Trailer Rush: The Last Airbender

I've never been a rabid fan of M. Night Shyamalan, but when he's on his game he's a master of the cinematic craft, ranging from The Sixth Sense to Signs. His latest is a big departure for him. First off, it's not a thriller. Second, it's a kid's movie. Third, it's based upon a television series and not original material that M. Night scripted himself. The film is The Last Airbender, an adaptation of the Nickelodeon animated hit, Avatar: The Last Airbender, not to be confused with James Cameron's box office behemoth.

The story of the film chronicles a young boy named Aang. Aang lives in this world where there are four elemental tribes, each distinguished by a different element: earth, water, wind, and fire. The fire tribe has begun a conquest to rule the world essentially. In this world there are beings known as benders, and these beings can manipulate the elements in which they are from, i.e. an airbender can manipulate wind to fly and blow people away. What Aang discovers is that he is the avatar meant to save humanity, and by being an avatar he has the ability to manipulate all four elements. Check out the latest trailer:



I really don't know what to think of this. Part of me thinks it looks like Dragonball: Evolution, whilst the other part of me thinks it at least looks like a fun geek-out movie. I've never seen the animated series, so I have no prior knowledge of this world, nor its characters, so in a way going into this film in such a way could benefit me as a viewer by not having any preconceived notions about the story, but at the same time it's pretty hard for me to get over the fact that this is a bunch of kids fighting people three times their age. 3 Ninjas anyone? Whether or not this movie turns out to be Night's Star Wars, as he said in an interview about a half a year back, has yet to be seen. It looks as if it will satisfy fans of the series, but can it appeal to anyone else? That's the real question.

This film hits theaters this summer, and did anyone else notice Dev Patel from Slumdog Millionaire in there as a badguy? Very interesting casting to say the least.