Why You Should Have Faith in M. Night's Last Airbender

For many, Avatar: The Last Airbender is a sprawling fantasy epic that takes the best of anime, martial arts studies and fantasy and mixes them into an intoxicating drink of fun...and they're really worried about it jumping to the big screen. 

To others, it's some cartoon their dork friends clamor over and a live action version makes them want to whip out their copy of The Matrix faster than you can say, "Yip Yip."

Either way, you're skeptical.  I don't blame you.  It's hard to trust a guy who thought The Happening was a good idea, and giving him a beloved property is the last thing a fan wants to hear.

But as much as the fanboys backhand The Last Airbender with their 140-character mini-rants, I believe M. Night's The Last Airbender can save the summer. 

I have faith, in the dark void that is the movie-blogging world, that M. Night can kick our collective asses.

...and here's why you should too:

The Vision

M. Night is a lot like you: he's ready to forget and move on from his disasters.  He's wants to make his Star Wars, his Lord of the Rings, his epic.  I saw him speak at the 2008 NY Licensing Expo, you could tell the man is jazzed about Avatar: The Last Airbender (and if you've seen the cartoon, you'll know why).  Paramount (Star Trek, Iron Man, Transformers) does not simply hand over $250 million dollars.  M. Night sold them (and me, obviously).

First step to making an epic trilogy: bring in the big boys.

A Team With Balls (and Gravitas)

Look up Frank Marshall (here, I did it for you, lazy), and you'll notice he's spent thirty years producing innovative and imaginative pictures.  From Spielberg-produced actioners like Radiers, Goonies, and Back to the Future to the Bourne franchise to epic dramas like Benjamin Button, Marshall is a producer who knows how to keep a movie slick, focused and successful.  Throw in DP Andrew Lesnie, the eye behind LOTR, I Am Legend and King Kong and you'll understand why I'm already getting the shakes.  Imagine the Fire Tribe invading the North Pole, Helm's Deep style...

Peter Jackson - 10 Years Ago

One of the biggest complaints I hear when discussing Last Airbender is, "M. Night isn't qualified to direct this movie."  True, he didn't graduate from Action Film Academy, but a guy's gotta get his break sometime.  Take Peter Jackson. Before LOTR, he was the Australian king of horror schlock (sorry, Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles and The Frighteners were bad movies, as great as they are), but his passion for Tolkein's work landed him $300 mil and a trilogy.  Like Jackson, M. Night doesn't have the body of work to support him, but that's why he's hired the people who do.  Just remember his one skill...

M. Night Can Direct Kids

While you can spend countless months choreographing fight scenes and action camera moves, it's impossible to study what Night does best: directing youngsters.  Airbender centers on three kids who go from goofy roughhousing to life-or-death battle scenes in the snap of a finger.  Aang, Katara and Sokka have a rapport, and M. Night's proven with his work in Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs, that he as the chops to bring these characters to life.

The Source Material

M. Night loves Avatar: The Last Airbender, and he acknowledges that the creators know a thing or two about their baby by bringing them on as producers.  Each chapter of Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko's three-part tail is perfectly tailored for cinematic translation...that should make for an easy adaptation by M. Night.  How can you go wrong with a kid learning how to move water with his mind?  Answer: you can't.

And are you telling me you can turn down Appa the Sky Bison!?

The Last Airbender hits theaters July 2nd, and I'll be the first one in line.