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*** Official THE LAST AIRBENDER Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

Matt^Brown

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My son, who is 12, went to see this movie last night. He was very excited to go see it and I did not tell him the reviews it had been receiving. I waited for him to come home and I asked if he enjoyed it. He was really disappointed in it and said that it was the worse movie he has seen in the last couple of years. Yeah I know he is a kid but he watches a lot of movies with me. He loves the cartoon and he said that it did not follow that the way he expected and that the movie jumped all over the place. Honestly I figured he would like it for the action but he told me to just wait and see it on DVD. Funny, I think this is the first review that my son has gave me on a new movie.
 

Aaron Silverman

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Have ANY critics rated this film as any more than a steaming dung-pile?


I never saw the TV show, but the initial trailer was one of the best trailers I have EVER seen, so I am pretty disappointed by this.
 

JonZ

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James B gave it 1 star. Ouch.

http://www.reelviews.net/php_review_template.php?identifier=2110
 

Greg_S_H

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Originally Posted by Aaron Silverman

Have ANY critics rated this film as any more than a steaming dung-pile?


I never saw the TV show, but the initial trailer was one of the best trailers I have EVER seen, so I am pretty disappointed by this.

The review in the Dallas Morning News (might have been syndicated) was not *too* negative. It was a C+, and he basically said it was a bit of a mess but set things up for a sequel, which might magically be good.
 

JonZ

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Tony,

My mistake. I did paste a link, but it didnt work.

Fixed now.
 

TonyD

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Roger Ebert gave a half star.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100630/REVIEWS/100639999
 

Edwin-S

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I haven't seen it and probably won't, but I almost feel sorry for the two unknown lead kid actors in this film. It looks like Shyamalan has murdered their acting careers before they have barely even started.
 

Patrick H.

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I found the cartoon successful because it a) does a great job of setting up a complex fantasy world/mythology pretty much on the fly, and b) has charming character dynamics with a healthy sense of humor. Based on the reviews, it sounds like Shyamalan's rewrite eliminated the latter and botched the former. That's a pretty impressive failure, as it wrecks the whole thing for both established fans AND newcomers. And I had decent hopes based on the trailers, too...*sigh*

This is quite the summer, ain't it? How many days until Inception?
 

ThomasC

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Originally Posted by Edwin-S

I haven't seen it and probably won't, but I almost feel sorry for the two unknown lead kid actors in this film. It looks like Shyamalan has murdered their acting careers before they have barely even started.

It looks like Noah Ringer is in good hands. He'll be in Jon Favreau's "Cowboys & Aliens" that also stars Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Daniel Craig, and Sam Rockwell.


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0409847/
 

Michael Elliott

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No one has a career come to an end when their film makes $16 million in one day.

Again, I'm not sure why everyone is looking at the quality of the movie. Michael Bay makes horrid movies but it doesn't keep people away and he hasn't lost his career.
 

TravisR

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Originally Posted by Michael Elliott

No one has a career come to an end when their film makes $16 million in one day.

Again, I'm not sure why everyone is looking at the quality of the movie. Michael Bay makes horrid movies but it doesn't keep people away and he hasn't lost his career.


Yep, money talks.
 

Edwin-S

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Originally Posted by Michael Elliott

No one has a career come to an end when their film makes $16 million in one day.

Again, I'm not sure why everyone is looking at the quality of the movie. Michael Bay makes horrid movies but it doesn't keep people away and he hasn't lost his career.

The difference is that Bay's shitty movies make back the cost of production plus more. Notwithstanding the 16 million dollar opening, I doubt Shyamalan's film is going to make back its production costs, let alone make a profit. Shyamalan has alienated the one demographic he needed most in order to make this film a success: the fans of the original series. They would have formed the core of repeat viewers; however, even the fans hate what Shyamalan has done. Furthermore, Bay may be a lousy storyteller, but he has an eye for putting action sequences together. With a Bay movie, you can watch Bay artistically blow shit up left, right and centre, even if the story is a steaming pile of dung. In this movie, it sounds like Shyamalan couldn't even provide that simple pleasure in a competent manner.
 

Robert Crawford

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This thread is now designated the Official Discussion Thread for "The Last Airbender". Please, post all comments, links to outside reviews, film and box office discussion items to this thread.

All HTF member film reviews of "The Last Airbender" should be posted to the
[COLOR= #44708c]Official Review Thread[/COLOR].

Thank you for your consideration in this matter.


Crawdaddy
 

David Norman

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Originally Posted by Steve_Tk

Maybe so, he's earned it. Lady in the water and the happening were dreadful.

Just looked up the grosses of his movies and other than Lady in the Water (70M budget vs 72M gross), every one of them grossed at least 3.5x the Production Budget. Depending on which source I look at to break even I seem to recall somewhere b/w 2-3X budget is pretty common.


The Happening as bad as it was pulled in 163M vs a Budget of 48M just in Worldwide Movie $$$. Add in DVD sales, etc and even this turkey probably made some money for the studio.


If it's true the budget of Airbender was 150M with US opening night of 19M, I'm guessing opening weekend at 80M isn't too much of a reach, then we'll see what the fall off is in week 2 and 3, it may still reach 150-200M just domestically.



Personally I'm waiting for Mr Antimatter (Armond White) to review it just for the laughs. The man who gave a Thumbs up to Grown Ups and thumbs down to Toy Story 3 (among so many other interesting choices) should be a character in a certain Python skit. I know if even he hates it, it must be catastrophically bad rather than just really bad.
 

JonZ

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Well people know what theyre going to get with a MIchael Bay film, while alot of people seem to think MNight is a great filmmaker. I dont think Bay was ever hailed as the next Speilberg either.


Most people out there are viewing this as the third disappointment from MNight in a row. My GFs son was almost able to drag me along to see this - but after the bad reviews, thankfully I dont have to.


Ive always thought MNight was overrated. The only film of his I like is Unbreakable.
 

Greg_S_H

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Gotta be the fourth: the Village, Lady in the Water, The Happening, and now this. I, too, only really liked Unbreakable. Signs was alright, but doesn't much hold up to scrutiny.


"So they fly half-way across the galaxy in an highly advanced spaceship, but they don't use their technology to take over the planet. You know what their weakness turned out to be? Water. I mean, if that's true, why go to all the trouble to invade a planet that's two-thirds water? Not to mention the rain." -- Sam Carter, Stargate SG-1
 

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