I think it would be fair to say that the last couple of films from director M. Night Shyamalan have not lived up to many people’s expectations. But the teaser trailer for his latest film, The Last Airbender, adapted from the Nickelodeon animated series, promises much. Perhaps working on an adaptation of someone else’s material has recharged his creative batteries. The first trailer, which will hit theaters Wednesday with Transformers 2, already gives us one of the sweeping, long takes that Shyamalan favors.What else does the director have up his sleeve?
I have to give the trailer credit for dropping hints about the world that the film inhabits for the uninitiated, like myself, but refrains from giving away too much of its plotline. The pullback out of the temple to the big reveal definitely teases at the epic size of the conflict.
Will the film be successful enough to become the first part of a proposed trilogy? Paramount certainly thinks so, but we’ll have to wait until July 2010 to see of the public agrees.
