1/2 a star : "The Last Airbender" is the most agonizing and disjointed film in reccent years

Long ago in a forgotten land there were four nations Earth, Air, Fire and Water the four fabled nations lived in peace and harmony with one another that is until the ruthless and power hungry fire nation declared war on the three other nations. Only the fabled AVATAR the master of all four elements could stop them but when he was needed the most he vanished, for a hundred years, the Fire nation ruled thinking that the only threat that had   the power to defeat them was long deceased. That is until a young water-bender from the Southern water tribe  and he smart mouth brother find a young boy trapped in ice they soon find out to be the new AVATAR a young air-bender  named Aang  who is the three nations last hope of saving there world from the dominate fire nation.

In  1999 a young up and coming director by the name of M. Night Shyamalan directed his first big budget  film to critical and commercial success that film  is called "The Sixth Sense" which today still stands as the highest grossing horror movie in history grossing 293 million dollars domestically and  672 million dollars making it not only the highest grossing horror film domestically but he highest grossing horror film worldwide a feat that no other film of the genre has been able to surpass to this day.  Shyamalan then followed his huge success with  the equally impressive   "Unbreakable"(2000), Shyamalan's take on the superhero tale  and although "Unbreakable"  lacked the mind blowing twist ending of "The Sixth Sense" it is still one of his most ingenious and thought provoking works. Then two years later Shyamalan tackled the frequently told tale of visitors from another world with "Signs"(2002) using his signature flare and stark storytelling to create his finest work since his breakout film "The Sixth Sense.” The saddest part of this story is that after the huge commercial success  and minor critical success of "Signs"  Shyamalan took a turn for the worst when he released the critical failure but surprising box office success. "The Village"(2004) marked what would be the steady downfall of what could have been one of cinemas great directors took a turn for the worse and never looked back. After the mixed-negative response  to "The Village" like clockwork he released another fantasy/supernatural themed movie tentatively named "The Lady in the Water"(2006)  about a Philadelphia maintenance man Cleveland Heap  who discoveries a strange young girl  named story who he finds out is from another realm. “The Lady in the water" was neither a commercial or critical success destroying Shyamalan's already fragile reputation. After that, he released "The Happening"(2008) an apocalyptic potboiler centered on the use of nature as the main cause for the end of humanity. And now  after the huge critical failure  of his last film Shyamalan brings to the big screen one of animes biggest and now most beloved  modern classic series "AVATAR: The Last Airbender".

 M. Night Shyamalan's adaptation of the popular nickelodeon anime series is hands down one of the dumbest, most ludicrous and dull films to come out in recent years this film brings to mind why crap makes money and the good films. The great films fall to the wayside in limited release and practically go unnoticed and if they do make a wide release they still do not even break into the 100 million dollar club they just get brushed off by the action hungry or twi-hard moviegoers in look for something that will blast all there sense instead of engage them. Well I am here to tell you that "The Last Airbender"  does  that in the utmost agonizing way by overloading the audiences with nothing but flashy visual tricks and unintentionally funny dialogue throughout just blatantly disregarding  the well crafted stories of the animated series  and the phenomenal character development  that is demonstrated throughout the series. In this film however, the characters are thin and poorly drawn they make the loony toons or even Sponge-Bob  look like well drawn well crafted characters, and there cartoons. There is no flow no direction to this picture it is just a big colossal mess that just keeps getting messier and messier as it goes along, It gets so messy and so painful to watch that  I almost wanted to get up go to the ticket counter and demand they give me back my money. Thankfully, I did not pay to see this film, which is a blessing in disguise. "The Last Airbender" tries to be something it is clearly not it tires to be an engaging, highly original, and thoroughly entertaining blockbuster instead plays out as a disjointed, dull, boring, dimwitted, and highly cheesy piece of entertainment thinly disguised as a blockbuster.

This is the kind of movie that  people go  to see  regardless of the critical reception and even though the  critics once in a great while judge a film wrong there is  no  way in hell this film can off that  anything less than the shallowest of all moneymakers  which in reality is exactly what it is. "The Last Airbender has no soul in it, no human emotion to call it its own, no fire or passion all the characters seem to just mope around and laze there way through the film it is disgraceful to the far superior source marital. It is disgraceful to see such a talented director like Shyamalan fall so low so fast it is pitiful and so is his latest mind numbing fantasy film.

In the anime series Aang is a happy, energetic, wise, and highly resourceful character who cares deeply for his friends and has a keen awareness of his mission to bring balance to his world while still finding the time to have a little fun here and there. The Aang portrayed by first time actor Noah Ringer is a pitiful, soulless, joyless  and dreary character  if this was a well made film noir than that would be  acceptable sadly, this film  it  isn't  and I am thankful it isn't. Ringer has no talent and no passion to his acting you can see it in his blank ignorant expression he has throughout most of the film it is depressing and insulting to the character from the anime series that is far superior to his movie counterpart in both style and grace. Ringer tries his hardest to make the character believable but you just cannot believe in his thinly drawn character in fact you do not really care what happens to him and by the end, you do not care who wins the war there is just no enjoyment out of any of it. The rest of the cast including first timer Nicola Peltz, Shaun Toub (Iron Man), Dev Patel (Slum-dog Billionaire), Cliff Curtis and Jackson Rathbone. (Who turns in the best performance in this film?) Turn in some of the most dull and emotionless performances I have seen  in my  long  yet  extremely packed movie going  experience  and help cement "The Last Airbender" as the worst movie of the year and the first truly  horrendous  film of the decade

"The Last Airbender"  has all the trappings and  technical qualifications required for a big budget film yet has the brains, the story and the dialogue of a SyFy channel T.V. movie this film tries, sadly not hard enough, to be a good piece of entertainment. Using a highly original and enthralling source material from an animated children program that is far superior to this poorly constructed and lethargic film that competently explains the reasons why a film like this is  to be avoided.