If you don't know anything about geek conventions, this week may seem weirdly prolific in terms of film trailers. Well, this is the magical time of year when CinemaCon happens and that inevitably means that every company under the sun is going to show off some shiny new trailer footage. And while usually the policy of these kinds of things is, "If you didn't come you don't get to see the trailer," sometimes studios will release the trailer anyway. Thus, we have three new trailers for upcoming comic book properties to talk about today.
Let's start off with a relatively simple one: a "Shazam!" promo released on April Fool's Day. This is a pretty simple 30-second spot, it doesn't even reveal anything about the movie other than it comes out Thursday. It starts out by making you think it's a trailer for the second "Aquaman" film. However, it's immediately interrupted by Billy Batson (Zachary Levi) who spray paints over the trailer to plug his own movie.
This would be a really clever prank on the audience if the joke wasn't spoiled in the title.
Not much else to say about this one: it's a good attempt at humor, though by a studio that hasn't internalized the concept that you can't surprise somebody if you ruin the surprise. Oh, and my review for "Shazam!" will be running Monday, by the way.
Well, with that shameless plug out of the way, let's move on to Marvel. "Avengers: Endgame" is officially more anticipated than the Second Coming, so of course the newest trailer got 11.7 million views within the first 24 hours it was released.
Even though I'm not at all a fan of the Marvel films, I can say they know how to put together a trailer. They know exactly what the fans want to see; Rocket Raccoon holding hands with Nebula. Iron Man and Captain America finally reconciling. Captain Marvel not even flinching when Thor summons his ax. They manage to make the trailer seem like a big thing even though half the footage is people sitting around looking sad.
The one complaint I have is that the trailer reveals too much that would've been better left ambiguous. For example, they confirm that Iron Man and Nebula make it back to Earth alive, which was kind of an open question in the last trailer. Even the cast has said that it gives too much of the movie away. Oh well; Lord knows my complaints won't make a difference to this movie's box office gross.
After swinging around to Marvel, we swing right back around to DC with the first full-length trailer for "Joker."
If you haven't had your hand on the pulse of the geek community for the past few years, it's almost impossible to explain how much baggage DC has built up. They've spent the past decade trying to pander to their fanbase with dark, gritty, "adult" versions of their characters and then trying to ineptly spin on their heel once they realize too late that it wasn't a good idea. They're basically a total shambling mess held together by those hopeless naive fanboys that still hold the incorrect opinion that the garbage that they're watching/reading is actually good. However, it seems with their movies are making some radical changes that have the chance to pay off. They seem to be moving away from Marvel's cinematic universe approach and just making anthology films with their characters.
This really shows in the first trailer for "Joker," starring Joaquin Phoenix. The trailer looks less like a comic book movie and more like an indie drama that would premiere at Sundance. The tone is dark and tragic, but in a good way. The kind of way that says the filmmakers came up with the tone organically instead of forcing it out. It seems like it could be a compelling drama... if it wasn't being made for a comic book audience. The trailer is full of Phoenix's on-the-nose voice over. "I used to think my life was a tragedy," he says. "But now I realize it's a comedy." Gee, glad you completely spelled that one out for us. It's not like it's the character's whole identity that we could've figured out for ourselves.
It's important to remember that trailers are not released for our sake. They're here to hype us up for the film and leach money from our wallets. However, we shouldn't let them do that. We should always remember that any film, no matter how horrible, can look like a masterpiece. So put down that Joker makeup and put away your Iron Man mask. Rip up your optimism like a picture of your ex-girlfriend. Put on your skeptic glasses to shield your eyes from the blinding glare of possible disappointment.
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