I'm slightly heretical when it comes to M Night Shyamalan films. Whereas most critics see an almost uninterrupted decline from The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, I tend to think the latter is vastly over-rated and one of his worse films. I like the criticised The Village, and even had time for the critically panned Lady in the Water. However, even I thought his last, The Happening, was simply crap and this raises the standard hardly at all. Its difficult to tell whether this is the material or the director's handling of it, most likely both.
There are too many scenes that solely exist for clunky exposition of the different strands of the plot. Most of the young cast just can't act (we're talking much worse than the early Potter films here), so its difficult to tell whether its the acting or the script that creaks most. Only Slumdog's Dev Patel manages to inject anything like a performance into his role, but the character arc for the hopeful later episodes is rather heavily signposted. Even the established adult actors, like Cliff Curtis, struggle with the material.
Visually its mixed. Some of the effects come across a bit naff and the 3D adds absolutely nothing here, but there are some stunningly imagined settings and some nice cyber-punk touches for the fire nation's machines. The final battle is set-up to be a promising set-piece, but Shyamalan directs too much of the focus onto his wooden leads, who are not really involved. However, there are some nice effects with the "bending" of the elements and in the brief moments when the Avatar finally leaps into action, we finally get some genuine thrills and spectacle.
This is supposed to launch a franchise, but like many recent attempts at child orientated fantasy, you suspect it won't.
Overall - 5/10 Its not as absolutely dreadful as some reviewers would suggest, but is still disappointing - more Eragon than Narnia or Harry Potter
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