Saw Revenge of the Sith this weekend. Before it, saw some noteworthy trailers.
- Stealth - Someone’s been playing with the Random Plot Generator again, this time with the selector stuck on “previously owned“. The worst nightmare of ace fighter pilots comes true as a super-plane goes nuts and hunts down everyone. Special effects look great, naturally, but there’s no way I will see this. Maybe you will as a summer matinee when you’ve seen everything else. Only, haven’t you already seen this, too? Pass.
- Mr. & Mrs. Smith - And again. This time it’s only a mash-up of War of the Roses and Prizzi’s Honor. Which, frankly, is more than you should probably know about the movie (thanks trailer-makers!). I can think of 3+ reasons to see this movie, though. Pitt & Jolie are equally pretty, Doug Liman makes a good flick, and it has Vince Vaughan in a “small enough” role. Renter, maybe.
- The Chonicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe - Easily the trailer that left me the most excited. This is the perfect time to launch this franchise: post-LOTR and mid-Potter. From what I remember, the Narnia stories are epic crowd-pleasers with built-in parental buy-in (”It’s a Biblical allegory, yo.”). And the trailer looked GREAT. I’ll be following this one.
- Batman Begins - If I didn’t know as much as I do about this movie, I don’t know how jazzed the trailer would make me. No mention of Memento director Christopher Nolan. Batman-heavy preview scenes in a movie about him GETTING to that point. To me, it looked too much like a 2005 remake of Tim Burton’s Batman. I’m still very excited. Excellent director, great cast, smart decisions. But I don’t know that this trailer advanced the cause. Maybe I’m too close to it.
- Fantastic Four - Ugh. This looked flat and uninteresting. I tried to see this through the eyes of a moviegoer who doesn’t know his Von Doom from his Willy Lumpkin. And through those eyes, this looked like a big snoozer. The Thing is probably the most recognizable icon in this movie and he looks rubbery and terrible. Reed’s powers, if you can divine them from the trailer, are simultaneously creepy and boring. Jessica Alba is hot and forgettable. The villian is The Ghost of Comic Movies’ Past. So boring. (They can’t all be Alfred Molina, sigh). Only The Torch looks and feels right. This movie looks like a disaster, far far more “Daredevil” than “Spider-Man”. This movie will be a bomb and spawn a slew of “comic book movies are over” articles. Pass.
Ronan | 23-May-05 at 3:38 pm | Permalink
They must be playing the same trailers all over the East coast as this is exactly what I saw too. Similar experiences as well, except I think that Mr & Mrs SMith might be one of those rare movies that I can go to see with my own Missus. Looks like there is someone, err, something in it for everyone.
F4 - looked like bollocks. Great review of that one, absolutely agree.
Did you think Narnia looked a little ferocious for wee kiddies? I thought it looked sweet but the Father of Five beside me was trying to figure out how to get his triplet seven year olds to sleep if they ever see it. Looked really good though.
Batman - ths original trailer was much better. It was a lot creepier and more subtle with the Batman portions.
I wish I could say that Episode III was an enormous disappointment but it was exactly what I expected. Seems to be very mixed reviews though, I have read a bunch in which someone went with their kids and enjoyed it immensely.
Ethan | 23-May-05 at 6:48 pm | Permalink
I enjoyed Episode III quite a bit. I’m trying not to talk about it too much.
chope | 25-May-05 at 10:40 pm | Permalink
The FF trailer looked AWFUL. I am wondering if it might be as bad Daredevil… or even as bad as the Roger Corman feature that never gained official release. yuk!