Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan
Written by: M. Night Shyamalan
Starring: Noah Ringer, Nicola Peltz, Jackson Rathbone
IMDb Link
I've watched a lot of bad movies in my time. I actively seek out these movies and go out of my way to watch them. Whether they're 'so bad they're good' or simply so awful they destroy any joy you might find in being creative, there's a certain appreciation I get for film as a whole by watching these sorts of movies. By seeing how low film can sink, I feel better about the good movies that I watch, and so I want to use this space to start talking about some of the worst movies I have ever seen; maybe you'll watch these films and gain a greater appreciation for film overall, maybe you'll simply see which films I talk about and add them to your 'do not watch' list.
I've recently been watching M. Night Shyamalan movies. In preparation for Split I watched Signs (being the only somewhat good Shyamalan movie I hasn't seen yet), and I also recently sat through The Happening (which, while pretty terrible, was not as bad as I was expecting), so my mind has drifted back to this most awful of movies, The Last Airbender. Before I go any further, I would just like to point out that I've never watched Avatar: The Last Airbender, so when I got ready to watch this film, I had no bias of expectation based on the show.
I did, however, know that there was heavy criticism of the film from fans of the show. Most people I know when questioned on their opinion of the movie refuse to acknowledge its existence. There's been complaints about so much in this film, and when I first went in to it I half-expected to come out of the film with a higher than average opinion of it, my ideas towards to film had been set that low. Somehow, unfortunately, the film managed to be worse than I had initially thought.
The biggest problem with the film is the plot. Sure the acting is some of the worst I've ever seen, the cinematography/direction is laughable even when compared to Shyamalan's other worst films, the characterisation is flat and shallow, the effects are terrible when you consider the films $150 Million budget (a fact that I'd like to emphasise, as it baffles me that people pour this much money in to something without realising that what they're doing is fundamentally awful), it's all terrible, but the utter worst this film has to offer is the plot. While I'm sure many elements were well implemented in the show, here everything is shoved in just because it's a recognisable aspect from the show; characters that have no impact on the plot seem to be here for no reason at all, plot points are raised and dropped with impunity, absolutely everything that characters do seems to be done for no reason, and while watching I just kept thinking, 'maybe they had an explanation for this in show'. It came as no surprise to me to find out that the film was trying to cover the entire first season of the show. It's the same issue with video game movies, you're trying to take so many hours of something and compress it down to just over an hour and a half. The movie is 1/5 the length of season 1, so elements are obviously lost in the translation; but many of the film's plot points are simply indecipherable; it's not so much a compressed version of the show as it is a highlight reel of snapshots from the show, but done with a veil of terrible effects, acting and characterisation.
So much of this movie just happens. Elements like the 'Spirit World' or the fact that Fire Benders apparently need a fire source to do their bending aren't explained in any way, not even boring exposition, and the characters seem to go from place to place simply because the movie says so, and the movie only says so because they decided to use this scene from the show. The problem with utilising the entire first season of a show as the basis for your movie is that you're essentially trying to pull together a three-act structure from twenty different two or three act structures, so elements such as the Moon Spirit and the princess are introduced and cast aside within five minutes, with no build-up or payoff, and for reasons that movie doesn't make entirely clear. There's no significance to Uncle Iroh making fire from nothing because we as an audience are given no idea what that means. I assume it means that Iroh is super powerful, but he's given so little screen-time that there's no reason to care. There's also the problem with this movie's plot being based on a story that was not complete by the end of the first season, so this film's plot doesn't end succinctly while also trying to force a sequel.
The characterisation doesn't fair any better. Katara and Sokka have no point in the show other than to wake up Aang. After that, there's no development for them; Katara remains a bossy and petulant child, Sokka remains a humourless bore. They add nothing to the plot apart from a terrible rousing speech from Katara and an out-of-nowhere romance for Sokka that also goes nowhere. The only characters to get any development at all are Aang and Zuko, who only really get hints at a slow change rather than improving as characters overall. This is another problem with trying to force an entire season of a show in to one movie, while also telling an incomplete story; the changes that occur within Aang and Zuko were likely slowly developed, because in shows they have the time to work through their characters struggles episode-to-episode, season-to-season, In a film, there has to be significant change in a character in order for their arc to be worthwhile, but this film doesn't make that happen because the show didn't make that happen. This film is simultaneously a slave to the show's constraints and apparently awful at attempting to replicate the show, it's a hilariously sad and bizarre conundrum.
While effects and directing are still on the table, I don't want to push on too much longer, so at this last juncture I want to talk about the acting, because it's noticeably awful. Dev Patel I feel sorry for as Zuko, because he seems to be legitimately good actor (I'm seeing Lion this weekend so hopefully that will reinforce what Slumdog Millionaire has already told us), but in The Last Airbender he's simply overacting, and in the process coming off a little ridiculous when compared to everyone else who doesn't seem to even be trying, especially Noah Ringer, Nicola Peltz, and Jackson Rathbone. Rathbone is probably the worst of these three as Sokka; while I haven't seen the show I do know that Sokka is supposed to be the comic relief, but Rathbone is completely flat and unemotional, like he's channeling his character Jasper from the Twilight series. His line delivery is so odd, as if he isn't sure what people are going to say to him, nor of what he's supposed to say back, so instead of dialogue we get these odd pauses in his speech. Nicola Peltz is awful in general, as I hope anyone who's seen Transformers: Age of Extinction will tell you, but I'm a bit more leniant on her here because she's younger, only fifteen when the film came out in theatres. The same goes for Ringer, who was not only just thirteen at the time of the film's release, but also appearing in his very first movie. That said, neither of them fall any less flat than Rathbone. Peltz is the most noticeable, as she has a majority of the dialogue; she seems to talk like a highschool student who's giving a speech about a topic she's only pretending to know about. Ringer must've simply been told by Shyamalan to never change the tone or level of his voice, because it just never happens. The lack of real characterisation doesn't help us an audience connect to the characters, but the lack of inflection in any of the actor's voices just makes them seem stiff and alien, like all three are body snatchers trying to not get caught.
The Verdict: The Last Airbender is the worst high-budget film I have ever seen. There's simply no excusing how bad the film is when there's so much money going in to it, literally more than all of the other 'worst movies' combined. If you've seen this film, I'm sorry for your lost time and brain cells, and if you haven't, be thankful. You're probably better off just watching season 1 of the show at 5x speed; you'd use the same amount of time and get more entertainment out of it.
Rating: 2/10
Published January 27th, 2017
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