Were you a fan of the show? I'm curious as to how much bad characterization is them expecting the audience to know the characters.
The Last Airbender - New Trailer!
- Thread starter Shaw Coyote
- Start date
- Status
hmmm, I don't put much stock in film reviews as a rule. If I want to see something, I'll see it. But my desire to see a film can be affected by the general vibe surrounding it. In this case it seems the the vibe is so universally negative that it is draining my desire to see this film. The fact that the negativity goes beyond people disagreeing with the direction he took the story. I didn't care as much about the whole 'he didn't cast enough asians' complaint, not so much because I didn't agree with it per se, but because I willing to give his vision of the film a chance. Well it sounds like his vision didn't work out so well.
It's really quite a shame, as this could very well have been Shyamalan's last real chance to revitalize his career. It's also a shame as this likely kills The Last Airbender as a film franchise. Ah well, I've got Season 1 on DVD so I'll likely continue my way through that this weekend. I suppose if my friends still want to see this I'll go if nothing else out of morbid curiosity.
It's really quite a shame, as this could very well have been Shyamalan's last real chance to revitalize his career. It's also a shame as this likely kills The Last Airbender as a film franchise. Ah well, I've got Season 1 on DVD so I'll likely continue my way through that this weekend. I suppose if my friends still want to see this I'll go if nothing else out of morbid curiosity.
S
Soliloquy
Were you a fan of the show? I'm curious as to how much bad characterization is them expecting the audience to know the characters.[/QUOTE]
I think that's true to a point... I've only watched one or two episodes of the show. But I feel like the only reason I was even able to follow the movie was because I already knew something about the characters.
Sol's review makes it sound like M Night just had no idea what to do with this, as in, it was direction out of his depth. He's not used to having lots of people in the background, for example, so he didn't think of making the idea of a big battle convincing much of an issue.
And everything I read makes it sound like they turned everyone's powers into just different colored energy, as opposed to treating them like actual elements with creative uses. It's just Dragonball Z at that point.
And everything I read makes it sound like they turned everyone's powers into just different colored energy, as opposed to treating them like actual elements with creative uses. It's just Dragonball Z at that point.
helpful hint: the "vibe" about a movie comes from film critics[/QUOTE]
I think the trailers have been helping for a while now though.
Not having seen much of the show, beyond a couple of episodes, I can safely say that from a non-Avatar fan's point of view that it was a huge, unadulterated sack of liquefied AIDS virus'.
One of the worst God damn movies I have ever seen and deserving of every negative review it got. A friend of mine, however, who is also not a fan thought it was pleasant enough. She also has the worst fucking taste in movies in the history of the world actually making such claims as, "Gamer wasn't a bad movie, it had really unique and terrific cinematography." so take that shit with a grain of shit.
One of the worst God damn movies I have ever seen and deserving of every negative review it got. A friend of mine, however, who is also not a fan thought it was pleasant enough. She also has the worst fucking taste in movies in the history of the world actually making such claims as, "Gamer wasn't a bad movie, it had really unique and terrific cinematography." so take that shit with a grain of shit.
Gamer was a fun movie, wasn't a great movie by any stretch but it had the redeeming quality of having Milo Ventimiglia's character getting foricbly bent over Gerard Butler's knee. I don't care what the character's name was in the movie it was acceptible because Peter Petrelli got owned in that movie.
I
Iaculus
Internet quote of the day:
Gamer was a fun movie, wasn't a great movie by any stretch but it had the redeeming quality of having Milo Ventimiglia's character getting foricbly bent over Gerard Butler's knee. I don't care what the character's name was in the movie it was acceptible because Peter Petrelli got owned in that movie.
[/QUOTE]Gamer was hilarious. But that doesn't stop it from being one of the most insane pieces of garbage ever put to film. The point is, she defends it as a "good" movie.
Gamer is actually really good in most of the ways a movie can be good.
helpful hint: the "vibe" about a movie comes from film critics[/QUOTE]Not necessarily, the "vibe" can come from a place like this as well. Unless you're saying that everyone's opinion here is based solely on what is written by film critics, which I kind of doubt.
Now I did end up seeing this film last night with some friends, and I have to say that while it wasn't as good a film as it could have been I don't think it deserves nearly as much of the hate that has been spewed at it. It probably could have used another 15-20 minutes to flesh out the story, it was a bit "jumpy" at times particularly in the beginning.
If you're at all curious about the film, I would go see it and form your own opinion. Now I recognize that if you see it and end up hating it you may never trust my film advice again. But then again that's probably for the best...
(stealth edit)I should add though, do not bother with the 3D. The film was not shot for 3D at all so there was no real 'depth' for the 3D to take advantage of. So I would save your money and just watch the film 'as it was intended' (so to speak).
---------- Post added at 02:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:37 PM ----------
That's probably not unfair, although I think the action/martial arts director/coordinator probably has as much to do with that as anything. But now that you bring that up, I did notice a number of scenes where the camera was really tight on the actors' faces, so that may well be M. Night's "comfort zone", so to speak.
I have to say I didn't really see this at all. I thought that they utilized the elements themselves well enough.
S
Soliloquy
I get the feeling that fans of the show will be more willing to overlook the film's thousand-and-one flaws, since as far as I can tell from what little I know, the story stays true to the series.
But if you don't already know exactly what's going on, you're going to hate it. To death.
---------- Post added at 08:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:32 PM ----------
Since Shyamalan decided to make it so the firebenders need a source of flame to be able to use their powers, Zuko sets fire to some of the grass around the pond.
Man... if only there were some sort of thing in the pond that could be used to extinguish these fires. Some sort of... wet thing that Katara could somehow control and try to put the fire out.
But since no such, wet, extinguishing thing exists as far as I know, Katara just uses the pond's water to try to blast Zuko, and to defend herself from Zuko's fire blasts.
But if you don't already know exactly what's going on, you're going to hate it. To death.
---------- Post added at 08:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:32 PM ----------
Well, let's take the example of the fight between Zuko and Katara around the holy... pond... thing.
Since Shyamalan decided to make it so the firebenders need a source of flame to be able to use their powers, Zuko sets fire to some of the grass around the pond.
Man... if only there were some sort of thing in the pond that could be used to extinguish these fires. Some sort of... wet thing that Katara could somehow control and try to put the fire out.
But since no such, wet, extinguishing thing exists as far as I know, Katara just uses the pond's water to try to blast Zuko, and to defend herself from Zuko's fire blasts.
S
Soliloquy
No, it has nothing to do with a post-apocalyptic future. Though the film does such a bad job explaining itself, it doesn't surprise me that someone thinks that.
Well the ones that aren't up in arms because they didn't cast enough Asians in the lead roles.
So while she's trying to move enough water up to his location to his location to make sure she extinguishes all the flames, Zuko is supposed to be sporting or something and not try and burn her face off? Zuko had the drop on her and the high ground (make your own Obi-wan/Annakin reference here...) so it was pretty much all she could do to defend herself and Aang.
---------- Post added at 05:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:11 PM ----------
In the film it seems that only the really powerful fire-benders can generate their own fire.
There's no suggestion or hint of that being the case. I suspect that's a case of Ebert having a bit too vivid imagination of his own.
S
Soliloquy
Well, I guess what I'm getting at is that the fighting strategies never seem to take advantage of the elements' specific properties, save for about... twice that I can think of.
I mean, yeah, Katara probably wouldn't have succeeded, but she could have at least tried something other than the same blast/defend with a wall strategy everyone uses in every fight throughout the entire movie.
Three years until the comet?
Well, I'm glad they ditched that sense of urgency.[/QUOTE]
It makes sense in a movie-making perspective, because the Harry Potter Effect will have definitely taken hold by the third book's film.
Also, in the movie, just about everyone's name is mispronounced. Why? They have PLENTY of source material to work from!
But in Harry Potter, we see the course of a year take place within the film, and all we miss is the summer break.
So spacing it out like that really makes no sense for Airbender. Not to mention, they did it by a few months in the show, and that took place across three years.
And I have to wonder if this is even going to get a sequel. I have a feeling that its own terribleness and the release of Eclipse will have crushed it for this weekend.
So spacing it out like that really makes no sense for Airbender. Not to mention, they did it by a few months in the show, and that took place across three years.
And I have to wonder if this is even going to get a sequel. I have a feeling that its own terribleness and the release of Eclipse will have crushed it for this weekend.
Technically the movie is actually using the proper pronunciations of these asian-inspired names. The TV series actually 'americanizes' the pronunciation.
That's just for the opening day. Estimated figures for the weekend box office won't be available until late Sunday with final figures appearing on Monday.
So you're saying she should have done something that wouldn't have succeeded rather than something that would work? Zuko had the advantage on her and he had the sense to set fire to the grass so he would have had more than one source of flame. So he basically took into account that strategy and countered it.
I guess I see what you saying in general, but I still disagree with the characterization that it's just 'different colored lights'.
Fail.
I think we have another Golden Compass on our hands.[/QUOTE]
Given how horrible the buzz is on this movie, I can't expect it to have any legs whatsoever. With that being said, I don't think we can really call it over until we see the numbers through Monday. Remember, this $16 million figure is a single day total for a non-Friday opening number.
Also, here's a somewhat spoilery breakdown on what got left out of the movie, as well as a few comments on how the movie erred in general: What the Last Airbender TV series has that the movie doesn't
days in release: 1
Fail.
I think we have another Golden Compass on our hands.[/QUOTE]
Given how horrible the buzz is on this movie, I can't expect it to have any legs whatsoever. With that being said, I don't think we can really call it over until we see the numbers through Monday. Remember, this $16 million figure is a single day total for a non-Friday opening number.
Also, here's a somewhat spoilery breakdown on what got left out of the movie, as well as a few comments on how the movie erred in general: What the Last Airbender TV series has that the movie doesn't[/QUOTE]
I think some of that, such as the Yue complaints, illustrated how things should've just been cut rather than trying to stick with them at all. If you're just going to say "Sokka was in love with Yue" and then they are, there's no emotional resonance with anything going on with her. So the relationship itself should have been cut from the film.
I'm sure one could run through the whole film noting the stupid decisions, what could've been cut, should've been put in, but it sounds like the adaptation process was only one of the many bungled parts of doing this.
Technically the movie is actually using the proper pronunciations of these asian-inspired names. The TV series actually 'americanizes' the pronunciation.[/QUOTE]
...So?
The movie is BASED on that show.
I just saw it.
Why, Shyamalan? Why?
Why, Shyamalan? Why?
I think you misunderstand. I'm pretty sure what he means is that the kids are going to age, regardless. If they said it was coming in three months and it takes 3-4 years to make all 3 movies, the kids are not going to be kids anymore. Fuck, Sokka is already barely a "kid".
- Status