I'm visiting England right now, and a paper here (The Independent) used the release ofThe Last Airbenderas an excuse to run a two page spread about the worst reviewed movies of all time. A picture of Aang is right next to a picture fromPlan 9 from Outer Space.
DON'T READ THE DAILY MAIL OR ANYTHING WITH A RED BAND AT THE TOP LIKE "THE SUN" - They will make you rage and die.
The Good: The action scenes were lovely and Aasif Mandvi was in it. I am not saying that he performance was very good, but his presence in the film was enjoyable.
The Annoying: They purposefully mispronounced character names. Also, the white "Inuits" did not work on screen, and I went into the film with an open mind about the race discrepancies (I particularly note the actress chosen to play Katara and Sokka's grandmother - what the heck?). The actor that played Uncle Iroh was just bad casting. His performance was fine, but he just wasn't Iroh. The effects used during Aang's trips into the spirit realm were just cheesy and the monochromatic background throughout the film became visually tiresome.
The Bad: The child actors, even the lauded Dev Patel, were quite bad. I cite the actress who played Katara as just one of the many crap performances, but her constant "about to cry" face and her terrible narration were just painful and not at all like the Katara of the cartoon. Also, there was no character development beyond the minimal development of Aang and Zuko needed to move the plot along.
The Worst: There was no humor. I did laugh, but it was at Aasif Mandvi's performance (which was not intended to be funny), but other than that the entire script was devoid of any levity. There wasn't a single joke in the script, not even from Sokka. Sokka might as well not have been in the film at all. Further, and in my mind the most damning, toward the end of the "first act" of the film Sokka - in a single line - tells us the plot. WTF? Is this M. Night's first film?
In summary: I am all for deviating from the source material to make it work in a different medium, but those deviations should improve the piece, not detract from it. It really seems like they just took a five minute dry plot summary from each episode of the first season and added in absolutely nothing else. The humor, quirkiness, and character driven narrative that made the show something special are simply absent in the film.
Haven't seen it myself, but my brother's description was, "They took the first season, chopped it up, threw it in a blender, someone drank it, and then they shat it out onto film." Guess I'll be waiting for Netflix streaming to see how bad it is.
I read a quote from an interview with M. Night where he mentioned that he kept cutting out the humor in the film, because he said that having the humor took away from the seriousness of the film and made it seem like Aang was less distraught by the genocide of his people. I don't think he has learned that drama and comedy aren't opposites, but compliments.
Yeah, because Aang uses comedy to cover up his sadness because he feels that he has to look strong for everyone. Also, Aang doesn't want to be the Avatar, and so he jokes around and acts immature because he doesn't want to take responsibility.
Everyone was right about this, it was terrible; something I'm greatly disappointed at. I think I've pinpointed where the fail lies not just in this movie, but in a majority of Night's other movies. The fails usually lie in two aspects: scriptwriting and poor judgement regarding choice of actors on the director's part. That being said I have two compliments I can give him so it balances out the fails. Usually, he has good direction and a great sense of visual style (Lady in the Water usually comes to mind in the latter respect).
Well I saw the move a couple of days ago and found it to be one of the most repulsive things i have ever seen. I saw it with roughly five of my god friends who like me are crazy avatar fans. overall i felt that the ten dollars i spend for the movie was well worth it because while the movie itself wasn't a good movie, all movies after it seem to be much better. Me and and my friends also had fun yelling aang at the screen when they mispronounced it.
This movie was pure trash. I loved the series, and this movie just made me and the other (7) people in the theater upset. However, everybody saying the film was devoid of humor needs to see this.
That was probably the highlight of the movie, humorwise and everything-else-wise. (It also sums up the acting and the plot very well.)
I'm glad that my version of his name is getting popular. But seriously, I just hope that it kills his career. Shyamalamadingdong needs to stop making movies, he's basically become a parody of himself at this point.
Let me ask a pointed question. Since the general consensus is that Night was without a doubt the wrong director to have handled The Last Airbender, who do you guys think would have been a better choice to handle the series?
Let me ask a pointed question. Since the general consensus is that Night was without a doubt the wrong director to have handled The Last Airbender, who do you guys think would have been a better choice to handle the series?
Also, does this place Avatar on the same level as such theoretical though non-existent movies as the Star Wars prequels and The Matrix sequels? Even though it's not tied to anything else?
Also, even if the other Avatar films are any good, having to watch this one to understand what's going on is going to make it a hard sell.
In all seriousness, though, I had high hopes for this movie. Shamalamadingdong isn't exactly the worst director ever, but I expected better from him than the steaming pile he appears to have cranked out. Dude appears to have started believing his own hype shortly after Unbreakable came out and none of his movies have rated more than a "meh" with me since then. If they plan to continue the series, they really need to get someone else behind the direction.
Iain Softley. Perhaps it was just a good young cast, but hackers did a very good job of 'kids' dealing with something way out of their scope. Only it's not really out of their scope, it's just that noone is going to listen to them.
Granted, Hackers is my favorite movie, but I am totally not bias.
What's wrong with him? He actually did a good job on the first two Harry Potters, and they were probably the only two that followed the original storyline vs the others. He really hasn't directed much lately, except that Percy Jackson movie. I wanted to watch it when it came out, but I heard about a Lady Ga Ga song in it, so I'm going to wait for Netflix Streaming.
Comments
The Annoying: They purposefully mispronounced character names. Also, the white "Inuits" did not work on screen, and I went into the film with an open mind about the race discrepancies (I particularly note the actress chosen to play Katara and Sokka's grandmother - what the heck?). The actor that played Uncle Iroh was just bad casting. His performance was fine, but he just wasn't Iroh. The effects used during Aang's trips into the spirit realm were just cheesy and the monochromatic background throughout the film became visually tiresome.
The Bad: The child actors, even the lauded Dev Patel, were quite bad. I cite the actress who played Katara as just one of the many crap performances, but her constant "about to cry" face and her terrible narration were just painful and not at all like the Katara of the cartoon. Also, there was no character development beyond the minimal development of Aang and Zuko needed to move the plot along.
The Worst: There was no humor. I did laugh, but it was at Aasif Mandvi's performance (which was not intended to be funny), but other than that the entire script was devoid of any levity. There wasn't a single joke in the script, not even from Sokka. Sokka might as well not have been in the film at all. Further, and in my mind the most damning, toward the end of the "first act" of the film Sokka - in a single line - tells us the plot. WTF? Is this M. Night's first film?
In summary: I am all for deviating from the source material to make it work in a different medium, but those deviations should improve the piece, not detract from it. It really seems like they just took a five minute dry plot summary from each episode of the first season and added in absolutely nothing else. The humor, quirkiness, and character driven narrative that made the show something special are simply absent in the film.
That was probably the highlight of the movie, humorwise and everything-else-wise. (It also sums up the acting and the plot very well.)
@Nuke,
That is a great comic.
Also, does this place Avatar on the same level as such theoretical though non-existent movies as the Star Wars prequels and The Matrix sequels? Even though it's not tied to anything else?
Also, even if the other Avatar films are any good, having to watch this one to understand what's going on is going to make it a hard sell.
Granted, Hackers is my favorite movie, but I am totally not bias.