The Last Airbender
Starring: Noah Ringer, Dev Patel, Nicola Peltz
After a string of laughably bad films, M Night Shyamalan needs a commercial hit more than any other big name director. Unfortunately, The Last Airbender isn’t it.
A near unwatchable combination of muddled storytelling, bad acting and lame effects, this is a new low for a man whose career is now officially in freefall. That the source material should make for a cracking fantasy film is all the more frustrating.
Based on the animated series, the storyline centres round Aang (Ringer) who has the power to control the elements. Helping him restore balance to a magical realm is waterbender Katara (Peltz), while evil Prince Zuko (Patel) wants
to capture the tyke for his own people, the Fire Benders.
Some stilted acting could have been forgiven if the plot wasn’t so weighed down by mystic mumbo jumbo. At the very least, Shyamalan should have delivered some nice action set pieces but instead conjures up underwhelming fight scenes. The film’s final moments hint at a sequel but, after this mess, you can’t imagine anyone in Hollywood being dumb enough to fund it.
1/5
GOOD FOR: Masochists
Review: Pierre de Villiers
