Night Shyamalan Responds to 'Last Airbender' Reviews

Money's a great deodorant, so we'll see how this weekend plays out for M. Night Shyamalan, whose career, once the envy of just about every filmmaker in Hollywood, has taken critical drubbing after critical drubbing since The Village in 2004, and it seems that The Last Airbender has taken the sharpest criticism yet. Proudly wearing an 8% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes with a whopping nine positive reviews culled from around the country, Airbender nonetheless made decent money on Thursday and may go $50 million or a bit more for the six-day weekend. But it has a long way to go to make real money. When asked by Vulture if he had a reaction to all the negative press, Shyamalan defended his work in really the only way he can. "I don't know what to say to that stuff. I bring as much integrity to the table as humanly possible," he said. "It must be a language thing, in terms of a particular accent, a storytelling accent. I can only see it this certain way and I don't know how to think in another language." That makes a certain sense, although it doesn't explain how he made such good movies earlier in his career and what's gone wrong since. "I think these are exactly the visions that are in my head, so I don't know how to adjust it without being me," Night went on. "It would be like asking a painter to change to a completely different style. I don't know." Shyamalan also mentioned that he's written a draft for a second of what would be three Airbender movies, if all goes well. And the next three or four days will go a long way toward determining that.

Comments

[RP]

I was very pleased with the Last Airbender... and if Shyamalan does sequals...I will go and see them as well.

[Josh]

I wonder if it has something to do with Bruce Willis and Mel Gibson making his first few movies that good... is it possible a great cast can carry a movie through iffy writing and directing?

[chad]

i think he needs input so when he writes and directs and produces he doesnt have people to liven it up because hes such a cerebral person

[Honz Brix]

Josh - I would have to say that having Bruce Willis and Mel Gibson didn't hurt but, don't forget Lady in the Water had Paul Giamatti and The Village had Jaquin Phoenix. The happening had Zooey Deschannel and John Leguizamo. I think Nights first 3 movies were just so well written it wouldn't have mattered who was cast. I actually like all Nights movies except Lady in the Water. The Village kind of grew on me the more i thought about it and watched it a 2nd time. Its actually a brilliant story in my mind. I think he just set the bar so high with The 6th Sense and Signs its tough to equal that. I know 2 people that saw Airbender and they both liked it except the 3D effects weren't worth the extra money they said. I have never watched the show so i will be going Monday with a fresh open mind and i'm looking forward to it. I will be going in an M. Night fan and i think i will be leaving a fan. Hopefully it will make it 5 out of 6 movies from Night that i enjoy

[J.Bradley]

For me the first clue on "Airbender" is when you see "Nickleodeon" at the beginning. This is a kids movie and if you don't get it after just a few seconds of dialogue, you just don't get it. Now could he have done some things to grow it up for everybody? Sure. But I think in his mind, he just saw it as being for kids and so there it is. I also wonder too, with the success of similarly folklore-heroic "Red Cliff" in Asia, the producers thought they could ultimately do no wrong, and if American audiences didn't go for it, Asia would, so they didn't try to make the story any more accessible or relevant. The "3D conversion" experiment continues with this movie and I'm beginning to think editing, is the big enemy of the format. The hyper, smash-cutting of the last ADD decade or two gives no time to adjust to an image and get a sense of dimension. Perhaps as more directors take on the format, they'll look more at what gives an INTENDED 3D movie a sense of depth and dimension just the way an IMAX movie delivers a sense of immersion. The mythological/philosophical Asian milieu made for an interesting fantasy-adventure story but little else was very immersive.

[jmon]

you've heard the reviews by now. they still haven't found 10 critics that like this movie. in exit interviews, people were really angry that they'd wasted their money, adults and kids alike.

[The Observer]

Let's face it, the wasn't the faceless haphazzard that was The Happening. And, it certainly wasn't the greatness of 6th, Unbreakable, & Signs - but somewhere, in here, and many times throughout, I saw moments of Night's old school talent.

The acting was a bit on the cheese side at times, but overall, there was 'epicness' written all over it. The effects were top notch and the overall buddhist undertone was a great reminder of exactly how much substance this movie had. It's a subtle substance, but nevertheless, a fantastic and fascinating one for him (Night) to try and tackle. I thought this was 10x more watchable than Eclipse..20x more watchable than the last 3 star wars films put together, and a great escape into fantasy. I didn't mind the 'pronuciation of names' aspects that everyone is clammoring about, nor did I even pay attention to the "racial" aspects - nor did I care. I just wanted an entertaining film. And that's what it is..

This is a very unique film - not the best, not the worst. But i'm glad that M. Night will make his comeback from this. And, hopefully, for his next film, he can seal some a list actors (hint hint Bruce Willis, Gwenyth, etc)

Read more: http://www.firstshowing.net/2010/07/02/review-the-last-airbender-is-a-bland-over-directed-mess/#ixzz0sjZAHUbB

[Sean]

The few people that enjoyed this movie I just don't understand how they could if they are good critics they should have hated it and the people that like it, if they knew the cartoon then they should have also hated it. If they didn't know the cartoon well then it may be more tolerable but still should have hated it. It's simply incomprehensible that a single person could have liked this film due to it lacking in every possible way.