Let me start things off with a preview of what is to come. Literally. This top five list is all about previews. But in all seriousness, here is the first official entry into Clayton's Critical Countdown, and may it set the tone of what this blog will have in store.
Have you ever seen a preview that blew away
all your senses, then months later you went and saw that movie when it came out
and it was just so disappointing, but you still recalled how awesome that first
trailer was? I’m counting down my top 5 movies that I wish had been as awesome
as those first teasers I saw at the cinema.
Criteria: Movie must have either had
good trailer and been anywhere from disappointing to really bad, or had an
amazing trailer and just not quite lived up to how amazing the trailer was.
Honourable Mention: Godzilla (1998). I
never saw this teaser trailer in theaters, but I watched it on the DVD bonus
features, and realized if I had seen that tease back in cinemas I would have
went through the roof with excitement. Just a simple yet harrowing shot of the giant monster's foot smashing through a museum ceiling, crushing a T.rex skeleton,
and then walking off. If only the trailer had shown more of the terrible cgi
that was to come...
5. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011 American version)
I prefer the original Swedish version myself, but David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was still
an impressive adaptation of the book. But remember that trailer for it? That
opening of the snowy driveway, then switching to rapidly cut footage,
constantly cutting back to the driveway, with that thumping cover of Led
Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song playing to the beat of the trailer, with those big
titles taking up the entire screen flashing just long enough for you to read
them? The movie was good, but that was a unique, attention grabbing preview
more thrilling than the actual film.
4. Prometheus
Unlike many fans of the original Alien,
I actually really liked Prometheus.
Despite many discrepancies with the poorly written characters and heady ideas
that failed to fully come to light—all attributable to co-writer Damon
Lindenof—I thought Prometheus was an
exciting and chilling science fiction film that didn’t insult the audiences’
intelligence by explaining everything (but some things could have been explored
a little further) and held its own considering the staggering expectations. One
of the reasons expectations were soaring was the absolutely genius trailer. It
featured the title slowly forming like it did in the original Alien opening credits, over tidbits of
scenes that showcased the lavish set designs and special effects, without
giving too much of the story away. Luckily I knew before going into Prometheus whatever I was about to see
just couldn’t live up to that first trailer, and unfortunately I was right. However, as I mentioned before, I still really liked it.
3. Spider-Man 3
Back in 2001 we got the very first teaser of a Spider-Man movie. It showed Spidey web slinging from the World
Trade Center, but after 9/11 that preview was hastily pulled from theaters. Spider-Man came and went, then we got a
preview for Spider-Man 2, and it was
even better than the first. I remember sitting in the theater waiting for Pirates of the Caribbean 2 to begin,
when the theater went dark and the first preview started. It began with some
text on a red background, then this black goo started stretching over
everything, the camera pulls back, and reveals...black suited Spider Man? From that moment, I was eagerly awaiting
Sam Raimi’s third entry in his Spider-Man
franchise. I went opening night, the theater was packed, and right from the
beginning, I could feel something was off. Wow, was something off, alright. In
retrospect, Spider-Man 3 wasn’t as
bad as everyone (including myself) thought it was. It was, however, a huge step
down from the first two and not even close to the hype the trailer inspired. There
were just too many villains, too many silly moments, and the first two set the
bar exceptionally high. Maybe if the preview had shown emo Tobey Maguire
dancing, then our expectations would have been lower.
2. Terminator Salvation
Most fans of the Terminator
franchise will tell you the first is a classic, T2 is one of the greatest action films of all time, and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines sucks.
As one of those fans, I can and did just confirm this. So when Terminator Salvation was announced, I
was pretty psyched. It had a good cast, and was finally going to show us what
the post-apocalyptic world Skynet had induced was really like. Until Salvation, we’d only seen glimpses of
it, now there was a whole movie set there! The first trailer blew my mind. It
was gritty, action packed, had terrific dialogue, and genuinely looked like the
Terminator I had been waiting for.
Still, I had doubts. I went in with an open mind, just hoping it would be
better than Rise of the Machines.
Well, it was, in most regards. Overall, Terminator
Salvation disappointed, even though I really wanted to like it. Unfortunately,
the action was often sub-par and the story uninspired. I re-watch that trailer and
it makes me wonder: what happened? Then I remember the director’s name is McG
and he made two Charlie’s Angels
movies...
1. TRON: Legacy
Question: what
was the one good thing that came out of going to see Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland? Answer: seeing the TRON: Legacy trailer in 3D. I knew very
little about the 1982 film TRON at
this point, other than it was some guy trapped in a game. The TRON: Legacy preview was jam packed with
vibrant visual effects, had an awesome soundtrack by Daft Punk, and there was
even a shot of Olivia Wilde in a skin tight suit. From that point on, I was
intrigued. Further trailers showed clips from all the action scenes, and guess
what? Those were the best parts. When I see a trailer, I think ‘Wow that looks
great, I hope those aren’t the best parts of the movie.’ In this case, they
were. The rest of the movie was bland and boring, with lots of talking and
little character development. I have since checked out the original TRON and can say, despite the effects
being incomparable to Legacy’s, that
film at least had heart and broke new ground back in the day, plus Jeff Bridges
looked like he actually cared back then and wasn’t just there for the paycheck.
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