It's widely acknowledged that M. Night Shyamalan has been on a smooth, fast ride downhill after The Sixth Sense. Arguably many people like his later films (probably unsure if the film was really not made well or if they just didn't get it) but it still stands that his peak was The Sixth Sense. The film's 'But He Was Dead All Along!' sort of gimmick didn't really work in his later films, and his unique style of draining a film of all color and vitality had a strange way of alienating audiences.
But come July 2010 (Tentative Release Date) viewers might get to see a new side of M. Night, with The Last Airbender, the live-action adaptation of the Nickelodeon series Aang: The Last Airbender, which is scripting and directing. Aang was a very original American-made anime series, being an entertaining adventure story set in an Asian-influenced fantasy world. In the 'Last Airbender' universe the rhythms of the world are governed by the four elements - Earth, Water, Fire and Air - which can be seen in the four 'Nations' of this world - the Earth Kingdom, the Water Tribes, the Fire Nation and the Air Nomads (who all were color-coordinated clothing corresponding to their 'nation ... It's a kids cartoon show, no one said it has to be too deep.)
And I'm not going to lie to a bunch of non-existent readers now, I liked the show, I really did. I used to stay up late and watch the reruns on Nick until my work schedule made it hard for me to keep up. And I liked The Sixth Sense, and thought Unbreakable was all right ... and I sat through till the end of Signs and didn't break into a murderous KLPD rage, so that must mean I sort of like Shyamalan's stuff ... so why do I think this film is going to suck?
I mean, look at the trailer! Look,
It looks like fun right?! Its got a kid doing cool shit with his lathi, doing magic with the candles, and then there's a wide-shot with weird ships throwing fire and shit, I MEAN WHAT THE FUCK!!! THAT SHIT HAS TO BE COOL! I MEAN, sorry, I mean, a little kid with a tattoo on his head doing kung fu should be cool enough, and the magic aspect is the icing on the cake ... but somehow, the trailer ... enh, didn't do it for me. The music, the general tone and lighting of the trailer, and even the little kid ... seemed a little too Harry Potter meets Pirates of the Carribbean for me. I almost expect a lightly disguised minority stereotype to jump out and start sleeping on the job, or goofily try to hit on women, only to fail in a most comical fashion. And they already had this casting controversy, with only caucasians being cast in the lead roles, (which in the original were a nice Benetton spectrum (which of course they changed later, making it slightly more diverse, although Shyamalan changed the original configuration, making the aggressive Fire nation 'Brown' ... which is a strange coincidence since in recent years a lot of aggression has been going down in the Middle East ... where it is hot ... and the people are Brown ... hmm ...)
The trailer gives me this weird SFXtravaganza vibe that is really pissing me off. I liked the Pirates movies (even with the Plot holes etc) but when you have a rich backstory to work with I feel (and I hope) the Director should work them in ... so that we don't have another LOEG on our hands.
(Though even I don't think it'll be that bad, I mean its just a little teaser anyway, and the film is like a whole year away from releasing, I'm sure it'll be great)
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