The Red Band Project

The Force was a bit stronger with this year's crop of trailers during Super Bowl XLV.

Ah yes, the the Super Bowl. It’s that time of the year when ad space on TV costs you $3 million for 30 seconds of airtime (that’s $100,00 every second). With the huge cost for commercials during the big game, each one of those high paid seconds is oh so precious. While fans enjoy the game and sometimes the commercials, rarely do movie trailers ever stand out from everything else on Super Bowl Sunday.

As it has become tradition here at the Red Band Project (my second blog post was about the movie trailers that were shown during Super Bowl XLIII) I took a look at this year’s crop of trailers that where shown during the Super Bowl. These ‘mini-reviews’ of sorts mainly take a look at the excitement level that I felt after watching these trailers AND NOT on the potential quality of the films themselves so be sure to note that. Here’s what we got this year:

	The Eagle Pre-Game :: First Reaction :: Excitement Level: 2/5 I think this trailer gave people what they want to see: Channing, Roman on barbarian action, gratuitous action–it’s all there. Still not convinced using ad dollars for Super Bowl spots is a good idea for films coming out the Friday after the Super Bowl as most of your marketing should already be out by now. However, this was a pregame spot so it could be significantly cheaper for these spots.
	Priest Pre-Game :: Trailer :: First Reaction :: Excitement Level: 3/5 I think they showed a bit more new footage and they definitely showcased the action and post apocalyptic setting of the film. Definitely playing up the supernatural/vampire aspect–which is good. A bit more new stuff, but I was already excited for this film before the Super Bowl.
	Drive Angry Pre-Game :: Trailer :: First Reaction :: Excitement Level: 1/5 After seeing this trailer, I really still have no idea what this film is about nor do I desire to. Nick Cage driving angry . . . that doesn’t sell me. The clips they cut together really didn’t tell much of a story. I think they should have showcased Amber Heard a bit more in an attempt to at least draw a few more male eyes to this film.
	Limitless Pre-Game :: Trailer :: First Reaction :: Excitement Level: 1/5 I think they did their best to try and convey what was going on with the plot of this film, and while for the most part while I do think everything sticks, I did think it might have been a tad confusing for those not already familiar with it. Yes Bradley Cooper gets smarter by taking a pill, but the ramifications of that action I don’t think can be explained in 20 seconds.
	Just Go With It Pre-Game :: Trailer :: First Reaction :: Excitement Level: 4/5 Now this is what I’m talking about! I love the fact that this trailer knows how to have a good time and isn’t afraid to poke fun at itself. I mean, playing up the fact that you have a shot of Sports Illustrated swimsuit and Victoria Secret model Brooklyn Decker coming out of the water in a bikini is pure gold AND speaks to the comedic nature of the film. The best part . . . the narrator tells guys at the end to “tell your girlfriend it’s a romantic comedy.” Hilarious!
	Battle: Los Angeles Pre-Game :: Trailer :: First Reaction :: Excitement Level: 5/5 I like the gritty and realistic feel that this trailer took by using the psudo-documentary news reporting viewpoint as a way to set the stage in the first part of the trailer. Combine that with the quick montage cuts with no audio (just a score featuring menacing ear piercing chords) and you have a very suspense filled trailer. Definitely feeling that District 9 vibe from this trailer as well.
	Fast Five First Quarter :: Trailer :: First Reaction :: Excitement Level: 4/5 Can a series get better as it goes on? From this short trailer we definitely know what we’re in for from the Fast & Furious crew this time around. We find out the story, the stakes that are involved, and we also get A TON of vehicular acrobatics and action. Oh yeah, did I mention that they added Dwayne Johnson (aka The Rock) to the mix this time around as well?
	Cowboys & Aliens 1st Quarter :: Trailer :: First Reaction :: Excitement Level: 4/5 I like it when trailers tell you a story, it makes things a lot more interesting. Kudos to director Favreau who personally put together this spot. While we get some semblance of the story, I think it’s the new action sequences and the new looks at the aliens that really give us a better idea of what this film will be (True Grit but with aliens?). Loved that last scene at the end where someone jumps onto one of those alien fliers.
	Transformers: Dark of the Moon 2nd Quarter :: Trailer :: First Reaction :: Excitement Level: 5/5 Damn you Michael Bay! You make this trailer for Transformers 3 look so good with lots of great action shots, scenes of robots attacking cities, only an ominous/forboding score for audio, and to cap it all off . . . you have Optimus Prime with his sword tearing it up to finish off the trailer. Sadly, who can ever forget Transformers Revenge of the Fallen. Sadly, I think I’m officially sucked into wanting to see this movie.
	Thor 2nd Quarter :: Trailer :: First Reaction :: Excitement Level: 1/5 I wasn’t all that excited after seeing this trailer for Thor. Most of the footage in the trailer we’ve already seen from Comic Con and the previous Thor trailer. There were a few short glimpses of new stuff, but on the whole, nothing to really get me all that excited. While the trailer told us the basic story, that’s about all it did.
	Super 8 2nd Quarter :: Trailer :: First Reaction :: Excitement Level: 4/5 Director JJ Abrams is meticulously getting everyone psyched up for this next film. To be quite honest, only a few basic things can be gleaned from this trailer . . . some kind of force is unleashed when a train crashes, there is some type of military/authoritative involvement/cover up, a boy captures some type of secret on film, and all of this leads to danger. And if you didn’t notice it during the game, there’s that ominous voice “Do not speak of this. If you do, it will find you.”
	Captain America: The First Avenger 2nd Quarter :: Trailer :: First Reaction :: Excitement Level: 4/5 Getting our first look at it, I’m definitely warming up to the World War II setting of the film. You get a sense that the film seems authentic just from the “look” that you get from the clips. I also didn’t realize that it was still Chris Evans who was in the early scenes of the trailer as a scrawny Steve Rogers (he’s pulling some Christian Bale Machinist action in this film) so good job there making the character really transform. After seeing this, I’m a little less worried about the campiness potential of this film.
	Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides 3rd Quarter :: Trailer :: First Reaction :: Excitement Level: 2/5 I think I have to stand by my original assessment tweet about this movie . . . it definitely looks like more of the same that we’ve seen already from the Pirates franchise. The trailer didn’t really give us a good sense for the story. To me all it told us was that Captain Jack Sparrow is back with witty repartee, there’s some supernatural elements to this film, and there’s also an iconic pirate bad guy (stop me when you’ve heard this before). The highlight was that this movie was partially shot in Hawaii; so as a resident of Hawaii I am legally obligated to see this film.
	Rango 4th Quarter :: Trailer :: First Reaction :: Excitement Level: 1/5 The setup that this trailer provides was pretty good I thought, string together two scenes with a montage of shots from the film and we have a pretty basic plot for this film. However, the most that I gathered from this trailer was that Rango looks funny, is going to have a lot of action/comedy/romance/other stuff, and that “he is going to die.” I don’t think this trailer really resonated with me since I think these animals are kinda frightening.
	Rio 4th Quarter :: Trailer :: First Reaction :: Excitement Level: 1/5 This trailer for Rio was actually the first trailer I saw for this film. I thought it was cute and colorful and did a pretty decent job of letting us know the basic plot of the film will be about this bird trying to learn how to fly (at least the basic premise of the film anyway). While the trailer did try to convey it’s comedic chops, I wasn’t all that enticed into seeing it. Never saw Ice Age (the trailer hypes this film as being “from the creators of Ice Age”) and this trailer didn’t do anything for me to make me want to see Rio.

Overall I thought we had a pretty good crop of trailers this year. While there was no film that really jumped out and established itself during the Super Bowl, we did get to see a couple of first looks from films this year. Another thing that probably helped make these trailers seem a little better overall is that Hollywood seems to be rebounding this year after a ‘not so great’ year in 2010, which is why such a high number of trailers were shown this year (9 in game, 6 during pre-game). Only time will tell how well these films will do.