Matthew McConaughey voice for a second:
Alright, Alright, Alright.
I checked out what is not only being called the worst movie of his career but one of the worst movies in the past decade. M Knight Shymalan’s: The Last Airbender.
Let me just say one thing. I’m a huge M Knight fan. I liked his first few movies but then Lady in the Water Happened. I cut him some slack but then The Happening happened and I was just confused. But, the one thing that I always liked about this guy is that he continuously took chances and made movies that stretched our belief in common day.
The problem with the M Knight is that he started on top of the world out of nowhere. He’s like the R.L. Stein of movie making (90’s reference). Everyone’s expectations are through the roof with him, which lead us to always expect some twist or turn at the end of his films. Clearly, he’s made awesome things and we’re all recognizing this otherwise the critics wouldn’t be tearing him apart like he’s responsible for the BP oil spill.
Review time:
Did I like this film… It was Ehhhhh. It definitely had some cool parts, the fighting was interesting, special effects were good, and the overall idea of using the elements to your advantage kept me interested. BUT, the acting from some of the lead kids (Not the Slumdog Millionaire) was just not good. I think it was too much to handle.
The other main issue with this film is that there was so much going on that it almost felt like the story was all over the place. However, the upside to that problem is this is based off of a cartoon I’ve never seen and something tells me he tried to fit a massive amount from the TV show.
I really wanted to like this film, then I read the reviews and saw that just about nobody liked it so my expectations fell FLAT, then I went and saw it - waiting for something terrible to happen and for me to say “okay this sucks” but that didn’t happen. My emotions were basically everywhere, and I think they still are.
NOW - Going into this film it’s important to understand that this is a kid’s film. How do we know this? Aside from it being PG and based off of cartoon, the 50 kids in the theater were cheering throughout the movie. Those kids cheering and wanting more is the key to the equation. It’s what’s being overlooked. If the idea was to entertain kids – it worked. If the idea was to entertain everyone – it didn’t work at all.
Let’s lay off this man for a minute shall we? He’s not that bad, and it’s saying something that we all hold one person on such a high pedestal. I admit he should probably stick to directing and end the writing. I’ll also admit this movie had the potential to be a Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter in regards to epic tone. But, it wasn’t.
M Knight will live to direct another day, and when that day comes I will most likely be seeing his movie on opening weekend while I read reviews of how he will never direct again.
This Guy’s money track record…. just because.
7/1/10 The Last Airbender Par. $57,000,000
6/13/08 The Happening Fox $64,506,874
7/21/06 Lady in the Water WB $42,285,169
7/30/04 The Village BV $114,197,520
8/2/02 Signs BV $227,966,634 3,453
11/22/00 Unbreakable BV $95,011,339
8/6/99 The Sixth Sense BV $293,506,292