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| Poster artwork for the fantasy adventure film The Last Airbender. |
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Director M. Night Shyamalan has not released a stand-out
film since The Sixth Sense in 1999,
but his film The Last Airbender might
not attract enough audience attention to proceed with the second part of the
projected trilogy. The Last Airbender
is a film adaptation of the successful animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender which
screened from 2005 to 2008. The decision to drop 'Avatar' from the title was to
avoid confusion with James Cameron’s Oscar-winning box office behemoth.
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AANG'S
ANGST: Aang (Noah Ringer) is the last surviving Airbender and
the annointed Avatar in the film The Last
Airbender. Image: Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon.
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The animated series Avatar:
The Last Airbender was phenomenally successful due to its clever script,
fast-paced action sequences and quirky characterisations, which have not
transpired well into the film version. However, the film’s special effects are
elaborate and engage the viewer enough to sustain interest. The scenes
depicting the art of bending the elements are fascinating to watch, and assists
in developing the storyline. The film requires some more humour, needs to move
along faster and the characters need to be fleshed out further.
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FIRE
FEVER: Prince Zuko (Dev Patel) unleashes his fire-bending
skills in the film The Last Airbender.
Image: Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon.
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The story centres on a young boy named Aang who is the
last surviving Airbender from his Air tribe, and he also happens to be the
Avatar, a special individual who can harness and bend all four elements and
bring harmony between the four nations – Air, Water, Earth and Fire - and create
balance in the world. The Avatar is born every hundred years to replace a
previous Avatar, and in the film, a young boy is released from his sleep a
hundred years later after a war where the Fire Nation has completely wiped out
the Air Tribe and benders have all been killed or imprisoned. Benders are
people who can manipulate and control their native element using martial arts
and elemental magic. According to the story, all those born into the Air tribe
will receive bending skills, but with the other three tribes (Fire, Water and
Earth) it is a hit and miss situation.
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MYSTICAL
MANOEUVRES: Katara (Nicola Peltz) shares her water-bending
moves with Aang (Noah Ringer) in the film The
Last Airbender. Image: Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon.
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The film opens with young water bender Katara (Nicola
Peltz) and her brother Sokka (Jackson Rathbone) who come across a huge sphere
of solid ice, which Katara breaks open. A young boy named Aang (Noah Ringer)
tumbles out and a gigantic creature, half bison and half manatee named Appa,
immediately appears beside the boy. Katar and Sokka soon realise the young boy
is an Avatar after seeing the special markings on his body. Their village is
soon under attack from soldiers of the Fire Nation led by Prince Zuko (Dev
Patel), who unleashes his fire-bending powers on the villagers. Katara
convinces Sokka to help Aang master all four elements and prepare for his battle
against the Fire Nation.
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LASTING
LOVERS: Princess Yue (Seychelle Gabriel) and Sokka (Jackson
Rathbone) rendezvous in secret in the film The
Last Airbender. Image: Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon.
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The acting and characters in The Last Airbender lack the emotional depth and humour which
heightened the appeal of the television series, but the young cast puts in a great
effort to be believable. Dev Patel, who starred in the multiple Academy Award
winning film Slumdog Millionaire,
portrays the hot-tempered, young Prince Zuko and fails to capture the
complexity of his character; Noah Ringer, as the young Airbender Aang, has the
martial arts ability for the bending skills but needs to give his character
more vibrancy and energy as seen in the animated series; the main female role
of Katara is supposed to be assertive but sensitive in the TV series, yet
Nicola Peltz plays the character as too serious and subdued.
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FRIENDLY
FLYER: Appa the half-bison-half buffalo companion of Aang in
the film The Last Airbender. Image: Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon.
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Overall, the film is entertaining and watchable, although
fans of the animated television series may be disappointed with this
adaptation. The film is not at all faithful to the television series and has
become darker and more sinister than the colourful and crowd-pleasing animated
series. Director M. Night Shyamalan needs to listen to fans of the television
series and maintain the series’ essence and the characters’ diverse
idiosyncrasies. Perhaps that would entice the fans or convince more people to
see the sequel - if there is one.
Director: M.
Night Shyamalan
Writer: M.
Night Shyamalan (screenplay)
Cast:
Noah Ringer, Nicola Peltz, Jackson Rathbone, Dev Patel, Cliff Curtis, Aasif
Mandvi, Shaun Toub, Seychelle Gabriel, Summer Bishil, Katharine Houghton, Damon
Gupton, Francis Guinan, Randall Duk Kim, Keong Sim, John Noble, Isaac Jin
Solstein, John D'Alonzo
Producers:
Kathleen Kennedy, Bryan Konietzko, Michael Dante DiMartino, Frank Marshall,
David Midgen, M. Night Shyamalan, Scott Aversano, Sam Mercer, Jose L. Rodriguez
Original
Music Composer: James Newton Howard
Cinematographer:
Andrew Lesnie
Film
Editor: Conrad Buff
Production:
Philip Messina (Production Designer), Richard L. Johnson, Gerald Sullivan,
Robert Fechtman, Patrick M. Sullivan Jr. (Art Directors), Larry Dias (Set Decorator)
Costume
Designer: Judianna Makovsky
Running
Time: 1 hour and 35 minutes
