The Last Airbender

[Ronin4hire]

Havent seen the movie but Ive been reading up on the net. Unfortunately its bad reviews all around.

Its disappointing because there was potential here... despite Shyamalan f*cking up the casting with the whole racial controversy in which I thought there was one as well as a lack of martial arts expertise.

Anyone seen it yet? What are your opinions?

[willgoestocollege]

The Sixth Sense is probably the only movie I like from him.

[PockyMePink]

I've seen it.

Horribly fast pacing, no development of ANYTHING, bad acting from the main characters, and overall by the end of the movie you don't really give two sh*ts about anything.

It was really dreadful to watch. There were a few interesting moments, but nothing more than that. I went into the theater with an open mind and was still disappointed!

What hurt it the worst was, again, that you don't care about anything. You don't care that the world is under attack, or that Aang is important. You don't care if people are dying. You don't care about the spirits, even when one is being stabbed to death. There's a lack of connection between everyone on screen, and we're left in a loop.

Not to mention doing a three minute dance to do the smallest bending is very silly to watch.

Just my opinion on it.

[mrpawn]

yea m night shyamalan's movies have gotten worse and worse since signs and the sixth sense. i was hoping he wouldn't ruin avatar but it appears as if he did. I'm still going to see it (die hard avatar fan) but still. Why couldn't they get a director who doesn't specialize in twists?

And the whole race thing is completely stupid. "well the good guys are white, so that means THEY'RE RACIST!!!" its so dumb! who cares. He just made every tribe the same colors, like it should be. I think he should have made the air tribe white, and the water inuits like in the cartoon, but i guess that was shyamalan's "twist".

oh and isn't an anime styled cartoon supposed to not look like any specific race anyway?

[Jaydelart]

Many of Shyamalan's movies have an acquired taste, so when I hear bad reviews, I can only assume so much. With me, he's had an almost perfect record for good movies; I'm hoping this won't be his first mistake, which is indicated by a lot of people. I still have to see the movie.

I usually dislike rushed storylines, where the director's fail to connect you to the characters... before they die. And then there's that attempt to salvage the scene by adding dramatic music.
... Kind of like Transformers.

I'm hoping that's not the case here.
Though, I kind of trust Pocky's words.

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by mrpawn

And the whole race thing is completely stupid. "well the good guys are white, so that means THEY'RE RACIST!!!" its so dumb! who cares. He just made every tribe the same colors, like it should be. I think he should have made the air tribe white, and the water inuits like in the cartoon, but i guess that was shyamalan's "twist".

oh and isn't an anime styled cartoon supposed to not look like any specific race anyway?

I appreciate it seems like an overblown reaction to what is basically a kid's film, but the controversy over the casting isn't 'completely stupid'. M. Shymalan took three ethnic minority heros and made them all Caucasian. It may be an anime, and facially they may not look like 'any specific race' but the characters still have strong associations in culture and clothing with certain races and those races aren't even remotely Caucasian. The fact that he made every other background character non-Caucasian is irrelevant; they're not the crux of the story, nor the overt heros. It's an especially poor thing to do when the whole of the story is about inter-ethnic group war and peace. And people really do care. In the anime, for once it's their face saving the world, but when the series finally gets some recognition, bam! that's taken away and given to Caucasians. Again. And right on the heels of the other Avatar controversy, and the Prince of Persia controversy. It's the third kick, and although it seems a relatively small thing, it's all part of something much bigger.

He might have got away with it if he'd cast one of the four main characters as Caucasion on a merit basis, but he cast all four (an even more glaring error compared to his deliberate choice of background cast) and then only by chance was Dev Patel cast as Zuko.

I don't know; to me M. Shymalan had the perfect chance to make a great film for kids with a minority hero, in contrast to all those hundreds of other films with caucasian heros, which would have then fitted with the original, very popular story, and might have actually gone beyond the mould. Now it's probably just going to flop.

For the record though, I don't think it was meant maliciously, like some people think; it was probably a case of standard hollywood pressure and the dim idea that white cast=money made at box office. Thoughtlessness, really.

Anyway I'm going to wait till it's out of box office before I see it; I'm not so fussed about seeing it soon or in 3D. By all accounts it's kind of blah story-wise, and it's not even aimed at my age-group so I probably will find it lacking.

[edelweiss]

From the explanations given by the director, he says it was not a conscientious choice to cast Caucasian actors in the lead roles. He says met the kid who got the role of Aang and he knew he was The One. Same with casting the other kids. He says the images of the characters were vague and that they could be of any race. He also says he could not have made a "racist" casting choice because he is not Caucasian.

I find it hard to believe that not a single person on his staff and crew pointed out the risk he was taking in not using the obvious cultural clues from the series and casting Asian and Inuit actors.

Rotten Tomatoes has given this film an 8% score, reviewers are comparing it's dreadfulness to Battlefield Earth. What a mess. As much as I likes the animated series, not a chance I'm going to see this film.

Really too bad, I liked both The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable.

[mrpawn]

Originally Posted by Columbine

I appreciate it seems like an overblown reaction to what is basically a kid's film, but the controversy over the casting isn't 'completely stupid'. M. Shymalan took three ethnic minority heros and made them all Caucasian. It may be an anime, and facially they may not look like 'any specific race' but the characters still have strong associations in culture and clothing with certain races and those races aren't even remotely Caucasian. The fact that he made every other background character non-Caucasian is irrelevant; they're not the crux of the story, nor the overt heros. It's an especially poor thing to do when the whole of the story is about inter-ethnic group war and peace. And people really do care. In the anime, for once it's their face saving the world, but when the series finally gets some recognition, bam! that's taken away and given to Caucasians. Again. And right on the heels of the other Avatar controversy, and the Prince of Persia controversy. It's the third kick, and although it seems a relatively small thing, it's all part of something much bigger.

He might have got away with it if he'd cast one of the four main characters as Caucasion on a merit basis, but he cast all four (an even more glaring error compared to his deliberate choice of background cast) and then only by chance was Dev Patel cast as Zuko.

I don't know; to me M. Shymalan had the perfect chance to make a great film for kids with a minority hero, in contrast to all those hundreds of other films with caucasian heros, which would have then fitted with the original, very popular story, and might have actually gone beyond the mould. Now it's probably just going to flop.

For the record though, I don't think it was meant maliciously, like some people think; it was probably a case of standard hollywood pressure and the dim idea that white cast=money made at box office. Thoughtlessness, really.

Anyway I'm going to wait till it's out of box office before I see it; I'm not so fussed about seeing it soon or in 3D. By all accounts it's kind of blah story-wise, and it's not even aimed at my age-group so I probably will find it lacking.

yea i'd have to agree with you for the most part. M Night was probably going for the different race thing like in the animated series, but since the animated series deals mostly with different races within the asian people, he probably thought to relate it to the world, but went in the wrong way. The main problem being him not thinking of the air nation and water nation being different nations, or it not mattering. Instead he made the water tribe white and aang white. he probably was being pressured into stronger diversification so he hired a famous person of another ethnicity: Dev Patel. So then he cast him as prince zuko and made the fire nation dark skinned and it all went down hill.

As for M Night Shyamalan saying he's not racist because he's indian, I think thats crap. anyone can be racist. not just whites. thats completely insane. you dont get a get out of jail free card just for being darker skinned.

My main reason for being angry at the whole racism thing is that its only racist if you think it is now. Its not like he's paying dev patel less, or the white actors more. He picked his cast originally based on their acting abilities. chances are he didnt mean anything against any races. people. its only racist of you make it out to be.

[PockyMePink]

Originally Posted by mrpawn

yea i'd have to agree with you for the most part. M Night was probably going for the different race thing like in the animated series, but since the animated series deals mostly with different races within the asian people, he probably thought to relate it to the world, but went in the wrong way. The main problem being him not thinking of the air nation and water nation being different nations, or it not mattering. Instead he made the water tribe white and aang white. he probably was being pressured into stronger diversification so he hired a famous person of another ethnicity: Dev Patel. So then he cast him as prince zuko and made the fire nation dark skinned and it all went down hill.

As for M Night Shyamalan saying he's not racist because he's indian, I think thats crap. anyone can be racist. not just whites. thats completely insane. you dont get a get out of jail free card just for being darker skinned.

My main reason for being angry at the whole racism thing is that its only racist if you think it is now. Its not like he's paying dev patel less, or the white actors more. He picked his cast originally based on their acting abilities. chances are he didnt mean anything against any races. people. its only racist of you make it out to be.

They're not fully white is the difference between the water and air nations. Water is a mix of inuit, russian, and white (russian and white comming from the Northern Water Tribe, which is where Katara, Sokka, and Gran Gran come from), and air is a mix of many half-white races. The reason for air being so mixed is, first off, because Noah himself looks like a mix of races, plus if you put it into the perspective of Avatar kids from all over the world are being brought to the temples to become monks. Since they come from all over the world, there's bound to be some kind of mix in them.

The people who think it's racist, their words wore off after a while. But now, the same people are saying "I'M GLAD THERE WERE NO ASIANS BECUASE THIS MOVIE SUCKED! I'D HATE FOR AN ASIAN TO BE IN SUCH A HORRIBLE MOVIE! YOU SPARED THEM NIGHT! HAHAHA!" They just sound butt-hurt imo.

[Ronin4hire]

Originally Posted by PockyMePink

They're not fully white is the difference between the water and air nations. Water is a mix of inuit, russian, and white (russian and white comming from the Northern Water Tribe, which is where Katara, Sokka, and Gran Gran come from), and air is a mix of many half-white races. The reason for air being so mixed is, first off, because Noah himself looks like a mix of races, plus if you put it into the perspective of Avatar kids from all over the world are being brought to the temples to become monks. Since they come from all over the world, there's bound to be some kind of mix in them.

Are you talking about the movie?

The anime is almost entirely influenced by East Asian culture. And the majority of that is Chinese. Only the Inuit looking, Southern water tribe is the exception.

It sounds like Shyamalan re-imagined the world which I suppose takes care of the racial controversy but then a whole other controversy arises.

First of all to fans it is blasphemy. I mean how would Batman fans feel if Gotham city resembled Miami rather than New York in the next Batman movie. Perhaps an exaggerated analogy but you see my point I hope.

Second of all it raises the question... why?

Finally, if Shyamalan hadnt reimagined the world or toned down the Asian influence present in the cartoon, the racial controversy would still be a valid concern I think. To show you how I would like to ask you the question.

If the main characters of Lord of the Rings were a mix of Africans or Asians... would that effect your experience of it in any way?

To me it would. A world based on European folklore with Africans or Asians running about the place would make the world unbelievable.

That doesnt make me racist.. It makes me closed minded sure... But I dont mind being closed minded when it comes to my imagining of how a people should look in a particular type of imagined world.