M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender in 3D

Written by Jonathan Jacobs

Shyamalan is notable for his concept films. In The Happening botanical life and Mother Nature decide that humans tamper with the natural cycle of the environment and therefore they must be eradicated. Humans are infected with toxins and commit suicide en masse. In Signs with Mel Gibson alien invaders signal their attack with crop symbols in the middle of nowhere. Ironically the film went nowhere. If critics are to be believed (and they almost never are) Shyamalan's latest incarnation The Last Airbender should be his last. From my point of view moviefans that have watched The Last Airbender for better or for worse are invested and should see the series through to the end.

     This picture has more sieves and loopholes than a World Cup soccer referee. The protagonist is The Avatar (a deity that has descended to earth in the embodiment of a human) Aang (Noah Ringer), a young boy facing a myriad of challenges. For nearly a century he suffered imprisonment in ice as a sort of cryogenic freezing. He never aged a day and upon awakening does not realize he has been missing from the world. He is unlocked from his imprisonment by two young water benders Katara (Nicola Peltz) and Sokka (Jackson Rathbone). Both are compassionate benders whose village is teetering on the brink of destruction. Since the disappearance of the line of the avatar(s) the balance of power in the mythical world has drastically shifted away from the forces of good. The firebenders are now in control and their element is the most powerful. How it survives against being extinguished by water or blocked by earth or cast aside by air is never fully explained. For the purposes of the storyline and presumably making this a trilogy we must put aside our movie-going incredulousness and accept the story for what it is.

     Immediately upon awakening the avatar’s magical adventure begins. His character is what makes the movie compelling and awfully simplistic at the same time. Aang refuses to deliberately harm anyone. This does not mean that he cannot interfere in battles or fight an opponent by temporarily beating him, but he is for the most part incapable of killing. Faced with dire circumstances and the near death of his companions his refusal to kill is both counterintuitive and counterproductive. He is an expert in several Shaolin and Tai Chi forms but mostly he serves humanity with airbending. Having escaped his destiny as the next avatar, Aang never received training in the other three forms of bending. This film is mostly about his learning to bend water. The journey climaxes when he creates thousand foot high tidal waves.

     Along the journey Katara, Sokka and Aang liberate villages from the captivity effected by the tyrannical firebenders. Their strategy in the absence of the avatar has been to imprison and contain all other benders so as to leave their people defenseless. Their enemies are ubiquitous. Prince Zuko (Dev Patel) and his uncle Iroh (Shaun Toub) have charged themselves with capturing the last airbender to redeem themselves in the eyes of the Fire Lord Ozai (Cliff Curtis). During their sojourn to capture Aang, the Prince and the former General/Uncle realize their battle is not only an uphill one, it is a foolhardy errand. The Fire Lord is corrupt and savage and is willing through his chief soldier/liaison Commander Zhao (Aasif Mandvi) to disrupt the natural balance of the world’s elements to expand his power.

     Near the finale Sokka is forced to watch the life force seemingly extinguish from his puppy love mate the attractive Princess Yue (Seychelle Gabriel). Somehow after helping save the order of the waterbenders in the frigid glacier region, her goodness is stripped away and she becomes an agent of evil for the Fire Lord. There is significant character growth throughout the film. The identities of each cog are revealed as pertains to the overall mechanism as imagined by Shyamalan.

     What are we to make of such a hodgepodge of actors and storylines comingled together? For starters the 109 minute film feels like a three hour expedition but not in a tedious way. Shyamalan may have invented something lasting here. The special effects in 3D have made me crave for the second generation of the series. I am curious to find out what happens in chapter 2 when our young hero learns to control the earth as a bender. Much of the movie is poorly acted and is cheesy but the scenery and the effects are more than enough to overcome those obvious deficits. The Last Airbender is neither terrible nor is it extraordinary but it is a start. Let’s reserve full judgment until Shyamalan has had the chance to finish what he has started.