I painfully sat through the rest of the movie and afterwards I started to read other reviews and I was happy to see that I wasn't the only one who couldn't make any sense out of this material.
I then had to do something I never do, which was stop the movie and call someone familiar with the TV series and this film to try and find out what the heck was supposed to be going on.
I'll admit by the ten-minute mark I was pretty much lost in regards to the story and each passing minute I found myself growing even more confused. Night Shyamalan's THE LAST AIRBENDER is based on the very popular television show, which is something I've never seen so I pretty much walked into this not knowing what to expect from the story. The Last Airbender (2010) 1/2 (out of 4) After being freed from an iceberg, Aang (Noah Ringer), a long lost Avatar who is the only one able to bend the four elements, finds himself doing battle against the Fire Nation who who attempting to take over all three Nations (Air, Water, Earth). I've learnt not to expect anything else of them these days.
So it's not the worst film ever, just a very typical one by Hollywood standards. The action bits are okay but tend to wash over the viewer without really involving them in any way. Some of the CGI effects in this film are pretty good, especially those involving the 'bending' (a word that has quite a different context here in the UK, making this an unintentional comedy at times), although others aren't so hot. Watch for all the scenes where he just stands around with his mouth open like a vacant idiot, a classic example of bad direction. The main kid character has the moves but zero charisma and no acting ability at all, while Dev Patel's would-be villain is completely laughable. Some fire lord guys are bad, the rest are good, and the good guys fight the bad. I don't mind the concept of the film, it's not too bad, but the main plot is really pointless and does little apart from joining the dots from A to B. It's a typical Hollywood production all about the effects and little more, which is pretty normal these days. I saw that this film was heavily criticised before I watched it, but to be honest, I don't think it's that much worse than your normal young adult movie along the lines of THE HUNGER GAMES or DIVERGENT. Night Shyamalan's much-lamented big-screen version of the popular cartoon TV series about martial arts fighters with the power to control the elements.