.: Roberts' Reviews - Movie Reviews :.

After fighting through my boredom with M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender, I couldn't help but trust that the title rings true and that this is in fact the 'Last' Airbender that I will have to sit through.

Now, I don't normally cheat like this, but I was so disappointed in The Last Airbender that I want to spend as little time as possible in the creation of my rant. Therefore the following synopsis is copied directly from imdb.com:

"The world is divided into four kingdoms, each represented by the element they harness, and peace has lasted throughout the realms of Water, Air, Earth, and Fire under the supervision of the Avatar, a link to the spirit world and the only being capable of mastering the use of all four elements. When young Avatar Aang disappears, the Fire Nation launches an attack to eradicate all members of the Air Nomads to prevent interference in their future plans for world domination. 100 years pass and current Fire Lord Ozai continues to conquer and imprison anyone with elemental "bending" abilities in the Earth and Water Kingdoms, while siblings Katara and Sokka from a Southern Water Tribe find a mysterious boy trapped beneath the ice outside their village. Upon rescuing him, he reveals himself to be Aang, Avatar and last of the Air Nomads. Swearing to protect the Avatar, Katara and Sokka journey with him to the Northern Water Kingdom in his quest to master "Waterbending" and eventually fulfill his destiny of once again restoring peace to the world. But as they inch nearer to their goal, the group must evade Prince Zuko, the exiled son of Lord Ozai, Commander Zhao, the Fire Nation's military leader, and the tyrannical onslaught of the evil Fire Lord himself."

Based on a popular animated series, we had high hopes for The Last Airbender. So did the studio. You don't put a film out on Will Smith day ..ummm,….I mean the 4th of July week-end without expecting the world in box office returns. We also appreciated M. Night's previous efforts. The Sixth Sense was bettered by Unbreakable which was accompanied by Signs only to fall off a bit with Lady in the Water and The Village and crash and burn with The Happening. Hey, one terrible film every six ain't so bad.

But The Last Airbender might just prove what critics have been forecasting for some time - M. Night might have been a flash in the pan. Someone who had two good scripts and was able to make magic.

With The Last Airbender, we get ridiculous dialogue - "I will stop them" says Aang. "I know you will try", responds the Dragon demon - and cardboard characters and acting that make Mark Wahlberg look like Daniel Day Lewis. The script and the acting are so bad that you wonder if M. Night has any talent left. If his eye for good quality filmmaking is now on par with Stevie Wonder.

Too add shitty icing to a shitty cake, the film is in 3-D which means paying extra for effects that were hardly imaginative or worth the extra dough. The effect rarely produces any depth or upgrades quality and the film should be seen in 2-D if seen at all.

You won't care about or for any of the characters in The Last Airbender. And you won't return from the screening craving to watch the animated series that was the source material. You will instead be mystified that a movie with such a large production budget could be so bad and that you had to pay money to get a nap in a crowded theatre.