THE LAST AIRBENDER Post Release

Maybe add a link to your previous article on the non-3D?

Wonderful. You've said all the right things to keep me away, as I intended.

I think everyone should have been scared waaaaay back when he said the movie wouldn't be funny...and when he decided that we need a live action flying water buffalo or whatever the hell Appa is. That thing terrifies me more then Barney. Such beady eyes.

Appa was in the cartoon. And how do you have Momo in this, and not make the movie have humor?

I know he was in the cartoon but he did NOT translate well. And exactly with the Momo. He says he said it wouldn't be a funny movie and then includes Sokka and Momo. Just seems like baaaad decision making.

Such the blurb whore, Travers Junior. Take your pick, Marketing!

My friend's kids are so geeked up for this, last time I was over I found myself cornered and listening to their frantic babble laying out the cartoon's entire saga, backstory and all and heyheyheydidyouknowtheymadeamovieandit'scomingoutl ikeNEXTWEEKcan'twaitcan'twait. Not sure whether or not I should warn my buddy what he's in for.

I've watched a handful of episodes and thought the cartoon was just "ok".
But the best thing about it was definitely the main kid's goofiness. From the start, it looked like Night completely eliminated that.

Still, if this is on par with THE HAPPENING, I'll have to see it one day. That movie always makes me laugh.

You know, watching the action scenes, I do have an appreciation for what M. Night was trying to do -- in a way, they're ambitious and a statement against the quick-cutting techniques of modern action. Several of the fights take place during one (digital) shot, with a good sense of where everyone is and how geography fits in. I like that. Still, the fact that we don't give a damn about the characters, and that the fights are somewhat poorly staged allows it to go unappreciated.

I have to disagree with the idea that Shyamalan only makes serious movies. They may be serious, but they're not without humor. Hell, strip the religious crisis out of Signs and you're left with an occasionally suspenseful comedy.

He gets a lot of shit for someone who takes plenty of creative risks.

And I wouldn't lay the majority of responsibility for the performances here at the actors' feet. If they weren't so damn similar to the acting in The Happening, maybe I would. That film featured people who clearly knew how to perform, but you wouldn't know it. I firmly believe that in another director's hands, Air Bender could have featured at least passable acting (with perhaps the exception of the lead. That really was a bad decision). I can imagine Night screaming in Slumdog Millionaire's face (I'm not learning his name) "Bigger! Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigger!"

Pretty much what I'm thinking in regards to how negative the reaction to this has been. If anybody except M. Night had made the same movie, I'll bet the reaction would've been one of plain old disinterest.

I guess I'll find out on video.

Just don't spend the extra money for the 3D Blu-ray.

This really was just fuck-awful. As a big fan of the cartoon who's seen the first season several times over, I still had trouble following what the hell was supposed to be going on. I felt like people unfamiliar with the source material would be completely baffled.

He gets a lot of shit because recently almost all of his risks have ended up miserable failures.
The thing about taking risks is that occsionally they have to pay off. With M Nigth, that just has not been happening.
And once again, we come up with one of the geek traits that drives me crazy,the tendacy to equate ambition with acheivement. What matters is not what the director intended, but what ends up on the screen. The Road to Terrible Movies is Paved With Good Intentions.

This is the one thing that really surprises me.
I remember the TV show had an intro that explained the whole concept in about 20 seconds. There's no reason why the movie should be an incomprehensible, expostion voice over-filled mess.

What exactly is at the heart that makes it so bad? Everyone (non critics) seems to be coming away with a different complaint.

I've got a friend back home who is an Avatar fangirl, and she posted that everyone should see the movie first, then the cartoon. I called her on fangirl denial. We'll see what she says.

That's entirely subjective.

Well, wouldn't that just make the cartoon look a whole lot better?

Right on, dudalb. If he really gets another movie under his belt now, I'd be quite surprised. Who is really anticipating another M. Night film after all of this? The guy hasn't been worth anything since Signs.

Isn't that her point?

I would think so. So, it's not an insane idea.

Yeah, you're right. I feel bad for piling on now.

It sucks? Awesome!

That review was good stuff. I figured after reading Ebert's surprisingly savage review that this would be something that many would consider to be bad to totally awful. I mean, if he got so fired up and ripped it apart that harshly, then yikes. It's been awhile since I've seen him flash his claws and totally eviscerate a film.

I know that he wasn't happy with the casting and how characters that were Asian in the cartoon weren't in the movie, but that is more a topic for the "Hollywood Whitewashing" thread that's in the miscellanny section, where it's been discussed nicely already.

I just wonder what's happened with M. Night. Even if you believe that The Happening was intentionally bad a la a 50's sci-fi film (as I've heard before) it seems like he has lost his ability to direct even barely acceptable performances out of his actors, which of course was not always the case. Has his rapidly expanding ego caused this, or what? Talk about a fall from grace. I mean, his last movie ended up somehow getting a 30 million dollar opening, so that's why he was given a chance with this, but if it doesn't do well... that's trouble. And I'd hate for him to think that he has to do something totally different and off the wall, as none of us can handle another Lady in the Water or characters with names like Cleveland Heap. Sure, him not being a fan of the new quick-cut action BS that I have a strong dislike for is a good thing, but that one good thing alone won't cut it. It sounds like he was in over his head here and who knows what he'll do next.

I was very much on the fence. That review (plus a couple others) knocked me right into the "not seeing it" side.

It's a shame. I've seen most of the cartoon's run and found it charming and very solid kid's/young adult entertainment. There was a lot of imagination that went into the show. It very easily could've been adapted into a great family film. M Night was a weird choice from the start. Sure, he wrote STUART LITTLE (I think), but everything else he's ever done is completely the opposite of AVATAR the show tonally and stylistically. The movie should've been playful and funny.

I actually thought (foolishly, I suppose) that this movie would mark a comeback for M Night. I mean, he already had a story laid out for him and a large built-in fanbase for this property, so it should have been an easy home run. What the hell happened? And will he finally get tossed in Director Jail for this one?

The most baffling thing to me is that there are people who give a shit about how this turned out.

I gave up on this guy when he was rude to my mom...

...I shit you not. I don't want to reveal how we know him (yes I know this is sounding like an IMDB post), but I remember meeting his family at a wedding. I told them I didn't like his movies except his first 2. They were a little surprised I was blunt with them. Had a weird fascination with furniture.

Probably shouldn't tell people you don't like their family members work. Especially at a wedding. Seems sort of a dick fanboy thing to do.

How was he rude to your mom when you started out with criticizing his work at a wedding?

Now we know why Shayamalan directed a failure. Thanks a bunch... SAIRUS!!!!

ahahahaha what a stupid thing to say.

I'm wondering if the show's writers somehow knew that this movie would be bad 2 years ago. The dialog exchange at the end of the 'Ember Island Players' episode seems oddly prophetic now.

Ha. Cute coincidence.

EDIT: Just found out that Summer Bishil (who gave a very strong performance in Alan Ball's Towelhead) makes an appearance at the end of the film to set up the sequel. A shame she probably won't get to continue that role.

Vulture Breaks the News to M. Night Shyamalan About The Last Airbender’s Reviews

Yeah, based off of what you've said, it's awfully tough to give out harsh criticism to family members of a celebrity and his work. Doing so at a wedding and not trying to sugar-coat it, that sounds like a time where it's better to BS and lie, even if he offended your mother at an apparent earlier encounter. But anyway...

Given that he was a writer of Stuart Little-something I had no knowledge of beforehand-doesn't necessarily mean that he was the best choice for this, aside from being "a name" and him doing something quite different from his norm. He apparently should stick with his norm, which it sounds like he's doing with the just announced upcoming projects he has, which I just remembered from the time I last posted to this post. I don't know if he goes to Director Jail just yet or he decides to just sticking with writing and producing. Who knows now, when there's no idea just yet how it will do at the box office.

I know that I earlier mentioned his big ego-I base that off of some stuff I remember hearing way back when but I can't really name anything specific now, although that one alleged documentary of him that was on Sci-Fi back in 2004 that proved to be a mockumentary of him that was somehow supposed to plug The Village, I do remember that and how it pissed off quite a few Internet movie fan types at the time, but even with that, I don't have anything against the guy and I don't have much reason to wish ill against him. It's just odd that his career started off so promising but then it has turned out the way it did.

From the linked article:

"I think these are exactly the visions that are in my head, so I don’t know how to adjust it without being me. It would be like asking a painter to change to a completely different style. I don’t know."

Doesn't that make him distinctly the wrong person to do THE LAST AIRBENDER based off of his previous work? It's such a different thing that it requires someone that can either do more than one thing or has done similar family/fantasy epic material before.

How can he not be aware of the reviews? I mean, literally everyone hates it.

It's kind of tasteless to tell a director his film is getting destroyed by the critics... Isn't it? Maybe it's just socially awkward so most people don't bring it up.

Saw this today with the kids. I actually dug the tv series (what I saw of it, at least).

And I've come to this conclusion:
If this movie had a face, I'd stab it repeatedly. The story seemed dead-on faithful, but the tone was completely off and the fun was missing entirely. There was no room to breathe, and no room to get to know anyone or care about anything. The acting was horrible, and the look of the film - aside from the action scenes - was cheap.

I really dug the action though, it was shot well and would have been exciting if I cared about what happened to these characters.

I'm guessing SAIRUS conducted the interview.

"If there is anyone who thinks these two should not be joined together, let them speak now or forever hold their peace."

"Your movies suck, man."

I dunno. Seeing the reactions to the movie now, we have hindsight. But as someone who has enjoyed several of his films, I was actually very interested to see how Shyamalan would handle material that wasn't his own as well as something more fantastical.

Depending on the circumstances, I'd like to think that we'd welcome interesting takes of directors who have a personal stamp. Should they just work on something of their own, instead of playing in someone else's toybox? Maybe. But if Airbender had turned out well, we could very easily be praising a director for bringing his/her own spin onto it. We laugh at people who cry and pout over changes to their beloved property all the time, right?

But it did not turn out well, right?
And Shylmalan's last few films have not turned out well, either.
And M Night's personal stamp is not that freaking original. Rod Serling was doing it a long,long,time before M Night came along.
If this whole "we must honor the intentions, not the final result" crap is the best that M Night's defenders can now come up with, then he really is through as a major film maker.

Yeah. I wasn't talking about Shyamalan specifically and wasn't defending the guy. Just about directors who bring their own personal stamp to an adaptation in general. That's why we like it when directors like Cuaron and del Toro come to work on properties like Harry Potter and Hellboy, right?

Yeah, but I don't know if you'd have those guys saying that they can only do things one way and can't expand their work. Cuaron's Harry Potter film and Children of Men aren't all that similar. And if you want to put a commonality on Del Toro's films, it tends to be the good stuff, not stuff that's been hammered into crap.