Fans react to The Last Airbender, M. Night Shyamalan reacts to negative reviews

by Liam on July 3, 2010 · 43 comments

airbender still 3 We know the critics aren’t too fond of M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender as it is currently the worst reviewed movie of 2010. But what about the fans? Surely those guys and girls who attended early screenings dressed up as characters from the movie found something they liked about it?

Well…not really. From Reelz Channel (via Rejects):

When a grown male suggests they should have seen The Twilight Saga: Eclipse instead you know you have failure on your hands…

…speaking of which The Vulture spoke with director M. Night Shyamalan by phone and were pretty blunt when asking him about the negative reviews his film has received:

Have you read the reviews for Last Airbender?
No, I haven’t.

Well, are you aware of the reviews?
No, actually.

Well, for the most part, critics have not been kind. Are you just ignoring them? Will you read them this weekend? Have you just not had time?
Are you saying that in general they didn’t dig it?

In general, no. Roger Ebert, who liked The Happening, did not. The first line of his review is, “The Last Airbender is an agonizing experience in every category that I can think of and others still waiting to be invented.” How do you react to something like that?
I don’t know what to say to that stuff. I bring as much integrity to the table as humanly possible. 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. I think these are exactly the visions that are in my head, so I don’t know how to adjust it without being me. It would be like asking a painter to change to a completely different style. I don’t know.

Fans and critics now have something to blame; his storytelling accent. Whatever that is.

M. Night also said that he has finished the first draft of the sequel and will know over the next few months whether he can take it further. I have a feeling he won’t.

Have you seen The Last Airbender yet? Is it as bad as everyone is saying, or did you find yourself enjoying it?

  • Armeetapus16

    the environment and setting is perfect but the dialogue is the worst written thing I've ever heard, and the flow of the movie is non existent as well as character esablishment

  • Rectg

    i saw it opening night….it was a major let down. some cool visuals, but terrible dialogue, weak plot, bad acting, not enough action…seriously not worth going to

  • 00Sleven

    I am a huge fan of the show, but this film was so insulting and offensive to me that I could not endure to finish it, and I walked out half way through.

  • Andyd

    i have to wait another month to see this (i still will, i love crappy films)

    but i think either leave it a few years and re-make this without M. Night, and with the original creators writing it or have M Night directing the second one only and he has no say in the script

    i want this film and source material to work soo much

  • wishitwasbetter

    There was about 15 seconds of awesome movie…the scene Aang is fighting the fire nation with water bending…speaking about Aang…what was with the way M. Night changed the pronunciation of Aang's name, Sokka's name, Iroh's name, as well as AVATAR!

  • LikestobeRandom

    Oh no he did NOT say that.
    He did NOT just use the “It's my /style/ that I did it in that they didn't like.”
    That is the. Worst. Excuse. Anyone could ever possibly use. Dude, just admit that you butchered it. So it's in a different “style.” That doesn't mean that we can't see with our own two eyes that it's a bad movie, regardless of style.

  • can never unsee this

    The most developed character was the firelord, the one who doesnt make an appearence in the first book. I cant even get started on the mist pronounciation. It takes 5 mins to bend a stream of water, even then it goes in a direction with no correlation to and of the actual movements. scenes were half assed. sokka, the funny sarcastic one, got as many lines as he did playing the silent jasper from twlight.

    • Kgreg47

      actually, the names were pronounced as they would be in asian. The show is the one who mis-pronounced the names

      • Punchyface

        Lol, the show did not mispronounce the names. It’s just like a name, doesn’t matter how it’s spelled. It’s how you want it to be said, and the show trumps the movie. Just because they are pronounced a certain way in Asian cultures doesn’t mean the show is wrong. Kudos to M. Night knowing how to say names right, sucks that it is the only thing he knew how to do.

  • mskelley

    It was just as bad as everyone says and I will NEVER watch it again. I would like that 2 hours of my life back thank you very much.

  • lucascott

    I saw it and while I thought it a tad long in a few spots and the dialogue rather cheesy in several places, overall as an action film and a summer movie it wasn't horrid. It was pretty much what I expected. Same as when I went and saw Transformers 2. I wasn't expecting Oscar material then either
    then again, I never saw the original so I was viewing it as a 'virgin'. I imagine many of the fans that say it was horrid do know the original material and are reacting to it as an adaption with all the changes (especially in casting) included

  • vfxfan

    Reboot please.

  • https://twitter.com/ColonialBoy1 ColinJ

    Wanker…

  • TLA

    i like it a lot for a summer movie and love its positive message for the young and old viewers. love all the detail put in the movie. i never saw the whole cartoon series too boring to watch all those long pauses and what little to useless dialoge there is in one episode. i saw the first cartoon episode to get an idea of the story and skim the other seasons episodes. the first episode was enough for me to understand the three books of the show. the cartoon show is too slow with needless animation and extra writing that is not needed to get to the point for the whole series. so for me the nickelodeon movie is good it gave me what i needed to know for each character the story and setting up it self for the next movie. this movie is the first book the first wave, rebellion, then second book second movie uniting, and last book last movie peace.

  • TLA

    the last airbender movie is the first movie in any movie that made me feel that i too can be cast and imagine my self being like those characters, any character. this gives hope more people like m. night will make movies for us the general public. hopefully.

  • G_hacco

    Those that are deaf dumb and blind should not go to the movies at all. It was a fun movie. By the way 3D is a joke.

  • http://news.infinitesims.com Dylan

    Oh I must dissagree (but I'm not mad at your opinion) …. I too thought in the begining that this cartoon would be like Dragonball z sort of run a scene for 10 episodes, but I found it fast paced and the dialogue was very good indeed. Infact I could only find one pointless episode in the enitre 3 seasons (The Tales of Ba Sing Se – useless episode)
    I have not seen the movie, and to be honest I am not willing to. I'd like to keep the cartoon series to remind me of how good the story really is. What made the story, which judging by the movies trailer lacked, was Ang's childish behavious in amoungst all the danger, sokka's sarcastic mouth (that made the show for me) and the relaitionship between Zuko and his uncle really moved on in the second season. I honestly can't see a movie scalling all this good stuff down into 2 hours, so that is really why I don't want to watch it. But hopefully people who have never watched the series will be inspired to do so from this film. Fingers crossed.

  • TLA

    watch the movie as a summer movie. the message is sweet the action is fun and have a good time. the end of the movie has me excited for the sequels. hopefully.

  • Ma197868

    And the award for worst movie ever is “The Last Airbender” M. Night should not touch anything related to movies. Please stop touching things that you have no business touching. You fuck everything up.

  • Jimmeh

    God damn it m. night…. way to ruin what could have been a sweet movie franchise. The acting, writing, and pronunciations were all terrible. It's a shame we won't ever see the rest of the brilliant series on the big screen.

  • Orwill Yatke

    This movie was an awesome fan film and the best that money could buy. Be real fans people. I know you're all fire nation warmongers but don't hate. Appreciate. M.Night has a dream. Even in the spotlight M.Night is more honorable than you. Take a hint. Be kind…

  • Polterkatt

    Airbender has some awkward moments (like that weird extreme closeup scene between the 3 lead characters – wtf was that?) , but overall I found it pretty entertaining. And yes, I've seen the TV show – and like it too.

  • BallenB23

    Saw it last night and I must agree with most of the earlier posts. The landscapes and effects were outstanding, but the dialogue and acting were just about unbearable. I've always been a HUGE fan of M. Night, I even enjoyed “The Happening” when most others bashed it, but this was by far his worst performance. The whole time I was thinking, there's no way he wrote this… But sure enough at the end of the film you see: “Written, produced and directed by…” Hopefully he finds his way back to the ideas that made his first movies such popular successes.

  • Good Movie

    I think the movie was great. it may have been a bit rushed but there was a lot of story to cover and i think it was done well. Dev Patel was awesome, i though he was mis-cast at first but he was great. my only complaint was Aasif Mandvi, i kept hearing Daily Show bits in my head every time he was onscreen.

  • Vaddix17

    It should have been called “The Last Air Nomad” because there was barely any bending at all and the EARTH prison full of EARTH benders I mean c'mon. The only thing worst is that he killed Yue. She doesn't die see becomes the freakin moon what kind of example to the children is it when you show death i mean not one person died during the whole tv show that we know of but no M. night says someone has to die in nickelodeon show. That is twisted!

  • AANG

    M. Night Shyamalan had no right to mess up this series like that. Damn what is wrong with this guy, the name is AANG!!!! I want my money back.

  • Jpage000

    i saw the movie last weekend and i thought it was pretty good, mainly because i hadnt seen the show yet. I knew it was based on a show i just hadnt seen it. i have now watched the first season and i can see how there are many differences between the show and how M. Night changed and left many important details out. i think it is definitaly a huge let down for poeple who had watched the show previously and are die hard fans, but watching it objectively and not critizing every single thing that is different from the show(because i hadnt seen it yet), i thought it was a very good movie and i hope they complete the series. if there was no such thing as the cartoon and this was just a new movie i believe it would be getting much better reviews from critics and all who saw it.

  • Kgreg47

    the names were pronounced as they should be in asia. the tv show said the names wrong actually. LOOK IT UP.

  • breni

    i dont even want to see the second part!! its impossible that someone can ruin a history as much as the director did… compare to that now i love eclipse!!!!

  • none

    the actors are not asian to begin with and using non-asian actors have been an issue in this film. So I do not see the reason to pronounce the names right in asian. Giving them asian names further enforces that the parts should have been given to asian actors. He should have stuck to how it was pronounce in the cartoon.

  • Timcmfadden

    It is just as bad as everyone says. I enjoyed the TV series and found this movie an utter insult to the series. As one critic said, it's a shame when an animated series has more life in it than a live action movie. I want to throw peanuts at M Night now and he's a fellow Philly boy.
    Tim

  • Timmcfadden

    So the guys who write the show are wrong about how they pronounce their own characters names? I must be missing something, because I always though the writers who control the show knew what they named their characters.

  • Adorably_s

    What can i say? it was a hot-ass-mess!! The “Ember Island Players” did a better job of recapping the show! How does Shymalan keep getting work!!?? Ugh!!! Live action -why!!? and why retell the story that we've already seen?
    It would have been better in anime, with the same characters and storyline but set in the future. (example Ben 10: Alien Force). We could have learned what happened to Prince Zuko's mother, see Aang as maybe 15 years old, maybe introduce a lost Air Bender; marry Uncle Iroh, maybe see a change of heart in Azula………………so many wonderful options!
    But no, Shymalan had to butcher this exceptional story (& the only thing NIckeloden has got going for it right now, this & Invader Zim), and turn it in to a painful experience. Bad acting, bad visuals, bad special effects, grave & unfortunate decision to change the race of the characters, & a scary thought of a part two -please no!!!

  • M Nite Chokesondik

    Dude, many of those names are made up. There is no “correct” pronunciation. They are pronounced how the show's creators wanted them to be pronounced. M. Night was trying to add a multicultural element to his movie after casting most of the principle characters as white.

  • Nat
  • http://twitter.com/SolidGoldCEO SolidGoldCEO

    It wasnt a movie it was a bland overview of the first series.

  • Jamarr

    M.Night your pathetic. I want my money back. M.night ruined everything good about the show and turned it to mush the live version is supposed to be better not worse There arnt words to describe how terrible this movie is.. All I can say is New director new writers and the Co Creators of the show need to grow some damb Balls and tell M.night shymalan what he’s aloud to do to their creation its like telling a painter what’s wrong with their picture you can’t do it… If nothing messed up then don’t fix it..

    M.Nights a patetic piece of SHIT!!

  • SJ

    Actually the show is from America, with the American voice actors they pronounced it that way first, the Asian pronounciations are wrong…I don’t know why no one has made this connection yet, obviously M.Night didn’t

  • Scissorhandds

    The movie wuz good I guess. But, they mispronounced names which pissed meh off, Aang is soo serious, and they didn’t meet Suki. The last battle in the move, Aang did not get captured in the Temple with his Reincarnations, he wuz captured while in the Spirt world by Zuko. If yoo love the series, don’t see the movie bcuz it really blowz.

  • Tidmihi

    you haters are all lame…get a life this film was awesome

    • GenGo

      hahahahaha~ now thats funny… ROFL~

    • Bob

      Tidmihi,
      You must’ve NOT seen the original series. If you had, I’m 100% positive your opinion would be different.

      The fact is, the film sucked out loud compared with the animated series. I mean it wasn’t even close in terms of entertainment value, story, substance, etc. It was simply, the lamest piece of shit adaptation of an already popular and well established series, I’ve ever seen. And when you see the credits, it becomes somewhat obvious as to why: M. Night wrote, directed, and produced this poor excuse for a film. I was very surprised to see that Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko (the creators of the series) were even listed as “Executive Producers,” especially given how Night apparently hacked, slashed, and burned every wonderful thing about the original series out of the movie adaptation. I think we can finally agree that M. Night has pretty much gone effing loony from too many hours of smelling his own smug. It’s pretty hard to be objective about your work product when you don’t allow anyone else to help you make it better. Like I said, he wrote it; he directed it; he produced it and nowhere is DiMartino and Konietzko’s fingerprint. I could go on, but I think you get the point. Watch the series and you’ll see what I mean. The spirit of Avatar: The Last Airbender is lost in crappy CGI, crappy writing, subpar acting, etc. Even the nationalities and names of the main characters were changed. Coming from a diehard Avatar series fan, this is just sick, sick, sick!

  • Ank_bhatt

    Personally, Ive never seen the original anime. Having said that, I was impressed with this film. Clearly, the visuals, the sets and the environment are so breathtakingly amazing that the Avatar film might pale in comparision. Yes, I agree that Sokka wasnt good and the film was too short, so the story was rather fast in certain places, but overall I really enjoyed watching this movie. People, lets see M Night as the extarordinary director he is. I suggest that for the sequle, M Night stay away from Story and screnplay and make magic with his direction. That way, Im sure we’ll have an awesome film.