Reviews from across the pond: Reception to "The Last Airbender" in the UK

[sharkman_jhones]

Thanks to new reviews brought in from the UK, "The Last Airbender" has dropped back down to 7% off Rotten Tomatoes.

As well, at last check off Box Office Mojo, the film's worldwide box office gross stands at ~$224,085,643.  Disappointingly high, but luckily still below the $280 million mark it would require to make back it's production and marketing

Comments

[eiliem]

the idea of casual homophobia keeping people from taking this mess of cinema seriously

:( I wish people would stop failing.

[fechtenfan]

I don't know if it's casual homophobia so much is that it's a slang term used in a context that's odd for it. Like the ending segment in the [i]Austin Powers[/i] movies where it was a bunch of short clips where the first word of every clip was a slang word for penis, or any time I watch a nature documentary and they mention the blue-footed booby.

[sharkman_jhones]

I know, but, 1) it sounded like a smart way to describe using terms like "gay," "fag" and the like as casual insults and colloquial speech, 2) those were jokes about private parts, and depending on maturity (or if the joke is actually well written,) those jokes are almost always going to garner a giggle and a laugh. For what the UK release of Airbender is going through...

...Allright, this'll sound bad, but...Imagine...*sigh* Imagine if this movie was made in the UK, and it was called "The Last Airfag." Imagine that "fag" in the UK doesn't carry the same stigma it does here, and now imagine replacing each instance of "bender," "bending" (as a verb), "bending" (as a noun), and so on and so forth with things like "fag", "fagging", and "faggotry."

That is what some people in the UK are going to be (and apparently already are) hearing

[full_metal_ox]

Of course, the audience might not have spent most of their time snickering at a trans-Atlantic double entendre had the movie been any good.

[aka_ladydonna]

Yeah, the whole "bender" issue would have been there regardless of casting or directing. One of the few things Bryan and Mike have to bear responsibility for!

[lolita_applebum]

Think Beavis and Butthead

[full_metal_ox]

Off-topic: would your icon happen by any chance to be Velma/Shaggy fanart?

[sharkman_jhones]

What? No, that's Daria and Trent from the MTV Cartoon series Daria.

A spin-off of Beavis and Butt-head, actually, but it was actually pretty smart, especially by comparison. I liked it, though.

[deird1]

I thought it was slang for going out and drinking huge amounts of alcohol...

[sharkman_jhones]

I'm pretty sure that's "going on a bender," and "bender" just by itself is what was slang for a gay guy at least in the UK.

[kurenai_tenka]

It is indeed.

[moonspinner]

Again, I personally hate that it was as high as it was (it makes me feel like I should have done more, or something,)

Some comments in response to on Carlie Jane's scathing review at io9 were along the lines of: "I wasn't planning on seeing this movie but your review is so funny/scathing that I am going to watch it just to enjoy how bad it is."

[amredthelector]

Interesting, that - I've read and watched a lot of internet reviewers talk about this movie, and they all pretty much said "I know you're going to think it was so bad it's hilarious because I'm ripping it to pieces like films that really are so bad they're hilarious, but seriously, DO NOT see this movie. It's not that funny, I swear. Don't give it money."

But I guess morbid curiosity gets the best of people.