D. JonesUpcoming: The Last Airbender
August 6th 2009 04:15
The Last Airbender
Click on title for Wiki.
After two weeks, the cast and crew moved to Reading, Pennsylvania to commence filming at the Pagoda on Mount Penn on April 2. That's someone's birthday. And that someone might see that as a good luck charm, despite these disappointing images on IMDB.
Now, this film has a lot of hype. It stems from a critically acclaimed television series that has a very compelling and detailed world. It stars the (also) acclaimed director, M. Night Shyamalan. This comes, as everything, with Pros and Cons. Some Pros are that M. Night Shyamalan is a great director, he's a personal fan of the show, he's got a great budget to work with ($100-130 mil), and that he's Indian. Let's face it, Avatar has A LOT of Indian influences, and him being somewhat exposed to that culture will help him direct this epic trilogy. The cons are that he's made some flops (more flops than hits), he's never directed an epic movie before (who knows if he knows how to make epics like Peter Jackson, Wachowskis, or Spielberg?), and that he's working on a movie that is hyped up, has a huge budget, and is expected to be amazing.
Not to be too cynical or pessimistic, but not too many studio films are actually good. The studio is making a sage bet with this movie. Just like Transformers, Monsters Vs. Aliens, X: Men, and Night at the Museum 2, the studio knows that they will gross big numbers (click here for stats).
Casting is also an interesting issue. The lead, Aang, played by Noah Ringer, is a really hard character to portray. Shyamalan will have to get a stellar performance from this young actor to make the movie worth watching. He found him during an open casting call, and after seeing Ringer's Martial Arts skills, he was impressed. I've seen the Teaser Trailer, and I have to say that the kid seems to have a solid Martial Arts background. Me being someone who has done martial arts for 2/3 of my life (almost all of the time I didn't spend doing Martial Arts was when I was too little to participate). He also has the recent star, Dev Patel, playing Prince Zuko. This is a really dark character with depth, like Aang, so it'll be interesting to see how these actors perform. Playing a mediocre antagonist, Admiral Zhao, is Aasif Mandvi. Yep, that dude from the daily show will be an antagonist that needs serious Firebending skillz and a harsh voice fit to lead men into combat. And on top of all that, THIS GUY, will be Uncle Iroh. I can't wait to see what the characters look like in the end.
Overall, the teaser trailer looks pretty good, although I'd have to say that the older monk style robes for Aang are not to aesthetically pleasing, or practical. The special effects also seem amazing, but I'm not sure if the effects that Shyamalan had working in the teaser will stay true to the show. I'm already sensing some deviance from the show by what is written all over the web. If you are an Avatar fan, I'd definitely keep my eye out for it, but if not, I doubt you'll have to see this in theatres unless your kid/newphew/niece/grandchild (if grandchild: wtf are you doing here?!) makes you.
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