I liked M Night's first three films. Sixth Sense was good, Unbreakable sparked a decade of antihero-superhero films and Signs was intriguing old-school sci-fi. Then came the disappointing twist in the Village, the completely inane Lady in the Water, the dull Happening and an even more boring slap in the face to fans with Last Airbender.
The Last Airbender
could have been a good movie series had Shamalan been a
true fan and stepped aside for someone more qualified for a martial arts film. Instead, we got a sloppy mess of wooden directing, a Harmony Gold-esque condensation of the entire first season (including infodump between scenes...again, Harmony Gold dub of every Anime they ever did), poorly filmed and directed fight sequences ( rumor has it, the studio's also to blame because the clumsier takes were easier to convert to 3-D), and above all, for a fan of the show, he sure forgot that Avatar was
funny a good deal of the time. And it was STILL a better project than Dragonball Evolution. I mean, at least the guy
watched an episode. Can't see why they make these ragga fraggin' films without seeing a freaking episode of something.
Anyway...
After Earth, however, is even more disturbing in that they've almost completely concealed his involvement in the marketing. It's also said to be a Scientology-based story written by Will Smith for his son to become a star. There are so many disturbing things in that statement. I was going to give it a chance, but will now wait for it to hit HBO next year.
Hiding the fact he was involved with the movie shouldn't be that disturbing. Just his name is box office poison. As I said before, say what you will about Michael Bay's trolling ways, but he always gets a sizable crowd (who then later complain about it). Wasn't he a producer on something about an elevator, and that completely flopped? I wouldn't be surprised if they made him wear Groucho glasses or a V mask on set. And of course, Will Smith's ego. We wouldn't the director upstaging the star, especially if it's Will Smith. I like Will and all, but sometimes you just want Uncle Phil to come up and smack him on the back of the head. Then again, being associated with Shamalan could damage his career... matter of fact, this film looks like it would. Darnit, just do Men in Black 4 instead.
But the Scientology teaching thing... that
is pretty disturbing. I always laugh when some bigot says the Jews control Hollywood. Having Will shove his kid into a propaganda piece just so the kid gets a career? That is pretty scary stuff. I'd say more, but those guys are so litigious they make Disney look lax.