I am admittedly a huge fan of M. Night Shyamalan's films. I love The Sixth Sense, Signs, and I consider Unbreakable to be one of my all time favorite films and a near masterpiece of emotional character driven drama found in what is essentially a superhero film. Heck, I even really liked Lady in the Water, a film that has moments of brilliance even with its many faults. However, I really hated The Happening and thought it was a major letdown in a million and one different ways. This is a director that makes technically amazing films, while drawing out performances from actors that are just top notch. Surprisingly, neither of those attributes were anywhere to found in The Happening. No matter how bad that film is though, it didn't take away all of my faith in Shyamalan as a director who's work I will always look forward to.
When I first heard Shyamalan was directing the live action version of the Nickelodeon animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender I was curious as to what the show was all about. I watched tiny bits and pieces of the show (probably less than an episode all together) a few times, trying to get an idea of what I was to look forward to in the next Shyamalan film, hoping the subject matter would be of interest to me. I got that the gist of the show had something to do with mythical Asian culture and it had Martial Arts in it, that's about all. To honest with you, Martial Arts was enough for me to get somewhat excited about this live action film, but I wondered how much Martial Arts would be in the movie. With the recently released teaser trailer for The Last Airbender, I think I got my answer to the action question and a whole bunch of others too.This is a great teaser trailer with how simple and to the point it is in the setup and execution. Just the youthful character, Aang (as played by new comer Noah Ringer) doing nicely shoot, beautiful looking Martial Arts practice moves, and also rocking out with a bow staff like a mo-fo for the bulk of this lengthy teaser. Only until almost the very end of its run time do you get a hint of the epic-ness to come, and boy…it looks just unbelievable. I am really looking to see Shyamalan show of his directing skills in a way he has not been asked to before with the action elements this film would entail. I think he is going to knock this one outta the park after seeing this teaser and I almost have forgotten about The Happening. Damn. I remembered.
Here, watch the trailer for yourself; I put it right down there for you…
Right?! Shit is off the meat hook son!
I'll give you a quick IMDB synopsis of the film…"The story follows the adventures of Aang, a ten year old successor to a long line of Avatars, who must put his childhood ways aside and stop the Fire Nation from enslaving the Water, Earth and Air nations." Sounds good to me and I am happy to have figured out what an Airbender is. The Last Airbender is set to be released July 2, 2010, which is a long time form now, but I'm sure there will be plenty of hype building up as that time draws near. I now cannot wait for that day and in the meantime, I will being doing horse stance up until the movie is released.
6 comments:
I was a bit skeptical when I heard M. Night's next project was The Last Airbender, knowing little about the actual show. But that trailer reignites my interest. And I love the classic Shyamalan one-shot, slow movement camera work.
Signs/The Village/Unbreakable: Some of the best movies of the last decade. But I'm biased. I love his style.
And The Happening? Funniest film of '08! My girl and I were laughing outloud in the theatre almost the whole time. Wow. Just--wow.
A few quick thoughts...
You are right, this is a super tight little trailer. But Shyamalan could easily screw this up.
I was a huge fan of his films. I enjoyed "The Village" when people were talking shit. I gave "Lady in the Water" the benefit of the doubt and I agree with you on it's few strong points. It had some bright, sparkly moments hidden in a messy flick. I still haven't seen "The Happening" for fear of being totally and irreversibly damaged.
Back to this film though...
I am not a huge martial arts fan. I could really take it or leave it. We shall see how this unravels.
Great post though!
There's actually a lot of risk in this project for Shyamalan since, as opposed to The Happening (which, for most people, simply vanished like a fart in the wind), Avatar:The Last Airbender has a rather devoted fan following that will rage against a bad interpretation.
I haven't seen the show myself, but Christine is right that this could still easily turn out like the recent DRAGON BALL film. I love martial arts films, but we haven't exactly seen Shymalan tackle epic action.. so it's still an unknown quantity to some extent.
I'll be happy as long as he can keep his ego in check long enough to keep his own face out of the movie.
MaybeIndecisive and Christine: Awww! I can't believe I forgot about The Village!?! I loved The Village too and even though I always wondered what the film would have been like *SPOILER!!!!* if the creatures were real...I still love where the film went. Brilliant acting and unbelievably shot, the use of the color red is some of cinemas finest since Brother Hood of the Wolf.
My girlfriend shares the same love for Shyamalan's films as I do and I think we both felt like we were slapped in the face by The Happening. She almost lost all faith in Shyamalan as a director from that film, but I think The Last Airbender trailer has got her a little amped up about him again too. I haven't seen it since the theaters though, and would still like to watch it again to see how my reaction would be now without my own personal hype. I might even enjoy it as a bad film...
But for Christine, I would suggest you pass on The Happening...unless you have such low expectations that you don't find as much to hate about it. Either way, it is a terrible film and one of the few that I was able to think up problems with the film days after watching it.
Doug: You are very right about The Last Airbender having a tough road ahead when concerning the TV shows fans. He is a director that comes with a lot of baggage, to a property that has fans probably as obnoxious as fans of the horror genre. Shit, film fans in general are mostly obnoxious...my self included!
I do hope the film doesn't turn out like the Dragon Ball sack film did. But it was pretty clear form the Dragon Ball Z trailer that it would be awful. The teaser for The Last Airbernder however is very cool looking and also a good early sign that it might be something special. You could also chalk that up to wishful thinking too.
I think knowing that Shyamalan hasn't done any real epic action fair before, is what makes me even more excited about the film. I want to see him do something out of his comfort zone and I think he can excel in this task. At least his ego is slightly held at bay by him not being the writer and/or creator of the characters and story. Gives him more time to focus on the film making aspects.
Nice trailer but Shyamalan really has to bust his ass to scrape the shit off his reputation. As a fan of everything up through Lady in the Water, I hope he does it.
Yeah, I hope so too. His rep isn't getting better with each passing movie and neither is the lack of box office receipts. It doesn't help him any that he is as eccentric as he is. Hot Dogs!!!
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