The Last Airbender: Based on the anime of the same name (which I’ll admit freely I’ve never seen) and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, this film is arguably the most reviled of 2010. Set in a world where humanity can control the four elements and is broken up into different “tribes“ based on what element they control, a lone youth, Aang (Noah Ringer, who was obviously *not* hired for his acting chops) can control all four elements as the avatar, which makes him the most powerful bender in the world and capable of fighting back against the power-hungry Fire Nation. But first Aang must learn to master all the elements to successfully fight back. Faux-eastern mysticism and chop-socky hijinks abound. Ringer isn’t the sole liability of the picture; all three leads are fairly wooden. Half the cast is flailing around, the other half is over-acting their rears off. The script is also a bit of a quandary - based on an existing property, it’s always a tricky line between too much and too little exposition. This script spends minimal time on character development and exposition, as it tries to squish the first season of the cartoon into one 103 minute film. You don’t care about the characters because you are given no reason to like, much less care about them. Most of the dialogue is quite simply terrible. But worst movie I’ve ever seen? Worst fantasy film of all time? Not hardly. Go watch “Gor” or “The Last Legion”, instead. It’s obvious that M. Night is still obsessed with crafting a “good” fantasy film. Woodchuck sez, “Disappointing, sure.”
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