of the most widely hated movies in recent years. A big part of it was the fact that it was a failed adaptation of the acclaimed animated show Avatar: The Last Airbender, and from all accounts failed on pretty much every level. Even among M. Night Shyamalan fans, no one defends The Last Airbender. Still, I wanted to go back to it, even if I wasn’t expecting to like it. After rewatching, I don’t have a high amount of dislike towards the movie like most people do, but it’s easy to understand its negative reception.

I have certainly heard about Avatar: The Last Airbender, but as someone who hasn’t watched the show, I can’t say that I’m a good authority on how badly this movie does at adapting the source material. Anyone who has watched both however has said that the movie has gotten pretty much everything wrong, and I’m willing to believe that. Accuracy doesn’t matter too much to me in my case, because even as its own thing, it’s kind of terrible. While it does have an intriguing enough setup and premise, it is ultimately a very generic and dull fantasy story. The characters aren’t engaging or interesting, the dialogue is awkward, and the exposition dumps are atrocious. With all that being said, I have heard that the show is excellent and from what I can gather, even with another director, I don’t think that this movie would’ve been good. The Last Airbender was trying to cram a whole season of TV into 100 minutes of film, so it’s no surprise that so much of the story and worldbuilding felt incredibly rushed. This film really feels lacking without any kind of personality, drive or even feeling, and I wouldn’t be surprised if much of the movie was mired by studio interference. That said, as a fan of M. Night Shyamalan, I’m still not sure what happened with a lot of his writing choices.

Many have already criticized the bizarre casting of the movie, mainly with the egregious whitewashing considering the ethnicities of the characters in the show. Even putting that aside, the acting is largely bad, especially when it comes to the leads. There are really just a few exceptions, actors like Dev Patel are decent enough in their parts.

It’s really hard to identify M. Night Shyamalan’s direction in this honestly. Between this and After Earth, it really does feel that big budget blockbusters aren’t his sort of film. On a technical level, it’s not without some praiseworthy elements. Some environments and production design are decent, occasionally the fight choreography is good, the CGI for 2010 is okay, and the score from James Newton Howard is solid. That’s it though, most of the camerawork is poor, the action sequences are largely dull, and the movie never feels as large or as epic as it’s trying to be.

Outside of the score and some effects, The Last Airbender is a fascinating misfire, from the mostly bland performances, to the poor writing, flat and underdeveloped worldbuilding, dull and rushed story, and highly questionable decisions. So yes, the movie is as bad as everyone has said it is, but I can’t say that I disliked it all that much. Maybe it’s hearing people rag on it for 14 years or having a disconnect from the show, but I don’t hate it. While I do think that the issues with the movie was a mix of studio interference and M. Night Shyamalan not being the best fit for the project, I do think that this project was dead on arrival, and I don’t think it would’ve been anywhere near satisfying even with different people behind and in front of the camera. That being said, nearly a decade and a half since the movie was released, there’s a new adaptation in the form of a live action tv show on Netflix, which has been received reasonably well enough (at least compared to the movie). So by now, I’m pretty sure that certain fans of the animated show can let go of their deeply held grudge against M. Night Shyamalan now, and move on and stop acting like he ruined their childhoods or something.