The Last Airbender
The Last Airbender is the latest offering from M. Night Shyamalan's who in a departure is directing a film that he did not write but instead brings to life the popular Avatar: The Last Airbender from the Nickelodeon Animation Studios. The principle here may be the last but he’s more than just an airbender. He is Aang (Noah Ringer who has moves but is still irritating) a twelve year old airbender who lives in a time when certain gods can manipulate one of the four elements - either fire, earth, air or water. Aang has been suspended in ice for a century in a frigid climate until set free by Katara (Nicola Peltz) the last of the waterbenders and her subsequently often moist brother Sokka (Twilight heartthrob Jackson Rathbone). Aang ends up being perused by hoards of firebenders led by Prince Zuko (Slumdog Millionaire's Dev Patel) who has a trumped-up political agenda for holding him captive as it’s believed that Aang is the Avatar - a unique god with mastery over all four elements. There is no shortage of action here but the 3D technology is wasted on this film and seems more like cinematic cash grab. The dialogue is laughable as proved by the inappropriate audience giggling that I witnessed. Shyamalan to date has not been able to top his 1999 masterpiece The Sixth Sense and even with someone else’s script seems has not manipulated the elements of a top notch movie.