M. Night Shyamalan Explains Why U.S. Critics Didn’t “Get” ‘The Last Airbender’

[Akijama]

This dude is hilarious.

If you were to ask most people why The Last Airbender got so much hate, they’d probably respond with another question: “Where to begin?” Viewers slammed the live-action fantasy for its muddy visuals, its wooden acting, its incoherent plot, its stilted dialogue… and let’s not even get into the whitewashing controversy that surrounded the casting.

If you asked director M. Night Shyamalan, however, he’d have a very different reply. In an old interview, the filmmaker complains that critics just don’t “get” him and his “European sensibility.” Hit the jump to watch his explanation.

The interview’s a few years old, but has been making the rounds on the Internet recently. Given what we know now, it’s a little bittersweet to hear him asked about the sequel that never got made. Showbiz 411 originally posted the video.

Here’s a transcript if you’d rather just do a quick scan:

"I don’t know what’s going on with me and the critics in the United States, I gotta tell you. Something’s going on.

They’ve never got me, and it’s getting worse. It’s almost like, go away. I also think I’m getting more, you know, influenced by other cultures more, as you could see from the movie. So I’m not doing like a straight-up American movie anymore. The tonalities are changing. I always had a European sensibility to my movies. The pacing is always a little bit off for them, and it feels a little stilted, and they need more electricity and all that stuff.

And I’m like, this is the way I think of things. ‘Cause, you know, Hitchcock and Kurosawa and Stanley Kubrick, these are my teachers. So it could be a little bit of that, that there’s just a little bit of cultural difference. Just like on this movie, I’m very used to getting on a plane from the U.S., having been savaged by them, and then going to, like in this case, I went to Japan next, and then they’re like, “Genius!”

You can lose your mind a little bit, going on Saturday from being an idiot to Sunday being a genius. But it gives you perspective. But luckily for me, it’s not something I can fight. It’s not my fight to fight. I’m defenseless, it’s the audience, if they choose to fight for me, then they fight for me. And they have through my career, and I’m honored to have that relationship with them. And I’ll keep fighting for that relationship. And maybe, 20 years from now, I’ll get a good review, I’ll sit here together, and be like, “I got a good review! Woohoo!”

In Shyamalan’s defense, of course he isn’t going to admit his movie sucks during its promotional tour. Still, there has to have been a better way to respond to the criticism Namedropping iconic filmmakers and insisting that the Japanese think he’s a genius just open him to further scorn.

Moreover, it’s not remotely true that American critics have “never” understood him. The Sixth Sense earned six Oscar nominations, and Unbreakable and Signs got solid reviews. But his reputation has plummeted drastically since then, to the extent that the ad campaign for After Earth barely mentioned his name at all. (Not that it helped.)

Although Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender didn’t get a sequel, its source material has lived on. The cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender yielded a sequel, The Legend of Korra, which kicks off its second season this weekend on Nickelodeon.

As with any beloved series, there’s some worry that the new season might not be as good as the last. Perhaps, then, fans can use the video above to calm their nerves. After all, Season 2 of Korra can’t possibly be worse than The Last Airbender, right?

http://www.slashfilm.com/m-night-shy...ast-airbender/

[L-Rouge]

I like Airbender, it's visuals, it's sound and the concept (I am a fan of the Avatar series), but with M Night, he doesn't seem to eviscerate any form of feeling from his actors, that argument can be summed up with one emote .

[toddly6666]

European style = the go-to excuse when your film has an awkard pace, bad acting, and awful storyline.

He forgot to mention that Hitchcock, Kubrick, Kurusawa always had good stories and memorable dialogue in their films.


I would like to see M. Knight do a sequel to Wide Awake which would have an Oscar performance from Rosie o' Donnell.

[Buscemi]

Just give it up, Night.

[MifuneFan]

How about your movie just sucked, and you ruined what could have been great trilogy in the hands of another director? I actually gave TLA the benefit of the doubt going in, as it looked better than reviews suggested, but between the acting, the terrible writing, and the poor casting choices, I can safely say that it sucked. The visuals were probably the best part of it. I think they nailed a lot of what a live action Avatar would look like, it's just sad that M. Night couldn't deliver on the rest. I'm still hoping that after a few more years, there will be a reboot with someone capable at the helm.

[octagon]

Cause, you know, Hitchcock and Kurosawa and Stanley Kubrick, these are my teachers. So it could be a little bit of that, that there’s just a little bit of cultural difference.

[Show spoiler]

Dr. Evil - Riiiight [HD] - YouTube

[Red Dragon]

Seriously???

I don't even know where to start.

"Lady in the Water" was perhaps M. Night's biggest cinematic turd, right up until the release of "The Happening", a movie which, believe it or not, actually somehow out-turded (I'm not sure if that's an actual term, but if it isn't ...it sure as Hell should be in this particular case!), his previous outing. But wait there's more, because "The Last Airbender" was even worse. And I'm not even going to waste my breath, energy or time talking about "After Earth". Has there even ever been another director who's unleashed four such outrageously, heinous, terrible dreck-fests in a row?! (And please ...don't bring up Ed Wood).

So uhh ...no. It's not that the critics didn't "get" The Last Airbender. It's that your last few movies have all failed miserably. If nothing else, he should be happy that so very many casual movie fans, cinephiles, film reviewers, film critics and internet sites were virtually all united, all brought together by the man and his movies, in a near universal hatred for his last several flicks.

[Britnasty]

Unless his answer was "because it sucked", I don't wanna hear it.

[mikesncc1701]

Even I'll admit to liking Lady In The Water. The Village was awful and then...The Happening. The movie that completely threw me into the hate crowd for this man. Haven't seen Airbender and probably never will. I love The Sixth Sense and Signs, but Unbreakable will forever be his masterpiece.

[chris_sc77]

Nothing is as awful as lady in the water.
I actually saw the happening twice in theatres though. Hilarious. Mark Whalberg gives one of my favourite awful performances of all time.

[Red Dragon]

Originally Posted by mikesncc1701

Even I'll admit to liking Lady In The Water. The Village was awful and then...The Happening. The movie that completely threw me into the hate crowd for this man. Haven't seen Airbender and probably never will. I love The Sixth Sense and Signs, but Unbreakable will forever be his masterpiece.

I admit to hating "Lady in the Water", but I do agree with you 120% that "Unbreakable" was his masterpiece! Samuel L. Jackson was amazing and Bruce Willis was excellent. And yeah, there was a time I dreamed of an "Unbreakable" Trilogy, but given the quality of his recent films, I'm now of the opinion that he should just leave it alone.

[EricJ]

I got a much simpler explanation: Paramount chopped the darn thing to a bewildering bowl of cole slaw, especially for those who'd never heard of the cartoon.
MNS, being the pretentious soul that he is, likely made a ponderous 2-1/2 hr. epic from the entire first season of the cartoon, and Paramount tried to lighten their load for a corporate-icon "family" movie by cramming it into a commercial 100-minute mainstream slot.
That's a, er, lot of chopping. Take it from someone who actually liked Warner's Fiennes/Thurman "Avengers" movie, which also lost a half hour of coherence before release.

(In the original cartoon,

[Show spoiler]the two kids discover Aang in the block of ice, and since he still thinks he's fighting his last battle, he attacks them. They eventually get him and his big yak-bus beast under control, and hear his backstory before returning to the village.
In the theatrical cut of the movie, we see them discover Aang in the ice, and in almost literally the next scene, he's back at the village getting dressed and saying "Sorry for what happened back there." Uh, what exactly DID happen "back there"?--Did the projectionist skip a reel?

)

But, MNS being MNS, thinks that it's the Failure of the Industry that They Just Don't Get Him.
Riiiiiight. That's why he makes the movies that he does.

[OrlandoEastwood]

To me, as far as M. Night Shayamalan goes, Signs and Unbreakable were his only good films. I really liked The Village until we got to that ridiculous plot twist. I was like; "What the hell just happened?" Lady in the Water was an ok film; didn't like, but at the same time, didn't out right hate it. The one film of his that I just hated beyond belief was Sixth Sense. Again, plot twist was ridiculous. I haven't given Avatar: The Last Airbender and After Earth a chance and I'm probably not. I think as far as producing film goes, I thought Devil was good.

[Buscemi]

Wait, I thought the cutting to 90 minutes was Shyamalan's idea.

One thing I will never understand: how this film grossed over $100 million when the exact same awful movie came a year earlier as Dragonball: Evolution and barely grossed a tenth that. You think audiences would have stayed away the second time.

[OrlandoEastwood]

Dragonball killed Justin Chatwin's career, lol.

[Buscemi]

Originally Posted by OrlandoEastwood

Dragonball killed Justin Chatwin's career, lol.

It was already dead to begin with.

[toddly6666]

This Youtube masterpiece is a billion times more rewatchable than Airbender and Dragonball z films:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS42x...ature=youtu.be


This one is even funnier - especially at the 1:28 mark:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IWLh...ature=youtu.be

[Foggy]

I really don't like how this interview has become "M. Night says the critics are wrong?"

The interviewer asked him about the scathing reviews and he had to come up with something to sell the film despite the critical lambasting, he's not going to throw his hands up in the air and say "Well they're entitled to their opinion...".

Should he come up with a better, less pompous answer? One that makes more sense and belittles no one in the process? Yes. But I just think he's trying to sell a film he made (a film he probably enjoyed making as well) and he was trying to use that passion to explain a way that convinces people the film he made was at least worth watching.

[ibprofane]

I didn't see the Last Airbender, but according to the general consensus he has no reason to be lashing out at the terrible reviews. I believe Night has made two good movies (The Sixth Sense & Unbreakable), and two good but flawed films (The Village & Signs). Everything he has directed since those four films have been bad to awful. If he could just get back to the level of filmmaking he displayed in "The Village" and "Signs", I'm sure critics would be quick to embrace his return to making promising films.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by Foggy

I really don't like how this interview has become "M. Night says the critics are wrong?"

I really don't like that the White Sox are 27 games out of first in the AL Central.

But they are.