Monday, February 4, 2013

Thoughts on the Super Bowl Film Trailers


Iron Man 3

I’ll admit that I hated Iron Man, despised Iron Man 2, and cannot be rational about anything concerning Iron Man 3 because I’m sure it’ll be a piece of crap that people will still like for reasons I can’t understand.  Side note:  I loved The Avengers, proving that it isn’t Robert Downey Jr. or the actual Iron Man character, but instead it’s the awful films.

The Super Bowl spot gives me a glimmer of hope, since it shows Iron Man possibly having to make a tough decision and choosing who lives and who dies.  Maybe they’ll include some actual thought-provoking elements into the storyline or make the character Iron Man a bit more of a real person like in The Avengers rather than the blander version from the first two films.  But probably not.

Based on the extended trailer online and other trailers I’ve seen, I can’t help but think it’ll be more of the same.  Maybe they will actually have a villain with a personality this time (being a Russian who really likes his bird does not count as a personality, Mickey Rourke).  Maybe they won’t pretend the personal issues Iron Man faces and then conveniently overcomes in as unnaturall way possible make the story respectable.  Maybe people won’t see it and will instead demand the same quality film as they saw in The Avengers.  That’s all doubtful though.

And for the record, I’m not excited about Ben Kingsley being in the film.  The franchise had their shots with Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell, and Jeff Bridges to create a villain I enjoyed, and they failed miserably with three great actors.


Fast & Furious 6

This franchise will not die, thanks to both critics and audiences enjoying the previous film.  Personally, I’ve only seen Tokyo Drift, which I would only recommend to people who like seeing straight-to-dvd quality filmmaking and someone who looks 35 playing a high school kid.

My first thought: why does nobody in the commercial smile?  I know Vin Diesel isn’t physically capable of smiling because that would constitute as showing emotion while acting, but seriously, not even the dancing girls are smiling and they get to dance for a bunch of guys with fancy cars.

Second thought: they are just getting ridiculous.  The trailer shows a tank, a car that looks like it has a jump built into the grill, and people taking down an airplane by shooting it from a car with grappling hooks.  This could end up being quite awful, but based off of reviews I could actually see myself going to this film and enjoying it, as long as I was in the mood for mindless action.

Oz the Great and Powerful

This film just looks awful to me.  I honestly don’t see any reason to see the film.  It looks like it is going to rely heavily on its visuals (which didn’t look impressive) and star-power (I like Franco and Kunis, but won’t automatically see a film because they’re in it).  I’m expecting a disappointing film that struggles at the box office and is quickly forgotten.

The Lone Ranger

I definitely would have enjoyed this trailer much more if it wasn’t packed with so many shots edited quickly together.  Sometimes seeing a shot for more than 1.5 seconds is appreciated, such as the last sequence of them escaping from the top of the train.  But, based on that short sequence, I’m already excited to see Depp playing Tonto.

As for the rest of the trailer, it looks like a better-than-average pop-western, but will it be as charming as the original Pirates of the Caribbean or as bland as the last few?  I’d like to see a bit more of the titular character before I see this in theaters, but it at least grabbed my attention.

 

Star Trek Into Darkness

Just like with Iron Man, I’ll start off by saying I hated the previous Star Trek, think Abrams is a better idea guy than he is director, and will gladly insult you if you tell me how much you’re looking forward to the new Star Trek movie.

This trailer makes me think maybe the sequel will be better, just like The Dark Knight was better than Batman begins.  Maybe Into Darkness will actually have a villain with a personality who is a consistent presence in the film, since they’re featuring him so prominently in the commercial.

But then, I see the blonde girl screaming around 13 seconds into the trailer, and I just notice that her scream just looks so fake and cheesy.  I notice the lens flares, which clearly people on the internet didn’t find to be an annoying stylistic choice that took away from the film’s quality.  I notice that they didn’t really include any plot details except that action sequences are somehow involved, and I worry that the storyline will be idiotic again.

Nothing I say is going to convince people not to see this film, so I won’t try to do that.  But at least don’t tell me that the trailer makes the film look like it’s going to be awesome, because there is so little substance outside of a villain with a cool voice that it’s obvious they know the trailer won’t matter much.

Snitch

Wow, The Rock is moving up in the acting world.  Getting two films with Super Bowl trailers?  Unfortunately, this one seems pretty unappealing.  This trailer reminds me of the Alex Cross trailers, where I would come away thinking “So, what about that trailer makes me think I would enjoy this film?”.

Nothing in the trailer seems to grab me.  The action seems pretty uninspired and definitely not as crazy as taking down a plane with a grappling hook (see, I remember that part of the Fast and Furious 6 commercial).  The storyline of a father going undercover in a drug deal has promise, but I want to see that it has some complexity.  Who is he doing a drug deal with?  Who are the law enforcement officials trying to take advantage of him?  Why is going undercover so dangerous?  And most importantly, where is Michael K. Williams in this commercial?

Unless they make a more interesting commercial, I can’t see this film doing any better than The Rock’s 2010 film Faster, which grossed just over $35 million worldwide.  Just having The Rock isn’t enough, give us something else.

No comments:

Post a Comment