The last month or so has seen a massive torrent of trailers released for some of the biggest upcoming movies released over the next year. Do I wish I had seen these for the first time on the big screen? Yes. Did I exercise any restraint at all in watching them as soon as they went online? No. Will I be offering you my opinion on these trailers? Seems so!
(N.B. I’m not including the trailer for The Dark Knight Rises, as it wasn’t really a trailer, more of a recap-and-please-get-ready-for-the-trailer…)
In Time
Kiwi-born filmmaker Andrew Niccol is a persistently enigmatic presence in modern cinema. He first garnered attention in Hollywood with his script for modern classic The Truman Show, but by the time that film got around to being made (with the reliable Peter Weir at the helm), he’d already released his own writing/directing debut in the form of 1997’s Gattaca, a thoughtful ideas-centric sci-fi thriller the likes of which are far too rare these days. His stumbled with his follow-up, 2002’s S1m0ne, and struggled to find an audience for his underrated 2005 action drama Lord of War.
He’s back in Gattaca territory for In Time, set in a future where time is a commodity and only the rich live past 25, the age you never look older than. It’s pleasantly high-concept, and I’m very excited to see how Niccol extrapolates his future society. Although I’m a sucker for future tech in movies, I appreciate how it’s enhances the believability when the world looks more closer to ours, which looks like the case here. The featureless, sterile-looking Justin Timberlake has always seemed like he was grown in a test tube to me, so there’s something appropriate about his presence in this Phillip K Dick-ish future.
I Liked: Seeing Mad Men‘s awesomely weaselly Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser, perfect casting) introducing his mother-law-law, wife and daughter, all of whom appear 25.
I’m Not So Sure About: JT’s efforts to seem like a gun-toting badass; the tiresome “revolutionary” stuff; the title – it is whack.
Overall Hypitude Rating: 3/5.
(NZ release date: October 27th)
Mission Impossible 4
I love all three M: I films. Even the widely derided part II (aka the one where Tom Cruise does Guile from Street Fighter II moves). Part III came out at the height of the media’s villification of the Cruiser, and it’s overall awesomeness was sadly obscured. That film marked JJ Abrams as one of the truly great modern purveyors of cinematic action, an assertion more than reinforced by his subsequent work. The film’s relative failure, and then Viacom head Sumner Redstone’s public lambasting of Cruise seemed to indicate the M:I franchise was dead in the water. So colour me surprised when this fourth film was announced, with none other than heretofore animation director Brad Bird (who showed CGI action could rule with The Incredibles) at the helm and Abrams producing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0LQnQSrC-g&ob=av3e
I wasn’t exactly skeptical, but this trailer blew me away. The opening Kremlin destruction overeaches for grandiosity, but everything subsequent (including the requisite Cruiser-propelled-forward-by-explosion shot) is total radness. I love the slickness of these movies, which easily surpass the contemporary Bond films in my opinion.
I Liked: All the action, especially Sawyer from Lost shooting a gun as he falls backwards off a building; the blue hue; the Eminem music bit; the Euro vibe; the vertiginous building-scaling at the end.
I’m Not So Sure About: Simon Pegg – he feels crammed in and out of place in these movies.
Overall Hypitude Rating: 5/5. I really do love these movies. And as a Cruise apologist from way back, it will be nice to put memories of the awfulness that was Knight and Day behind me.
(NZ release date: December 15th)
The Darkest Hour
Timur Bekmambetov, the Russian filmmaker behind Night Watch and Wanted, who seems to be a hearty combination of Zack Snyder and Guillermo del Toro, produces this alien invasion film with two significant points of difference – it’s set in Russia, and we can’t see the aliens, which appear to be some sort of electrical force.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf9RIKbKpIo
The tension is nicely built in this trailer, but the pretty-young-things quality is a tad off-putting. The director is Chris Gorak, an art director on such awesomely art-directed films as Fight Club and Minority Report, who made his directing debut with the little seen “dirty bomb” thriller Right At Your Door in 2006. That film (worth watching) showed he can build tension very effectively, but for all this film’s noted points of difference, all the mass destruction and screaming girls feels very familiar.
I Liked: The Moscow-setting; the “evaporating” style deaths are kinda freaky – even the dogs aren’t safe!
I’m Not So Sure About: Those two main actors – Max Minghella and Emile Hirsch. They project a quality of needing to have their faces kicked in. Also, as cool as the electrical “talons” are, we better freakin’ see the aliens eventually.
Overall Hypitude Rating: 3/5.
(NZ release date: January 12th, 2012)
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
I have fond recollections of my youthful video store-perusing self being intimidated by the double sized VHS cover for the 1979 British TV adaptation of John le Carré’s celebrated spy novel. This new cinematic adaptation returns the British spy genre, long since hijacked by the Bond films, to its officious origins, with drab civil servants holding the fate of nations in their overworked hands. Seemingly every buzz-worthy British actor is on hand, with Gary Oldman essaying the role of le Carré’s recurring espionage veteran George Smiley.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aco15ScXCwA
Although a longer trailer has since been released, it doesn’t hold a candle to the fantastic teaser embedded above, with it’s ominous music; brief snippets of contextless dialogue and action, and predominantly brown imagery. Swedish director Tomas Alfredson demonstrated a skill for recreating the ’80s with 2008’s Let The Right One in, and that skill appears to be in full effect here.
I Liked: That awesome music; the bureaucratic vibe; the cast.
I’m Not So Sure About: Nothing. This was all good. The second trailer, however, is overly explanatory and demystifying.
Overall Hypitude Rating: 5/5. This looks freaking rad.
(NZ release date: January 19th, 2012.)
John Carter
A few blog entries ago, I spoke about my unfettered anticipation for this movie. If any film is picking up the post-Avatar baton in terms of ambitious sci-fi scope, it is surely John Carter.
This trailer gave me chills, but an element of skepticism remains. There are some awesome ship and landscapes on display here, but we only get brief glimpses of the creatures, several of whom play very central roles. The green guy at 1:08 looks alright I guess, but we never really see him in action. There’s an epicness to this trailer that cannot be denied however, and it looks well-grounded in physical locations, reassuring after early reports the film would have all digital sets.
I Liked: The music; the Edgar Rice Burroughs appearance; the almost Koru-esque title design at the end; John’s Mario-like leaping ability, the desert landscapes.
I’m Not So Sure About: John’s overly shiny breastplate – needs more scuffing.
Overall Hypitude Rating: 4/5.
(NZ Release date: March 8th 2012)
Battleship
Oh boy. I haven’t loved all of actor-turned-director Peter Berg’s films, but I find him a very interesting filmmaker. 2003’s The Rundown (aka Welcome To The Jungle) is one of the best action films of the last decade, Friday Night Lights (2004) was fanastic, and Very Bad Things (1998), The Kingdom (2007) and Hancock (2008) all had points of interest, and all demonstrated flair for big mainstream studio films. So I was kinda, I dunno, disappointed, when I read that he was attached to make a film of the board game Battleship.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDMXkPfxjOc
This is clearly being positioned as a huge tentpole film, and it remains to be seen whether or not Berg can elevate it beyond its market-driven, brand recognition origins, but boy does this look like a steaming pile of sub-Michael Bay turdness. A dated Top Gun vibe permeates the naval stuff – and of course jiggly model-turned-actress Brooklyn Decker’s love interest character is the boss’ daughter. Making the antogonists aliens seems to undermine the whole point of the game, and I am dreading what kind of contrived circumstances lead to battleships being the best way to engage them (surely something to do with that big dome thing?). The blocky alien craft couldn’t be more generic. Looks well-lit though, I guess.
I Liked: The shot at 1:53 designed to look like the Battleship board game.
I’m Not So Sure About: Everything else
Overall Hypitude Rating: 2/5
(NZ release date: March, 2012 TBC)
The Amazing Spider-Man
I grew up obsessed with Spider-Man, and after waiting seemingly forever for a film to come to fruition, found Sam Raimi’s 2002 film to be an incredibly cathartic release of all that youthful enthusiasm. Part 2 was pretty choice (but not as good as 1 in my opinion) and Part 3 was famously shit. So I come to this new reboot with a more or less objective point of view, perhaps swayed ever-so-slightly by the alarming hastiness with which it came together after the first trilogy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oX9ZT3RbYE4
There’s a lot to like in this trailer, but doesn’t it just all seem so…familiar? That said, I like that they appear to be incorporating something interesting with Peter’s parents, but apart from that the overall tone doesn’t seem very far removed at all from the first trilogy. I support the casting of Andrew Garfield, who demonstrated impressive spaziness in Never Let Me Go, and I suppose it’s good they’ve gone back to the comics with the mechanical web-shooters (only glimpsed in this trailer), and by making Gwen Stacy his teenage love interest. We haven’t seen anything of the villainous Lizard yet (played in human form by Rhys Ifans), but if reports from Comic Con are anything to go by, his monstorous appearance places the film firmly in the realm of the fantastic.
I Liked: The first person swinging/climbing stuff; Garfield’s stated reverence http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wemtXS4Zx9o for the character.
I’m Not So Sure About: I can’t help but worry the Lizard is gonna look ridiculous. But then again Willem Dafoe’s Power Ranger mask didn’t harm the first Spidey movie…
Overall Hypitude Rating: 4/5. For all my stated cyncism, I do have undying goodwill for this character, and I’ll be there on opening day no matter what.
(NZ release date: June 28th, 2012)
Which of these trailers gets your blood pumping? And other trailers particularly rocking your world recently? Let us know below!
