"The Last Airbender" is M. Night Shyamalan's Latest Film Flop

Eleven years ago, M. Night Shyamalan exploded onto the Hollywood scene with The Sixth Sense, an intelligent, well-constructed thriller with one heck of a twist ending. Since that groundbreaking success, Shyamalan continued to push the filmmaking envelope, never able to recapture the success he had with a little boy who could see dead people.

The Last Airbender, Shyamalan's most ambitious film to date, is a feast for the eyes and ears, but the story leaves a lot to be desired. Based on Avatar: The Last Airbender, the popular Nickelodeon animated series, Shyamalan's adaptation truly is more style than substance.

The four basic elements govern the world contained in The Last Airbender

At one time, scholars believed that everything was made of four elements: Earth, Air, Fire and Water. In The Last Airbender, this belief becomes the basis of a system of government. Humanity lives in four separate nations, each one representing a single element. The Fire Nation, for instance, contains people who can bend flames to their will.

Aang (Noah Ringer) is a young boy born into the Air Nation, a peaceful group that lives high above the ground. Aang is an Airbender, which means that he can manipulate the winds. His teachers also believe that he is the legendary Avatar, a powerful being who, unlike the other benders, can control all four elements. Unfortunately, the burden of becoming the Avatar is too much for Aang and he runs away.

In his absence, the Fire Nation uses its power to dominate the other nations. Peaceful Earth and Water towns become colonies for the Fire Nation, which keeps the population under control through martial law. When Aang finally returns, he discovers that all his friends in the Air Temples have been killed, leaving him the last Airbender left in the world.

With new friends like Katara (Nicola Peltz), Aang tries to reclaim his heritage and embrace his destiny. Unfortunately, Zuko (Dev Patel), a disgraced prince from the Fire Nation, needs to find and capture the Avatar in order to get back into his father's good graces.

M. Night Shyamalan makes two fatal mistakes in The Last Airbender

Fans of the Nickelodeon series are bound to be disappointed with The Last Airbender. When creating this live-action adaptation, M. Night Shyamalan makes two fatal mistakes. First and foremost, he tries to cram too much mythology into one film. Even those who faithfully watch the television series may get lost in the muddled plot.

Shyamalan's second mistake is not making The Last Airbender a stand-alone film. Shyamalan leaves the audience hanging at the end, with the promise of more films to come. The poor quality of The Last Airbender may just kill this potential franchise before it even gets off the ground.

Shyamalan's adaptation does contain some memorable performances, though. Skilled in the martial arts, Noah Ringer brings an earnestness and sincerity to the title role. Ringer moves gracefully each time that he must manipulate one of the elements. As Zuko, Dev Patel from Slumdog Millionaire is a good match for Ringer. Like Aang, Zuko is looking for meaning and purpose in his life, but he lets his father's goals get in the way.

With a dedicated fan base, The Last Airbender had real potential and promise, but Shyamalan's goals were just too ambitious and egotistical for the material. It is too bad that no one on Shyamalan's staff has the power to bend this movie into something good.

The Last Airbender, rated PG for fantasy action violence, currently is playing in theaters.