Last Airbender Revealed.
Watched a 15-minute "behind-the-scenes" exclusive on Nick last night that have made me a little less critical of this movie. Still don't know if this new-found knowledge will redeem the movie, but if Shyamalan is telling the truth (not that he would have much reason to lie) I may have a little more respect for him now. Supposedly they went through a lot of kids before they casted Noah in the lead role. They even held on to his tape while they searched for other potential Aangs. Hopefully, Noah is a decent enough actor to make me forget my disappointment with the direction of the film as I'm sure there will be plenty of disappointments, (especially in Sokka's character; Jackson just doesn't seem to be doing him any justice. I think he was acting too hard. T^T). Personally, I would have preferred this kid if only for the fact that his martial art style is almost identical to Aang's airbending form as opposed to what I've seen in the commercials, though his acting needs a lot of work:
That's my biggest worry, that the bending forms will look nothing like the show. And from what I can tell in the TV spots, they don't. It's so disappointing. The clip where they show Aang and the Blue Spirit fighting back to back is the saddest, Noah's movements are so hard and choppy, nothing like the fluid moves of an airbender. Just seems so unnatural.
Of course, M. Night did not address the racebending issue. Not that I care. There can be no doubt that it's difficult to find people that look exactly like the characters and also be able to portray them faithfully on the screen. As long as the cast can make me believe them as these beloved characters, and does justice to the source material, I will be satisfied. The only thing I will have to learn to get over is the pronunciation of certain names. M. Night says he did it so it was closer to the Asian pronunciation and in turn make more sense and be more believable in this Asian-inspired world. Whatever. I would have preferred it the original way, but watcha gonna do.
I did learn something else quite interesting in those 15 minutes. He did shoot a scene with the Kyoshi warriors on their island that had to get cut out of the film unfortunately. He said the Kyoshi warriors are his favorite aspect of the whole series but it had to get cut because their storyline was complicating the story of the entire movie and leading it in a different direction. As a writer, (lol I say that with such authority), I can understand that dilemma and can respect him as an artist because of that. When you know your characters, and can predict what they will do, the story can run away with itself and transform into something else entirely if you don't focus on your end goal for the piece. Plus, for a movie based on just Book One, their introduction is not exactly necessary. They don't have much of a purpose until Book Two. I will say, though, that what he did film for that scene was absolutely beautiful. Definitely did those characters justice. He had them jump out of the trees on green silk ropes (which I know is not how them ambushed the gang in the series), and the costumes were really pretty (what I say of it), that I actually hope the film does well enough for a sequel so we can see it. It had an air about it that reminded me a lot of "house of Flying Daggers" (which is one of my favorite movies!).
It is safe to assume now that I am absolutely curious to watch this film.
:~+*AiDaN*+~:
Click to viewThat's my biggest worry, that the bending forms will look nothing like the show. And from what I can tell in the TV spots, they don't. It's so disappointing. The clip where they show Aang and the Blue Spirit fighting back to back is the saddest, Noah's movements are so hard and choppy, nothing like the fluid moves of an airbender. Just seems so unnatural.
Of course, M. Night did not address the racebending issue. Not that I care. There can be no doubt that it's difficult to find people that look exactly like the characters and also be able to portray them faithfully on the screen. As long as the cast can make me believe them as these beloved characters, and does justice to the source material, I will be satisfied. The only thing I will have to learn to get over is the pronunciation of certain names. M. Night says he did it so it was closer to the Asian pronunciation and in turn make more sense and be more believable in this Asian-inspired world. Whatever. I would have preferred it the original way, but watcha gonna do.
I did learn something else quite interesting in those 15 minutes. He did shoot a scene with the Kyoshi warriors on their island that had to get cut out of the film unfortunately. He said the Kyoshi warriors are his favorite aspect of the whole series but it had to get cut because their storyline was complicating the story of the entire movie and leading it in a different direction. As a writer, (lol I say that with such authority), I can understand that dilemma and can respect him as an artist because of that. When you know your characters, and can predict what they will do, the story can run away with itself and transform into something else entirely if you don't focus on your end goal for the piece. Plus, for a movie based on just Book One, their introduction is not exactly necessary. They don't have much of a purpose until Book Two. I will say, though, that what he did film for that scene was absolutely beautiful. Definitely did those characters justice. He had them jump out of the trees on green silk ropes (which I know is not how them ambushed the gang in the series), and the costumes were really pretty (what I say of it), that I actually hope the film does well enough for a sequel so we can see it. It had an air about it that reminded me a lot of "house of Flying Daggers" (which is one of my favorite movies!).
It is safe to assume now that I am absolutely curious to watch this film.
:~+*AiDaN*+~: