Ah, it's that time of year again, where Comic-Con releases trailers that are set to bound us for imminent joy or disappointment. It's always fun to try and figure out where things will be headed though (though what do I know, this time last year I thought 'Captain America: Civil War' was going to a complete utter mess and that Jesse Eisenberg would be a contender for my Best Supporting Actor ballot 2015).
Snowden
Um, I don't know. I pretty much feel the same about this as I felt before: tentative interest, but I think I'll probably check the documentary out before I take a look at this because in all honesty, it looks like Oliver Stone is going down the whole extremely heavy-handed political route. Joseph Gordon-Levitt looks extremely mannered here but he could be good. Everything seems like it's going to be extremely overblown though, and I can't help but feel at this point that a director with a more subtler hand at generating tension and mystery, like Gavin Hood maybe, would be a better choice.
Blair Witch
I'm probably not going to see this. I wasn't a big fan of the original found footage hit and I certainly have not been piqued up any sort of interest level to see this, particularly based on this trailer. Sorry.
Wonder Woman
Gal Gadot and her portrayal of Wonder Woman in Batman v.s. Superman was easily one of the highlights, if a hastily handled one, of a deeply flawed film, and I must confess I thus enjoyed this trailer a great deal. It looks like they're going to embrace the grandeur of the Amazonian princess to its fullest, as can be seen in the opening few scenes of the trailer, and that's fine with me. The action sequences look every bit as effective as I'd expected them to be, and it looks like Gadot will be perfectly fine at carrying both the physical and dramatic weight of the film. Add in some Chris Pine as an old-fashioned fighter pilot sort and the WWII backdrop, and some big names popping up here and there, and a throwback feel reminiscent of say a better version of The First Avenger. Alongside Black Panther, this is another breakout cinematic universe side-character (though Wonder Woman is arguably the most important Justice League member) whose story I can't wait to see.
Justice League
I feel like this trailer almost gives up too much away, already. I was expecting a lot less footage and exposure of the new D.C. universe characters, but at the very least this was an intriguing trailer. I like that Batffleck is being placed front and centre, his little journey with Gadot's Wonder Woman should be fun to watch. I'll get it out of the way that I feel like the whole way in which the D.C. cinematic universe hasn't been done in the most streamlined manner, it feels like these characters are being thrust into the limelight to soon, most of them haven't even had their proper introductions yet let alone a film, and the way they were shoehorned into BvS means very little to me. Jason Mamoa, Ezra Miller and Ray Fisher look like good fits for their respective superheroes thus far though, so I'm willing to give this a shot. Suffice to say my expectations have heightened as opposed to lowered.
Suicide Squad
Again, another trailer which gave too much away, but in this case I forgive it since its coming to the silver screen very soon anyway. Suicide Squad is a film I've gradually grown a substantial amount of interest in over the past few months. I don't have extremely high expectations, I'm somewhat dubious about the casting of Will Smith as a cold villain (and especially as what seems to be effectively the lead of the film), the re-shoots have raised suspicions, and as always with these big ensemble pieces things could always go wrong. I'm still quite excited though. I really hope Margot Robbie and Jared Leto nail their iconic parts, and in the case that the latter that even if he doesn't surpass Ledger (which is of course a near impossible feat) he'll devise a characterization worthy of praise on his own, and the action sequences look wonderfully done. I also liked the added screentime given to Viola Davis' Amanda Waller and Jai Courtney's Boomerang. Here's my bet that they'll be the highlights.
Kong: Skull Island
I hate to pre-judge a film, but this one is just giving off the wrong sort of vibes for me. Firstly, why cast great character actors like Samuel L. Jackson and John Goodman if you're probably just going to underuse them and kill them off, now maybe that won't happen but look within the same cinematic universe what they did to Bryan Cranston in Godzilla, they basically rid the second half of the film of any major dramatic impact because they removed the best thing about it. Also, do we really need another Kong film so soon, King Kong from 2005 was pretty solid, and this time round instead of the luminous old-style Hollywood take we seem to have a pretty generic 'band of adventurers find big creature' deal here. In fact it looks kind of like this year's Tarzan, though that had a funny Samuel L. Jackson, this one seems to have him phoning him in. Anyway I digress, I'm more cynical about projects like this than most and there were some decent moments in the trailer, like the final reveal. It's just that nothing really lingered on in my mind afterwards.
P.S. I hope Brie Larson doesn't fall into the Best Actress jinx trap. And I hope Tom Hiddleston soon gets a role he can actually act in (yes, The Night Manager has proved that he CAN act).
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
I'm hoping that The Man From U.N.C.L.E. proves to be more than just a positive blip on a downwards trajectory for Ritichie...but this trailer did very little for me. Where I thought Ritchie's style was very much in tune with the adventures of Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin in the snzzy 1960's, it seems just as out of place with the Arthurian legends as they did with Sherlock Holmes and the nullified charm of RDJ. The whole jokey vibe could possible work, I'll have to see more, and Charlie Hunnam actually seems like a charismatic enough leading presence, but the casting of 2010's Jude Law as a villain, and some fairly unremarkable imagery thus far, leads me to feel like this might be another blockbuster I might not be as keen to check out.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
I pretty much feel exactly the same about this film as before and after I viewed this trailer. They're doing the right thing in not showing TOO much yet, but rather just snippets here and there of setpieces rather than giving away huge chunks of the plot. It'll be an interesting watch no matter what, it'll be intriguing to see what Warner Bro's will do outside the general confines of Hogwarts and the solid base of the original Harry Potter series, though they do seem to be playing into the nostalgia for those books and films with the use of Hedwig's theme. They seem to be using the U.S.A. setting for all it's worth though which I like, there's a streak of nice humour to the trailer I rather liked, Eddie Redmayne seems like he's going to be utilizing his rarely used charm here, and the special effects look great. Consider me as interested as I was before.
Alas, I can't help but think that while I like the casting of Colin Farrell, it's a shame they didn't make him Irish. We need more Irish wizards!
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