Believe the anti-hype, people – The Last Airbender really is that bad. The writing is lazy, awkward and underwhelming. The performances are atrocious. And yes, even the steady director’s eye of M. Night Shymalan seems to have been blindfolded during the making of this could-be franchise touchstone.
I didn’t want to believe that anti-hype. Hating on Shymalan is too popular a past time in the cinematic community, and I’ve always felt his work was largely undeserving of such copious amounts of venom. Sure, the guy got a bit too twist-happy for his own good. And yeah his writing has never been on par with his studied directorial skills. But those skills alone were often enough to rescue his films – even if just barely – from the land of the unredeemable. Shymalan has always been a master craftsman, if a misguided one.
But in Airbender he is completely unhinged.
