The Last Airbender (2010): Adaptations
Shyamalan has mostly avoided adaptations of other people’s work. A few exceptions include 2021’s Old and, perhaps his most famous adaptation, The Last Airbender. This was a live-action version of the popular Nickelodeon show, Avatar: The Last Airbender (now enjoying new life and popularity). The feature film was something fans had been eager to see for years, and that first teaser trailer promised something magnificent. I was hyped! But the movie itself was, let’s be honest, probably one of the worst films ever made. The acting was atrocious, the special effects laughable. There was no heart in a story that’s nothing but love. Maybe Shyamalan was so afraid of disappointing fans that he didn’t take risks. Maybe he wasn’t interested in a story that wasn’t his own. Maybe the studio interfered. Whatever it was, it proved that adaptations were not his thing. We’ll have to wait and see how Old does.
