M. Night Shyamalan has had some spectacular movie successes, from the excellent The Sixth Sense (possibly the biggest plot twist in movie history) to the powerful and compelling Unbreakable (again starring Bruce Willis with a massive plot twist). There are few directors who have had such an outstanding start. The films that followed however have steadily trended downwards, both artistically and commercially: Signs, The Village, the Lady in the Water, and especially the dismal, The Happening, have illustrated that somehow, along the way, Shyamalan has lost his directorial mojo. Can his latest film The Last Airbender stop the slide?

The Last Airbender is a new adventure-fantasy film based on the first season of the successful animated television series, Avatar: The Last Airbender. Shyamalan hopes to makeThe Last Airbender the first of a trilogy of films. According to Variety, The Last Airbender follows the adventures of the successor to a long line of Avatars who must put aside his irresponsible ways and stop the Fire Nation from enslaving the Water, Earth and Air nations.

Influenced by Asian art, mythology and various martial arts fighting styles, the original TV show was created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, and has been adapted by Shyamalan. Disturbingly though, the original TV show Avatar (not to be confused with a James Cameron film of the same name) debuted on the Nicktoons TV line-up in February 2005 and was aimed at 6 to 11 year olds! Hopefully the film has set its sights on an older age group.

The film stars Noah Ringer as Aang, a reluctant hero who prefers adventure over his job as the Avatar. With friends Katara and Sokka, Aang journeys to the North Pole to find a Waterbending master to teach Aang and Katara the secrets of the craft, while Fire Lord Ozai, the current Fire Lord of the Fire Nation, is waging a seemingly endless war against the Earth Kingdom, the Water Tribes, and the already vanquished Air Nomads.

So can Shyamalan do it? I certainly hope so. I can't cope with another film like The Happening. Still, I'll probably buy tickets to The Last Airbender anyway, even if initial reviews are bad, hoping that after a string of average and some downright bad films he can make a return to his previous form. This is the first film Shyamalan has directed which is not based on his own material.

The trailers so far look promising. You can watch the most recent television spot for The Last Airbender (played during the Super Bowl) below.

M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender will be released 2 July 2010.

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