Usually, what we call ābad moviesā are in actuality a mixed bag: The stuff that works is drowned out by everything that doesnāt. In The Last Airbender, which I made the unfortunate life choice of rewatching this week, almost nothing works.
Letās see ⦠The acting is terrible, the editing is worse, the pacing is amateurish, the special effects are inconsistent, the action is boring, and the poorly-written dialogue is hindered by poorly-written voice-over.
As Iāve mentioned in
previous newsletters, I
adore the TV series this movie is based on,
Avatar: The Last Airbender (the movie dropped the first word to avoid confusion with
James Cameronās sci-fi adaptation of
Pocahontas, which came out the previous year). Why Nickelodeon decided to hand the reins of this fun-for-all-ages fantasy series to
M. Night Shyamalan with seemingly no stipulations that the showās creators be involved is beyond me.
This is a real study in contrasts with Chamber of Secrets (above) ā even though I didnāt love that Harry Potter movie, its fundamentals are still strong. The Last Airbender is about as sturdy as an igloo built in the desert. Please, do me a favor and donāt watch the movie ā do watch the TV series (on Netflix) instead.Ā