Before I disliked James Cameron’s Avatar for being absolutely plotless and the very definition of derivative, I disliked it for stealing the name “Avatar” away from the live-action adaptation of Nickelodeon’s cult-hit animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender. Nevertheless, M. Night “What A Twist” Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender is set to release this July and Nickelodeon have unveiled these two posters of the story’s yin-and-yan heroes. Untested and Tae Kwon Do-trained Noah Ringer portrays the titular boy in the iceberg, Aang (at right), and Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel steps into the regal robes of the banished prince of the Fire Nation, Zuko (below).
These posters just scream “kung-fu epic” and are sure to attract such an audience when hung in theaters worldwide. The back-lighting on both characters is a mood-enhancing technique rarely seen outside of Joe Quesada’s Daredevil, the restrained stances of the characters with subtle displays of their powers is utterly electric with potential energy, and the stone temple, wooded mountains and steel warships set fantastic atmosphere, but the part that catches my eye on both is the line “In theaters Summer 2010.” For one, they’re the only areas on either poster where the monochromatic palette is broken – to marvelous eye-catching effect – and while, as a traditional typographic fundamentalist, vertically-oriented type hurts my entire face, dangling beneath the logo and four nation flags allows the text to resemble a hanging banner, likening itself to sumi-e portraiture, or as it lines up with Zuko’s clenched fist, a hidden dagger.
Also interesting is the position of the light source we can only assume is the sun in each image, above Aang’s head (which is already, appropriately, in the clouds) suggesting his naiveté, and below Zuko’s, encircled by his ravenous flames, indicative of his misplaced sense of dominance over all that lays before him.
Most hopeful for a Shyamalan movie is the relatively green cast, with the most famous member being Twilight supporter Jackson Rathbone as Sokka. Character actor Shaun Toub, recently seen in Chuck and Iron Man, fills the role of the kindly Uncle Iroh and The Daily Show‘s Aasif Mandvi steps up his menacing gaze as Commander Zhao, with the only returning performance from the animated series being Dee Bradley Baker as the voice of Aang’s two animal companions, sky bison Appa and lemur Momo. The rest of the cast is expectedly young (it is a Nickelodeon film, after all) with short and unremarkable resumés, which just oozes potential in a project like this. A cast including Zhao and Princess Yue suggests The Last Airbender will simply tell the tale of the animated series’ Book One: Water, leaving the door open for a trilogy, which we all know turn film studios in truffle pigs with dollar signs and merchandising rights lighting up their eyes.
Now we just have to hope it doesn’t suck…
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And here’s the thing, it’s got a solid 50/50 chance in my eyes.How many films has the “formula” been right, but the film just sucked? How many times has the formula been wrong and the film took off?
Now, I haven’t watched the cartoon. I’ve seen the cartoon catching an episode or a half an episode here-and-there, but I haven’t watched it, and I think I’m gonna keep it that way until i see the movie at least just to truly give it a fair shake. See if that makes a difference.