The Last Airbender

THE LAST AIRBENDER (2010) - July 1, 2010
Why, M. Night?  Why?  Though I didn't think that this was the all-out disaster that a lot of people are proclaiming it to be, certainly, it is Shyamalan's worst film, and the first of his movies that I thought was all-out bad.  The main problem is that none of the characters are particularly compelling; they're all kind of bland and without much personality.  That the film is filled with questionable, somewhat clunky dialogue doesn't help matters.  Nor does the fact that the whole thing has that artificial, overly-CGIed sheen.  I was sort of going with it for the first little bit, but about half-way through it started to really lose me, and by the time the requisite epic battle rolled around, I was pretty bored.  I did kind of like Shyamalan's direction; his penchant for long, meticulously composed takes remains intact here, leading to some fairly interesting visuals.  But the movie overall just doesn't work.  **