The Last Airbender

It's been pretty quiet on the Shyamalan front since his last two flicks, The Happening and Lady in the Water flopped pretty badly at the box office. But he's back and helming the adaptation of the popular anime series Avatar: The Last Airbender, the title of which, for obvious reasons, was shortened merely to The Last Airbender. Once again, if you're looking for a comparison between the film and the cartoon, I unfortunately can't help you there, as I never watched the series. So, keep in mind that this review is based on a stand alone viewing of the film, and has no intention of comparing to the original anime.

This universe revolves around people called Benders, who are capable of controlling the element of their respective nature. The world is divided into the four nations - Wind, Water, Earth, and Fire. All the nations live in peaceful harmony, under the watchful eye of the Avatar - the sole bender who is able to control all the elements. But the fire nation, burning with ambition, seethes against the harmony and is determined to control the entire world. And it is with that notion in mind that they begin their domination, and the Avatar disappears, never to be seen again.

We start off in the furthest reaches of the Water nation. Katara, the last water bender in the southern water clans, is on a hunting trip with her brother Sokka. While on the trail of tiger seals, the siblings notice a dark shape underneath the water. Sokka, thinking that it may be a big catch, cracks the ice, and what he thought to be an animal turns out to be a giant sphere of ice. As they watch, astounded, the giant sphere cracks open to reveal a young boy, no older than Katara. The two drag the boy back to his village, where they discover that he is covered in tattoos marking him as an air bender. They are shocked, as the Wind nation was destroyed by the Fire nation due to prophecies that said the next incarnation of the Avatar would be born into the wind clans. The boy, Aang, is reluctant to speak of his past, but when the army of the Fire nation comes calling, Aang single handedly fights them off, and reveals that he is indeed the last air bender. He reveals to Katara and Sokka that he is also the reincarnation of the Avatar, but chose to run away when this was discovered, as he would be forced to sacrifice a normal life. When Sokka notes that he has thus far only used air bending, Aang admits to the two that he ran away before he could be trained to master the other elements, more than 100 years ago. While on the run, the Fire army got wind of his trail, and he was forced to cocoon himself in the ice sphere. Now, with the Fire nation close to its goal of complete global domination, Aang sets off on a pilgrimage to master the other three elements - Water, Earth, and Fire, in order to restore balance to the world and maintain the harmony of the planet.

The first thing to note is that this film is going to be the first of a three part series, and this one is all about the Water clans. If you had notions of seeing Aang bend everything he says, you can save it for the sequels (if it does well enough at the box office). Secondly, the film is available for viewing in 3D, but i'm not really sure why, as there was hardly any 3D in it. Avatar this ain't (no pun intended.)

Shyamalan's work with the camera and the settings and set dressings is extraordinary. This film is very visually appealing, with lots of wide sweeping shots of beautiful landscapes, and sets that are very elaborate and relevant to the nation they belong to. The world that is created is so fantastic that it's easy to believe in it. Unfortunately, all this can only be said about the visuals.

This film boasts a nearly 100% unknown cast, with its only veterans being Cliff Curtis (whom you may recognize as FBI Director Bowman from Live Free or Die Hard - an excellent movie as a side note), Jackson Rathbone (you probably know him as Jasper Hale, all you twihards) and Dev Patel (who's breakout role in Slumdog Millionaire took the world by storm.) The rest of the cast are fresh faces, and you can tell, are pretty new to acting as well. It seems as though Shyamalan was more intent on making sure their martial arts were perfected rather than their acting, resulting in some stiff delivery of a few lines. But as the majority of the cast are children, they do a pretty decent job of holding the movie. Also, Noah Ringer (who plays Aang) has a serious overbite that bothered me throughout the duration of the movie. Hopefully after this movie he'll have enough money to do something about it.

Acting aside, the bending in this movie, the reason you came to see it at all, is really really damn cool. The bending techniques are all based on martial arts, with each element based on a different style. As a martial arts fan, this is cool enough, but with the added imagery of the elements being manipulated, this movie takes weather control to the next level. If you love The Force, this'll make you wet your pants.

Also, despite it being a Shyamalan film, there is no twist ending to this movie, which is good, because I thought he overplayed that pony two films ago.

All in all, this movie was an entertaining little film. There was a little bit of iffy acting, but that's forgivable as the children will become more seasoned as the series progresses. The main draw of the film, the bending, is visually very cool, and definitely makes you wish you were a master of any element. If you find yourself at the theatres not knowing what to watch, this film will probably tickle your fancy at least a little bit.