Will 'The Last Airbender' rank first with the Razzies?
While "The Last Airbender" did well at the box office, taking in almost $70 million over the July 4 weekend, it failed to impress the critics, managing an aggregate rating of just 20 at Meta Critic. That poor score is the fourth lowest of the year and ranks as the worst of all movies in current release.
M. Night Shyamalan pulled triple duty on this Paramount picture with credits for writing, directing and producing this live-action big-screen version of the animated TV series "Avatar: The Last Airbender."
While several leading critics including Scott Bowles (USA Today) and Owen Gleiberman (Entertainment Weekly) gave "The Last Airbender" a passing grade, 27 of the 32 reviewers judged it a failure. And six of those -- including Lou Lumenick (New York Post) and Joe Morgenstern (Wall Street Journal) -- rated it an absolute zero.
Those rascals over at the Razzies have been forecasting the awards potential of "The Last Airbender" for months. The forum post devoted to this misfire is at four pages and counting with many posters touting it for worst picture and director while others extol the work of supporting player Dev Patel, who starred in the 2008 best picture champ, "Slumdog Millionaire."
Back in 1999, Shyamalan reaped Oscar bids for writing and directing best picture nominee "The Sixth Sense." However, his more recent efforts have been lambasted by the critics and lampooned by the Razzies. The 2006 fable "Lady in the Water" won Shyamalan two of its four bids -- worst director and worst supporting actor -- although "Basic Instinct 2" bested it for worst picture and screenplay. Two years ago Shyamalan returned to the thriller genre with "The Happening," which couldn't even win over the Razzies, losing its three of its four races to "The Love Guru" (worst picture, actor, screenplay), while notorious schlockmeister Uwe Boll took the worst director award.
Photo: "The Last Airbender" poster. Credit: Paramount.
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sure hope it gets a nom it was a terrible movie. It would have been a bad movie even if you had never seen the T.V. show
Posted by: rosie | July 26, 2010 at 07:16 PM
Common you guys! This movie is not too bad. Some part in the movie was OK. What do you think about the cast? I think it great. Anyway the kid who plays Aang is too young and this is his first time show up on TV. He tried his best for the movie. The sceenplay was little bad after all. I wasn't tire too much to watch this but i think book two will be better than book one. I really enjoy this movie
Posted by: O.o | July 23, 2010 at 03:39 AM
I saw the movie last night and I loved it. I don't know what all you guys are talking about.
Posted by: Not a sheep | July 21, 2010 at 01:41 PM
John, you are a self-righteous, ignorant troll! When Arabs and South Asians were being persecuted by witch-hunters after 9/11, the first people to come to their defense were the Asians, especially the Japanese Americans who suffered the same thing during World War II. If the film manages to earn back its 150 million budget and its 130 million promotional budget, I don't care because I can console myself in knowing that Shyamalan's career has hit rock bottom. He probably cries himself to sleep while watching Chris Nolan become the filmmaker that Shyamalan once was. Maybe he can create and kill off another critic character to make himself feel better.
Posted by: Nick | July 18, 2010 at 12:26 AM
After the horrid reviews, some of you still went to see the movie and are angry that it was bad? Some people deserve to lose those two hours from their lives, and that well earned hourly wage.
Posted by: david | July 17, 2010 at 10:35 PM
if the movie is this bad, why isn't it not dropping in box office dramatically????
Posted by: james | July 16, 2010 at 06:47 PM
This movie was absolutely pathetic. I can't believe I paid the extra 3 bucks for the "3-D" version. There was not one thing in 3-D. Shyamalan is a failure. I actually like "Lady in the Water", but Airbender is the worst movie I've seen in years and years.
Posted by: Jessie | July 16, 2010 at 01:20 PM
I don't buy this false "outrage" nonsense from critics. Everyone knows that the critics and M. Night don't like each other, which is why he had a movie critic character killed in "Lady in the Water." This is more about the inability of critics to make a name for themselves and their loss of their ability to exert power and influence over how well a movie does. Movie critics ultimately don't contribute to the creative process. If they did, every movie would be about some film school washout writing their memoirs about their boring lives and how they didn't amount to anything.
Also LA Times, you've been giving a disproportionate voice to the East Asian whiners about casting (where were they, "A Magazine" and the LA Times when South Asians were being shot, harassed, and having their temples burned after 9/11? No where. Because South Asians aren't real Asians, right?) I'm happy to see that the movie has broken $100 million so far, and will probably break $150 domestically. Everyone is (thankfully) ignoring you.
Posted by: John | July 11, 2010 at 03:04 PM
"The Last Airbender" is a story much like "Lord of the Rings". It has a deep story and meaning. The caricters wwere flat, and they seemed like they were just reading a script. The Editing was weak and the motion of the movie seamed like a fire work that got wet. I hope they reboot this story and ask Peter Jackson to do it. M. Night Shyamalan did a really bad job on this story.
Posted by: jir | July 07, 2010 at 08:19 PM
Too long to post here, but here's my "Let the healing begin" blog entry:
**12 Things I Liked About the Crappy Airbender Movie **
http://www.mattmchugh.com/blog/2010-07/index.html#2010-07-07
- mattmchugh
Posted by: mattmchugh | July 07, 2010 at 05:30 PM
I can see this film earning multiple Razzie nominations as it will be announced in January. It looks like M. Night's career is completely going down the drain as I can see him winning Worst Director and Worst Screenplay.
Posted by: Leo | July 07, 2010 at 04:25 PM
No...Eclipse is a cinch to run away many Razzies..
Posted by: Cisco | July 07, 2010 at 11:01 AM