Air Bent

I used to get excited about M Night Shyamalan movies. But then I experienced The Happening and all that changed. The appalling artistic disaster of that movie is down to one of two things; either Shyamalan had completely lost his mojo (in a Carpenter/Landis manner) or Twentieth Century Fox (by far the worst Hollywood studio) had meddled with the production to a fatal point.

Judging by Shyamalan's latest movie The Last Airbender (produced by Paramount Pictures) it turns out it was a little of both. This adaptation of Nickelodeon's Manga animated fantasy series Avatar: The Last Airbender isn't quite the return to form I was hoping for, but it's still a considerable improvement from his last film. Of course Airbender has been fashionably ripped to shreds by critics but, on balance, they're being far to harsh on what is an acceptably entertaining orient-styled fantasy.

The critic have focused on two areas; the script and the acting. To be honest I think the performances are mostly pretty solid. If your familiar with M Night's other stuff, you'll still expect that restrained acting style...but there's little of that stilted blankness that consumed Whalberg and Dechenal. Daily Show comedian Aasif Mandvi has also received poor grades for overacting, but that's inaccurate too. His performance is certainly more energetic than his more reserved co-stars, but it's no played for laughs and is quite convincing in the role. The only performance that suck is Noah Ringer as Aang, the Airbender himself. When he keeps his mouth shut he's perfect, vulnerable yet determined, innocent yet wise, and I can see in his expressive big, brown eyes why he was cast. But when the poor lad open his mouth he's nearly as wooded as Jake 'Mannequin Skywalker' Lloyd...but not quite.

As for the script this is Airbender's main failing. The dialogue is atrocious with the actors struggling to make it sound natural and coherent. The storytelling is lazy with large sections being devoted to exposition when a flashback or a dramatically engaging, visual realisation would have worked better. This is often a manga storytelling technique the film too often falls back on (despite its manga roots). And finally, this is obviously being set up as a trilogy (with Aang only mastering two of the four elements) and so the movies feels incomplete as a self-contained narrative.

But there's much to enjoy. There's some great effects from ILM which top their work on Iron Man 2 (although ILM work has an unmistakable CGI sheen to them, that competitors WETA have largely eliminated). Shyamalan's trademark long-duration cuts are a revelation in action sequences; fights are beautifully choreographed and framed. The long takes mean the audience always understands the geography of the action, allows us to savor the stunt work and effects and helps draw the viewer in (as quick cuts can be distracting). The oriental location work gives a fresh, distinctive look to a summer blockbuster and the photography is rich and lush (it's Shyamalan's biggest budget film and it shows as well).

So a mixed bag then resulting in a middling movie experience. But when compared to other middling 2010 blockbusters (Robin Hood, Prince Of Persia, The A-Team) at least Airbender is trying to do something a bit different (even if it's not doing it quite as well as the competition).

Finally, for British audiences, there's an issue that was highlighted when the trailer ran in theatres. The word bender. Yes, that word which is a derogatory slur meaning 'homosexual' forms part of the title and is frequently used in the film to describe individuals who can telepathically manipulate earth, water, fire and air.
But if you're British, be prepared to giggle when characters stoically proclaim themselves benders. Snigger!!! There...you see....