Collider Visits the Set of JOHN CARTER
Taylor Kitsch JOHN CARTER Set Visit Interview
Director and Co-Writer Andrew Stanton JOHN CARTER Set Visit Interview
Set Photos from M. Night Shyamalan’s AFTER EARTH Starring Will Smith
First Trailer and Poster for THE BOURNE LEGACY Starring Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, and Edward NortonTHE LAST AIRBENDER Review
by Matt Goldberg Posted:June 30th, 2010 at 9:20 pm
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I hate everything about M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender. I hate that it’s racist. I hate that it takes a great, easy-to-adapt show and completely disrespects the material. I hate the performances. I hate the special effects. I hate the borderline non-existent 3D that serves only to jack up ticket prices. I hate the lack of imagination. I hate the embarrassingly bad script that would be laughed out of a Screenwriting 101 class. I hate the consequences if this movie is a success at the box office. I hate the consequences if it fails at the box office. I hate that this movie exists. And “hate” isn’t a strong enough word.
In the world of The Last Airbender, there are four nations, each one represented by a particular element—water, earth, fire, and air—and there are special individuals in each nation who have a telekinetic power to “bend” a particular element. The world also has one “Avatar”, a singular being who has the power to bend all four elements and bring peace between all the nations. Well, that’s the idea anyway.
The Fire Nation has become power-hungry and taken over most of the world. Katara (Nicola Peltz)—a waterbender—and her brother Sokka (Jackson Rathbone) come across a boy (Noah Ringer) frozen in an iceberg. They free him, learn his name is Aang, and discover that he’s an airbender. That last part is curious since the Fire Nation wiped out all the airbenders over a hundred years ago. The arrow tattoos on his body indicate that he is the Avatar and must learn all four elements and then will be able to stop the war. However, the banished Prince Zuko (Dev Patel) of the Fire Nation wants to capture the Avatar. Zuko’s believes this is the only way to reclaim his honor and regain his father’s respect. Aang, Katara, and Sokka must evade the Fire Nation, get to the Northern Water Temple so Aang can learn waterbending and begin to accept his destiny.
In the original Nickelodeon series, Avatar: The Last Airbender, this information comes about organically and only takes a couple episodes to set up the entire premise of the series. In the movie, nothing is shown and everything is told. Katara’s narration, characters delivering exposition, and even a young boy telling a character his own backstory, is how Shyamalan sets up this world. I felt a scornful/derisive/dumbstruck when Katara simply says that Sokka and the princess of the Northern Water Tribe “became fast friends.” I’m not sure why Shyamalan hates character development, small personal moments, or anything that would show these characters as people rather than glorified hand puppets.
And as much as Shyamalan abhors basic storytelling, he resents the fans of the show even more. Setting aside his decision to change the races of the characters simply because he could, one is left to wonder if Shyamalan actually watched an episode of the series or just read the Wikipedia page and went to work. The fact that he couldn’t be bothered to get the correct pronunciation of the characters’ names should tell you all you need to know. And if you enjoyed the show’s humor, imagination, and depth, you can go ahead and forget about it. It’s a joyless experience bereft of exhilaration, excitement, and fun.
It’s disturbing that Shyamalan can’t pause for one second to let a character tell a joke or share something personal but not in the form of strained exposition. Perhaps the writer-producer-director wanted to simply create a world and ignore such trifles like compelling characters and competent storytelling, but he still fails miserably at building the world of The Last Airbender. The movie copies the imagery of the show, but has none of its creative spark. It’s particularly damning in the boring use of bending. These mystical powers lack all wonder and mysticism as the characters do what feels like eight minutes of Tai-Chi in order to do one simple and unimpressive move. Everything you loved about Avatar: The Last Airbender is strangled and kicked into a shallow grave in this heartless adaptation.
But let’s leave aside the source material. Taken on its own, Airbender is still an abomination of monumental proportions. The effects are stolid, the young actors—particularly Ringer—have no concept of competent delivery of dialogue (which, to be fair, is so stale that only a master thespian could have provided a character with a spark of life), and the sets and special effects feel hollow when its clear that no care or enthusiasm was put into this production. Shyamalan has ripped off Paramount and both the studio and the filmmaker have ripped off anyone even slightly hopeful for a quality picture.
Speaking of rotten pictures and rip-offs, if you do go see The Last Airbender (and I don’t know what more I can do to stop you), don’t pay to see it in 3D. You’ll simply be throwing even more money away. This is a post-conversion and the 3D is barely noticeable. There were moments when I took of my glasses and it looked like a 2D movie. When the film does engage in 3D, it looks atrocious—particularly in fight scenes involving panning shots. The images become blurry and diverge and give you a headache on top of the one the movie causes on its own.
That kind of rip-off is what makes the movie hurt even more. There is no victory for Airbender. If it succeeds at the box office, then Shyamalan gets to make two more of these wretched piles of infected waste. If it fails, then there won’t be another attempt at an Airbender movie for at least another ten years. Furthermore, the crappiness of this film could turn away audience members who may have considered watching the show, but now don’t trust the source material.
This needs to be the end of M. Night Shyamalan. The Happening was a joke but The Last Airbender is an insult. I wouldn’t let him direct me to the restroom after this movie. If a studio wants to hire him, they would be better off burning their money for warmth. He’s a fool for thinking that whitewashing the movie wasn’t problematic. He’s a fraud for turning in a script that’s not worth the napkin it’s written on. He’s a hack for cobbling together a vapid, cruel taunt of a movie that blows its budget on subpar visual effects and massive sets while refusing to take even a second to provide a character moment. As much as I hate this movie, it hates me and every person who sees it even more. I don’t care that the year is only half over. I’m calling it: The Last Airbender is the worst movie of 2010. It’s too disturbing to consider that there could be something even more hideous out there.
Rating: F (I wish there was a lower grade I could give)
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Related Links
- THE LAST AIRBENDER Blu-ray Review
- New TV Spot for M. Night Shyamalan’s THE LAST AIRBENDER
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Thank you for this. A lot of the reviews are coming from people who haven't seen the series and are getting the “you don't understand it” treatment. Clearly you DO understand it, and why the fail cuts across all demographics — fans, movie buffs, everything.
And he left the Kyoshi Warriors on the cutting room floor. Jerk.
he explained why he left the warriors out!!! they have a never ending story so he would not have had time for everything else. in the long run it was a good decision…and it would have gotten complicated because sokka formes relationships with suki and yue
the warriors play amajor role in the main storyline b/c thats how azula and her crew get into ba sing se
When Sokka meets Suki it’s not instant love. She forces him, through her own utter awesomeness, to learn respect for her skills as a warrior.
But after that he then meets Yue, who’s all pretty and perfect, and he gets infatuated.
It’s only when he meets Suki AGAIN in the second season outside Ba Sing Se, after suffering the loss of Yue, that he realises he has major feelings for her and that Suki is the girl he really loves. Yue is that first major crush, but Suki is his soul-mate.
How Shyamalan failed to see the importance of Suki’s involvement early in the story shows how fucking clueless he is about what makes these characters so great.
Suki and the Kyoshi warriors SHOULD have been in this movie. And he should have been smart enough to realise why they are so essential to the emotional development of Sokka’s journey.
unfortunately, he couldn’t even suffer to have sokka’s name pronounced correctly, let alone pay any respect to his emotional development.
I’d don’t know if you came back, but you’re right. MNS is an idiot and i really am starting to believe he didn’t see the entire season or any other at that.
i disagree, it has been said that without the kyoshi warriors, azula and her cliche would not have infiltrated ba sing se
He left the Kyoshi Warriors out because he felt they would work better if only included in the second film.
SECOND film? Oh, dear God, please no. I’ll pay Shyamalan to NOT make another. Who’s with me…?
shut the fuck up you piece of shit, kill yourself
Wow, fuck face much? Why would you tell someone to go kill themselves? Worthless piece of horse shit.. Where the fuck is your heart? Geez. Why don’t you just shut your face hole, asswipe.
Freedom of speech fucker, you can feel free to kill yourself, too.
You obviously did NOT pay attention to the series. I will NOT see this movie. I’ll just keep watching my dvd set of the real thing. the not fail thing.
come on guys…..lets all fuck together OK….geeez…..come on, lets take our clothes off….
hi everyone…..this is a movie, not the end of the world. it’s just a bad movie. i loved the series and i was very disappointed in this attempt at good cinema. but the language and the threats and the insults are very….less than juvenile.
hi everyone…..this is a movie, not the end of the world. it’s just a bad movie. i loved the series and i was very disappointed in this attempt at good cinema. but the language and the threats and the insults are very….less than juvenile.
M night! is that you? shouldnt you be killing yourself?
He should stick his head on the ground Like ostrich does.
Agreed. people are frickening nitpicking at this. The only reason people are hating on it is because they are bias against M. Night…I would enjoy another movie to see these warriors that everyone is talking about.
Samm, you said the acting was good. I wonder what else you consider good acting. The female lead, read her lines through out the whole movie. So obvious. I could read lines, you could read lines, she wasn’t acting. Alot of people who go to movies want to just see a quality product. IE, good “acting”, good effects, good story etc etc. I challenge you to watch it again and tell me this specific actor was “good” and I’ll give you a lollie pop but I know you can’t cause she was terrible. Like the storyline, plot, effects, but the acting in this movie was atrocious and I can’t believe they put out this movie without cleaning it up first.
everyone is entitled to their opinion. u r just as i am. i enjoyed it. Worse movies have been released in the entertainment industry…take all the twilight movies for example…and I hate lollipops
Agreed. people are frickening nitpicking at this. The only reason people are hating on it is because they are bias against M. Night…I would enjoy another movie to see these warriors that everyone is talking about. …where in that comment did I write that the acting was good? I said i enjoyed it but i wasn’t very upset with it.ive seen better but ive seen alot alot worse
I am Sorry? i have seen M night shyamalan movies But htis one is the worse. Pathetic Racist movies wanted to lift his own Race. M ,N. is Racist and biased. he thought by featuring Indian actors like himself who happens to be an indian would make him a better director. poor nickelodeon and Michael Dante Dmartino you made a wrong negotiation with the wrong Director.. You have ended your Career as a good writer.
are you fukin stupid or something? its a show about asains first of all, saka and kitara aren’t even supposed to be white in the first place, so how is he racist, you stupid tard, just because hes fukin moronic and can’t produce a movie doesn’t mean hes trying to push up a race
you’re funny, because you’re right, sokka and katara arent supposed to be white, yet they ARE white in the movie!! and fuckin zuko and the fire-lord, and the fire-nation, are NOT supposed to be indian. THAT is why this fucking joke of a writer FAILED and can be accused of trying to build up his own race. because he made half the cast indian like him, when they werent supposed to be.
Daniel perhaps Samm is groggy like General Zhao Saying we are now the Gods that has no effects lifeless and without angst. so pathetic and poorly delivered line.
have you ever actually watched this show?
you fucking retard, no one is judging this movie based on a bias against m. night SHAM-ilan. the acting was terrible, the cast was bullshit, there was zero character development, which is everything in this show. Aang is supposed to be a carefree happy-go-lucky kid who is also wise beyond his age. not some depressed monotone serious little shit. and sokka!! the entire show is reliant on the fact that sokka is the jokester and is full of character. did you hear him tell one joke? fucking BULLSHIT!!
dont post a comment about something you dont understand, dumb ass. i would never watch a movie that you recommended, with your terrible taste.
m. night shamylan is a fuckin JOKE. and a con artist. stealing our money because even though we knew he would destroy this movie, as true fans we HAD to go see it. only to leave the theatre disappointed and angry. and bloodthirsty.
why are you so angry at Jade? i agree completely!!! i LOVE this show and have the entire story memorized, and this movie was a total abomination, and an insult to the creators of the show. if shamylan gets the chance to make another movie, and destroy the 2nd book, making money off of his bullshit no-talent rip off, i WILL kill myself
go ahead then becauce the second movie is already in producion. If you are expecting that everything we loved in the series is going to be in the movie than I really thing you should stick to cartoons and keep away from the cinema, it’s way to advanced for you.
Yeah Shamalamana wants to make this a trilogy
he’ll either run out of money or be assassinated, whichever comes first
I think he’ll be assassinated first personally.
yeah much better than he would again be the one to do book 2. better he kill himself. he has killed the best part of everything in the Movie that would be his last.
now that should be a movie
l lyk thay
he should have at least made it a 3d animation,he is just an amateur , foolish man,4 gods sake doesnt he watch movies
Pease oh please let him get hit by a bus before starting the second movie!!!!! please god!!!!!! please!!!!
PLEASE!!!!! I AGREE!!!! i will have to hit him by a bus myself if he is allowed to make the 2nd book. WTF were the creators thinking letting him direct this??!!!!!!!
highly doubt a second film buddy
I’m gonna have to agree with you I would never see a second one if they really make one
wow i have never watched the movie and i really wanted to but judging by all the views it must have been the worst movie of the year which is sad because i heard this guy made pretty good movies.maybe he just got lazy for this one even though its compeletly different from the show….you have to give him so credit i mean hes better at making a movie than i will ever be.and at least aang was bald lol…..
Amazing review Matt. The one great thing the film has brought us = hilarious reviews.
fuck you
why do u keep insulting people?.. the movie sucks dick… m. night is a horrible horrible director/writer i saw the damn movie and i loved the tvv show with a passion..i literally saw people crying cuz the movie ruined the show so bad lol <- swear im not lying… i hope he is fired from this job and someone else restarts it
what the heck dude? watch your disgusting language over a review for a movie! it’s just a movie
People are taking this way too seriously. People crying? Really, maybe they need a life. I love the Twilight books but I don’t cry because they’ve butchered the movies because I have things other than a book series in my life…like friends and school and a job. It’s just a movie ppl, if you like cool, if u don’t that’s fine too. I enjoyed the film and would reccomend ppl see it and make their own judgement instead of taking these filthy mouthed reviews to heart.
“everyone is entitled to their opinion.” you mentioned that, didnt you? so dont compare us to you.
Who’s “us”? Some ppl agree with me, some don’t-gotta be more specific. I stated my opinion…kinda the whole point of this genius
who’s “us”? you ask me who’s “us”? isnt it obvious?? havent you read people’s comments here? you stated it yourself that some people dont agree w/ you and then you ask me who’s “us”? its obvious that i am VERY much disagreeing w/ you. LOL at you. what, i need to be even more specific ’cause you cant comprehend?? i did not enjoy the movie and i would never EVER recommend people to see it. got that? LOL. it is none of your business if people take this seriously.
who ever the fuck you are fuck you
what the heck dude? watch your disgusting language over a review for a movie! it’s just a movie
seriously? did you even watch the show? HA you are just as hopelessly retarded as m.night himself. people who liked this movie make me laugh out loud. and also make me angry that because of you, this sham of a director might actually be allowed to make even more money by once again destroying and insulting a GREAT story.
Nice!
This makes me sad… I wanted this movie to be good so bad. ;(
You're not the only one to “F” this movie. 6% on Rotten Tomatoes. Man, I think I just decided to wait for DVD (and, from what you're saying, to wait for someone else to hire it so I can watch over their shoulder).
Excellent review, much more entertaining than actually watching the film!
fuck you
Why don’t you fuck yourself.
Why isn’t anybody fucking me??????
Great Review. I will take your advice and not waste my money on this movie, maybe ill sneak in after paying for something else just to experience how bad it is.
Its amazing how Shyamalan peaked with Six Sense, every movie since has been a step down. This is the probably the end for him, why would anybody trust this man with a budget.
Right on – time for Sham-alan to go away…
I was hoping beyond hope that this movie would be better than the trailers indicated. It seems as though that has gone out the window. Very disappointed it turned out the way it did.
Me too. Very disappointed.
I just got back from seeing it. Seriously, how could they even get the names wrong. The show had 10x better action clips, and the comedy from the show trumps the feeble attempt at comedy in the movie. Or am I mistaking serious parts from the script for jokes? Great review, but sadly a terrible movie.
This is a great review. I was already boycotting it, but it just made my day to read this. I saw in a trailer that they pronounced Aang's name wrong. Did other characters have different pronunciations too? I would have a hard time believing Shamalama ever saw the series, or even knew it existed.
I hope that new twilight movie steals everyone from this.
I (thankfully) knew going in that this was a post 3D conversion, so I avoided the 3D version like the plague. But one thing I'd like to point out in response to your review, you said:
“When the film does engage in 3D, it looks atrocious—particularly in fight scenes involving panning shots. The images become blurry and diverge and give you a headache”
I kid you not, this very problem was present in the 2D version. Any time the camera panned the picture got incredibly blurry and made my eyes hurt, it felt like I was watching 3D without the glasses. It was impossible to focus on anything during these moments. What the hell would cause that?…
Anyway, this review was spot on, I love the show, seriously some of the best television I've seen, but the movie was utterly horrible. Besides reading these great reviews, the only other pleasure I've experienced from it was bashing the movie every minute with my girlfriend, probably much to the annoyance of the highschoolers next to me.
Please, everyone should wait, this movie does not deserve the money, and as much as it saddens me, a sequel would be even worse. Let's cut our loses, and hope for a possible reboot years from now, and look forward to The Legend of Korra.
Sadly he's shopping around a new script right now, and he's got The Night Chronicles label he's set up with Media Rights Capital with a 3 film deal. I doubt this is the last we'll see of MNS… but one can hope.
you know after watching this filth im sure even Tyler perry would make a better avatar movie.
Don’t short Mr. Perry. He knows how to make a movie that works. I may not like any of his movies, but he’s proved himself more than able to create movies that his fans want.
The problem being Perry would cast himself as GranGran
Actually, that would be funny.
wow.. how hatefull…
tell me about it? i can’t imagine how much these people’s engine’s get going for something that matters…
if you loved the show as much as some of us do, and had been looking forward to this movie for 3 years, you’d understand how angry this movie makes us. like bloodthirsty angry, willing to hit m.night with a fucking car for making money off of destroying a great story. and usually im the one on comment threads telling people to calm down and take a chill pill. but this movie PISSES ME THE FUCK OFF
tell me about it? i can’t imagine how much these people’s engine’s get going for something that matters…
omg.. it has HAPPENED indeed..
so much for me clamoring for a good movie this coming weekend not to mention the hope I had in it reproducing sequels and completing the trilogy..
thanks a lot m. night.. thanks a lot!
If you were a fan of the series I’d still go see it anyway. It did skip quite a bit and had several flat “kiddy” moments, but what they did show was a valid attempt at re-introducing it’s animated counterpart. It’s not a great movie, but it’s not boring. Too many people are trashing it without seeing it. I doubt there will be sequels because of too many people prematurely kicking the crap out of it, but if there is, who knows they may be improvements.
Finally, a person with reason! Too many people are bashing the movie. Personally, I’m not even going to go see it in 3d, or at all, but that’s mostly because of the reviews and the comments people are leaving. I might wait for the DVD prices to drop to $9.99 before I bother to see it, but really, I wish I hadn’t seen these comments. The review was entertaining and all, but all the trolling comments really ruined it all for me.
Anyhow, if I ever do get it, I’ll watch it on my computer, turn off the sound, and read the subtitles. That way I can pronounce the names correctly in my head.
dont waste your money. the script isnt worth reading even in subtitles. do you love how aang is fun-loving and care-free but also wise? forget it. love how sokka is a sarcastic jokester? forget it!! this review is 100% correct. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY. please! because m.night fuck-face doesnt deserve it
if you like the show and have enough brains to really understand it, you would hate HATE HATE HATE this movie. this movie was anything but a valid attempt. i could make a better avatar movie if i was given a budget. no fucking joke. he couldnt pronounce the names correctly, he had zero character development or story development. and if you watch the show you would know that it’s full of “kiddy” moments, but the show actually succeeds at making them funny. this movie is the definition of boring. it FAILS in every single aspect
M Knight is Indian but he does strictly white movies. I don't have any problems with whatever but the man is a sell-out.
so he is a sellout for not making slumdog millionaire?
Wait he’s Indian? Are you serious -__- In “The Last Airbender Revealed” he said he was Asian so he said that he changed the name out of respect for the Asian culture since he himself was Asian. What a turd, he ruined so much of this movie. It’s hilarious how he wanted to be respectful of the Asian community and changed the name but hired all these white actors. Whatever, I hope he reads these reviews and feels like scum for ruining such a kick ass show. I hope his movie does terrible at the box office >:(
Dude, India is in Asia – but I totally agree with the rest of your comment on the movie.
I think that effect is caused by just shoddy CGI. I am a bit sensitive to that in CGI movies and big battle sequences or pans usually give me a headache, to hear other people mention it in this probably speaks to a poorer quality CGI job? I think?
Thanks for this review, especially for talking about the storytelling aspect. I like your writing style!
Well the CGI was definitely not great, it was a bit sad to see ILM do such a terrible job, but most of these blurry panning scenes were just on practical sets… I don't understand it.
seriously guys. i just finished watching the movie, and it honestly was not even that bad!! im in love with the show im a huge fan. this review i think is terrible and unprofessional . this is a piece of crap review to be honest. PROFESSIONAL writers or reviewers would actually say at least one good thing about a terrible movie. you are just extremely hateful and very imature becaruse the movie was actually a good movie.
As a fan of the show myself, respectfully, shut up. The film was awful, and it is the job of a critic to say that if it is true. You may disagree, but your opinion is not any more “right” than his.
Every fan of the show that I’ve talked to has said that it was terrible. Don’t let Fluffness93 skew your view of other fans of the show.
I agree- how can it be a professional review with a statement that “The arrow tattoos on his body indicate that he is the Avatar and must learn all four elements and then will be able to stop the war.” When actually, the arrows mean that he has mastered airbending.
If people had done their homework before watching last airbender, they would understand all of the choices and changes MNS made while creating this film.
Actually, the arrow tattoos are common among those of the Air Tribe…not used to denote mastery of the element or avatar status. They are traditional air-bender markings.
Nope, just watched the series and the tattoos are meant to denote mastery of air-bending.
I saw the movie today and I would have to say that this review is spot on.
im going to completely unravel your theory in this one sentence. ready?. here we go. “the movie was trash, which therefore means you like trash”… and with that your opinion is not to be trusted
you are obviously too brain dead to understand everything that is so great about the show, because NONE of the great things about the show were included in the movie. professional writers are not obligated to say at least one good thing about a terrilbe movie just to be ‘nice’. actually, they are obligated to review the movie truthfully, no matter how harsh it may be. the more hurt feelings, the better. you know nothing about life and should go crawl back into your short bus
A reviewers job is not to pander to people who may like the movie, it is to review the movie as seen through their eyes.
This review was very mature, accurate and professional.
Other reviewers have given this film a much worse lashing, fyi.
I'm so disappointed. I'm a huge fan of this show and while I knew it was a joke to hire Shaymalan to do this I figured I'd see it anyway. Who knew he could single handedly destroy a series. Please, let this be the end of him so he can no longer tamper with anything else!
I kind of feel like you're one of those Twilight fangirls. So far, they have been the only ones to say this was a “good movie”. Tbh you type just like a typical one at that.
I’m not a “Twilight fangirl”, and I liked the movie. It certainly wasn’t the best, but it was good.
I'm afraid you've done something horrible here Matt, you've written a review so bad I know have too see this movie.
“This needs to be the end of M. Night Shyamalan. The Happening was a joke but The Last Airbender is an insult. I wouldn’t let him direct me to the restroom after this movie. If a studio wants to hire him, they would be better off burning their money for warmth.”
Bro that's shallow. He's the one that made us all scared and shocked with The Six Sense, hes the one who made a mysterious thriller Signs. He also made Unbreakable which was a stellar movie. You hafta admit they were kick ass genious movies that you wish you have thought of. M. Night Shyamylan is a creative genious. Idk why everyone is rippin on him. So i agree The happening wasnt the best movie ever or maybe the last airbender isnt great but u gotta giv him credit for most of his movies that were great. Im a big fan of his movies and i dont think everyone shuld be rippin on him for makin some bad movies that make you think or are suppose to giv u entertainment. Watch he's going to bounce back with more crazy awesome movies and you'll say alright he isnt bad i really like this new movie of his. I'm not tryin to start an arguement or shit im just sayin.
HaHaHaHaHa your kidding right? M. Night has 1 good movie (The 6th Sense) that he’s been coasting on for years…
The Sixth Sense: Bruce Willis was a GHOST the WHOLE TIME.
Unbreakable: Bruce Willis was a fucking SUPERHERO the WHOLE TIME
Signs: God IS real. He told Mel Gibsons crumpled wife about the future alien invasion whilst she was dying and instead of just saying ‘THERE’S GOING TO BE A FUCKING ALIEN INVASION’ she left him a bunch of crypt-ed clues about the specific way in which they can destroy the alien that appears at the end of the film. God then gave Mel Gibsons daughter an obsessive compulsive disorder which required her to drink a copious amount of glasses of water then leave them conveniently located around the house without finishing them which just so happened to be THE ONE THING THAT WOULD DESTROY THE ALIENS.
The Villiage: It’s really modern times! They just dress up as werewolves to stop people from leaving, like in Amish/Mormon/Westboro Baptist Church compounds.
Lady In the Water: FAIRY TALES ARE REAL. Also GIANT STICK MONKEYS!
The Happening: IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN KILLER TREES!
420 bro.
Well, here's my assessment of M Night: Sixth Sense-AWESOME, Unbreakable, was cool but could have been better, Signs was really cool but made no sense. Water kills them so they go to a planet that 75% water. Sure, yeah. The Village, I liked it. Not the best, not the worst. I still haven't seen it again in about 5 years though and it's not on my list. After that, Lady in the Water, straight up drivel. That movie sucked! The Happening was ridiculously bad. It wasn't even a good idea. It was seriously laughable. I thought for sure after that he was done, but when I heard he was slated for Airbender, I got real curious and real concerned. Turns out I was right because at best the movie was slightly entertaining, but the story was completely screwed up, botched to hell, bad acting, no humor or charm was present, overall this was one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Not just this year but ever. I'm really afraid this will get a huge box office # this weekend too because of the large loyal following to the show. The review above is truly “spot on”.
I don't think Night is a genius at all – I really like Unbreakable except for a couple of performances but I think he shot all of his talent with that movie.
I want to see this to see if all of these reviews are really accurate or more of a knee-jerk thing.
When a Director makes a movie for their kids it's always SHIT… Don't these people realize their kids will grow up and at some point will be able to enjoy their parents real movies?
Yah so he makes acouple of mediocre movies. I mean if the studios really thought they sucked wouldn't you think they wuldve pulled the movie or sumthin. for instance the happening. I mean he is great at what he does most times and i really enjoy all of his movies because they are just all interesting and different and unique. Watch he will come back. If he can come up with great ideas like Six Sense of unbreakable or signs, (which was my fav movie of his) then he can come up with somethin great. these rescent movies just werent ideas that ppl didn't like. Plus like lets see all of yah make an interesting movie huh?
After this I expect Mr. M. Night Shyama-rama-lama-ding-dong next film will be a 'Dude, where is my car?' remake titled 'Dude, where is my falafel?' It couldn't be worst!
This is the best review I've found because it so perfectly captures my own anger.
And King Bumi! Nowhere is anyone mentioning that King Bumi was X'd! UGGGGH!!! I HATE SHYAMALAN!!!
WHAT
I just… I…
No. You lie. That’s impossible. I’m going to shove my head in a microwave now.
shanalamnomnom said that in a press confrence. however, Suki was on the website an was never in the film..
Bumi doesn’t come in until Book 2 Dumbass
No. Bumi is introduced in the fifth episode of book one ‘The King of Omashu’.I’ll refrain from adding an insult to that.
My fault. He’s not an important figure till book 2.
P.s. The Sokka and Yue “becoming fast friends” KILLED ME – how freakin' untalented of a storyteller do you need to be?! Brian Regan makes jokes about the expression “one thing lead to another” as a lazy rhetorical device. And that SUMS UP THE MOVIE…one thing lead to another…lead to another…lead to another…and then we're all in the Northern Water Kingdom and one thing lead to another…lead to another…
i def agree with you!
Here you go, friend. Other reviews from “professional” writers – tell me if you find ONE good point:
Roger Ebert:
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar…
NY Daily News:
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies…
And there are tons more. Sooooo, STFU
The Pronunciations are not worng in the movie but in the cartoon ! I live in asia so I would know Aang is said wrongly in the cartoon . Just so you know
no one cares…. it was pronounced one way for 63 episodes…. that was their name….
thats what im trying to explain to everyone!!!!
Well since this movie is based from the animated series, and it is an American animated television series, the movie should be matching the series. NOT the Asian way of pronouncing the names.
OMG YOU DUMB!!!!
I agree with a. Consider that the original language for the movie and cartoon is American English. Going out of the way to pronounce something in the “original Asian” style can make dialogue sound awkward. Take someone who grew up learning both Spanish and English. If they say a Spanish word or name mid-sentence (for instance, Puerto Rico), they tend to switch into their Spanish accent and right back into English as soon as the Spanish word/phrase is done. …Maybe it’s just me, but that’s caught me off guard several times… I went off on a tangent, but I hope my point shines through.
fuck you
wtf are you talking about!! its a goddamn american show!! im sure the AMERICAN writers know how to say THEIR creaed name! lol.. m. night is just a dick lol.. lol dont you sound like a dumbass? <- the answer to that is yes
YES! THANK YOU! This show is A.M.E.R.I.C.A.N.! Fuck changing it to suit people who are on the other side of the damn globe. No offense to Asians of course! But this is for US not “THEM”!
Yeah, but a blockbuster like this film, wasn't only direct by M. Night Shyamalan but also the studio. I am not defending M. Night Shyamalan. I am sure he did a horrible work, but also Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon movies.
sorry my english.
my only question is this: WHY ARE YOU ALL SURPRISED!!!! Even M. Knights best movies are like lame ass jokes with crappy twist punch lines that amount to little more than puns that you chuckle once at and then forget forever. this should be the final nail in the coffin of his worthless career. here he had no excuses. none! he had EXCELLENT source material, a budget to work with, and and enormous loyal established fan base. And what does he do? big surprise! he drops trow and squeezes 103min of shit onto the screen per tradition. M.Knight go play in traffic, please i beg you. the only camera he should ever be near again is the one the coroner uses to photograph his worthless corpse after its been stoned by the people he has let down by this spectacular offering of suck
Fine, here are at least 80 more reviews written by “professionals” that say the movie was horribly written, terribly acted, and that watching was similar to sticking knives in there eyes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/last_airbender/…
are you kidding me? this isn't an asian show, it is an american show influenced by asian culture. which doesn't mean that the names have to be pronounced in the authentic asian way. it was created by americans, and the creators of avatar CLEARLY set the pronunciation of the names in over 60 episodes. so how can you tell the michael and bryan that their own, original characters' names aren't correct? shyamalan changed this because of his own selfish reasons, and as a fan, i believe that it ruined the experience even more.
oh, and i'm asian too, so don't even think about playing the asian card.
Not to mention that the names of the water benders derive a bit from Inuit culture and therefore would sound less asian than other names. I just hope this movie goes away. Far far away and never rears its ugly head again. And M Night can go with it. It reminds me of Ang Lee’s Hulk: everyone knows it was made but no one acknowledges its existence.
wow. playing the 'let's see if you can do it better then' card, are we? this movie was such trash it makes me ignore the fact that his other movies even existed. i have never disliked a movie so much.
Yeah im just sayin lets see you do it. Theres a reason he got to to it and no one else. Maybe it wasnt the right direction for him but that doesn’t mean he is talentless or whatever. Its just a few bad movies. Plus i can pretty much name a whole shitload of movies that probobly sucked worse than TLA.
i bet i could make a movie 10 times better than this movie if i ever got the chance. in fact, most anybody could do it beter!
It says a lot about M. Night Shyamalan that he fought to use the correct Asian pronunciations but continues to defend the use of white actors to play those characters.
OKAYY. First of all, we cant blame everything on the director. Shyamalan may of had a hand in casting, MAYBE- but usually they pay someone else to cast the actors. So we can’t blame him for everything. There are editors for the special effects SHYAMALAN DOESNT do them! Think about ALL the other people that are involved, they have jobs, ya know!
At the end of the day, he’s the director, and he should have said or done something if he had a problem. But he didn’t.
the director gets all the crap.
Shyamalan has flat-out said the final casting decisions were his. Read any interview with him that touches on the controversy.
He wrote it, directed it, and produced it… if the movie is bad and he played all of these roles… it was his fault.
In the credits it says of M Night, “Written, Directed, and Produced by…” and that means the burden falls on him to deliver the goods. I’m an amateur director and know how difficult it is to get films made. Trust me, when you take on that many roles YOU are the responsible party. In Hollywood you are only as good as your last movie. Wonder what this says about Shyamalan?
I did see that at the end of the movie, before this, I didn’t…but personally, I thought the movie wasn’t his best work, and it was his weakest. But after seeing the movie it really wasn’t made for adults, it was made for kids. Kids wont critize him the way adults do, which is why he I think ( maybe, maybe not) the reason why he wrote the way he did, because kids can understand it, with their interest still intact.
i Beg to disagree. I have seen kids cried because that was not the kind of story they were expecting it wasn’t the kind of movie they would like to see. i think you need to see the animated series first then you will understand why both kids and adults loved Aang, kitara, sokka, Zukko, Iroh, Toph, momo and appa.
the show is also for kids, moron. and adults LOVE it. the show is far more kid-ish than this movie. the show is humorous and fun loving. the movie is serious and stale. do you watch the show? moron. if you dont, then fuck off and stop commenting on something you dont understand. kids hated this movie as much as adults, besides the ones too young to understand why this movie was absolutely NOTHING like the original story
no stupid, if you did some research you would find m.night saying that HE chose all the cast members. he even goes in to detail about why he chose each of them. which only shows more how incompetent he is. and tasha, do you know ANYTHING about movies? it is the director who chooses what is to be done with special effects. someone else might actually create them, but he tells them exactly what to do! god you are stupid. havent you noticed that movies by certain directors all have the same feel to them? idiot. for example, Tim Burton. he has his own style with his special effects, and all his movies show it. omg i cant believe how stupid you are. the goddamn director is in charge! especially when they also write AND produce the movie as m.night did with this film. he chose the cast, wrote the script, produced the effects, directed the terrible acting, and DESTROYED this movie that has so much potential if it was only directed by someone else, ANYONE else
OKAYY. First of all, we cant blame everything on the director. Shyamalan may of had a hand in casting, MAYBE- but usually they pay someone else to cast the actors. So we can’t blame him for everything. There are editors for the special effects SHYAMALAN DOESNT do them! Think about ALL the other people that are involved, they have jobs, ya know!
They changed a lot of the names to the 'authentic' Asian roots, as Dawning says above. Apparently 'it's a fantasy world' only applies when you're explaining why a boy in Tibetan clothing named Aang is white.
The fire of your anger warms my little black heart. Nice work.
What a disappointment this movie's been, start to finish.
They also apparently kept some other pronunciations, like Yue.
I really wanted this movie to be great and am disappointed to hear how badly it's doing. Not sure on the race issue, I think I'll have to see it myself before I judge, but from the looks things and what other people are saying, this review seems quite reasonable.
And you sir/mam with your bad grammar and the intelligence of a tween airhead are the last person anyone should listen to on how to be professional and mature. If there is nothing good to say about something then why should they? Their job is to report their honest opinion. The last thing a PROFESSIONAL reviewer would do is make things up so idiots like you will feel better.
Your in denial. I was the same way after watching Star Wars Episode 1! I guess ALL the reviewers are wrong, and your right? See a psychiatrist.
And Shyamalan has done it again! I think he can go home now.
The fact that a few of his films were good doesn't change the fact that his most recent endeavors have been pretty universally terrible. Signs, The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, they may all have been awesome. Doesn't matter. This film is still a racist, poorly-written, poorly-directed, poorly-acted, blurry trainwreck, and treating it as anything else is stupid.
I was just curious, how was it racist? I didn’t see it. I really am not trying to be rude, just wondering how ppl saw it as racist. Thank you
It’s racist because the actors should be Asian but they are not.