The past week has been like Christmas for film fans, with trailers seemingly dropping every day. The first trailer is for the highly-anticipated Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
After the thirty-second teaser dropped in December, we have been treated to a full-length minute and a half trailer. Opening on a sweeping shot of a speeder skimming over the cast dessert of Tatooine, the camera pans out to show a crashed Star Destroyer. From there, a narration by Mark Hamill plays over shots of Darth Vader’s melted helmet, a fleet of X-Wings flying over water, Luke Skywalker’s robotic arm reaching out to R2-D2, and a squadron of storm troopers with newly designed helmets. Finally, the trailer ends with Han Solo, played by an aged Harrison Ford, and Chewbacca in the corridors of the Millenian Falcon, with Han remarking “We’re home.”
Technically a teaser, this trailer certainly teases a lot. A full length trailer is expected to drop before the debut of Mad Max: Fury Road. While entertaining, it does not really tell us anything about the plot or tone of the film. What we do know from this teaser is that the Empire has survived, in some form, as the storm troopers are still around.
There is also a Sith in this new film, as the red tribladed lightsaber is shown once more. And finally, someone has taken Darth Vader’s melted mask from his cremation site on Endor, and it probably is not for a good cause. Nonetheless, I am incredibly excited for The Force Awakens, and December 18 cannot come fast enough.
One of the other most highly anticipated films also had a full length trailer finally released. The Man of Steel sequel Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice released its first trailer online on Friday. The trailer spends a long time zooming in on a statue of Superman, while a narration of news reporter defames Superman as a destroyer rather than a god, likely due to the damage caused to Metropolis in the first film while he was battling General Zod. The statue is then revealed to be vandalized, claiming Kal-El to be a false god. The trailer then shows Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne looking at his batsuit, and then his batplane and batmobile in action. The trailer finally ends with Batman in his suit looking at Superman, promising him he will bleed. Batman v. Superman is sure to be an entertaining film. Man of Steel was action overkill in the best way possible, so to see Batman in the place of Zod, with Zack Snyder directed action is sure to be one heck of a ride.
Finally, a trailer for the live action adaptation of the Japanese anime Attack on Titan was released. Attack on Titan is the one anime I have seen, and there is vast cinematic potential. The fictional universe is about a walled mega city, where the remainder of humanity lives after giants known as titans have eaten the rest of the world’s population. The plot focuses on Eren Yaeger, a teen who is driven to destroy all of the titans after they breach the wall of his neighborhood and kill his family. The series follows Eren’s enlistment in the military, where he advances through the ranks to drive back the titan threat.
The film is being produced by Toho, the company that created my favorite film series, Godzilla. The trailer is in Japanese, and there is not a subtitled version available yet, but the visuals are striking, with the city looking much lived in. The CGI of the titans do not look the best, but Japanese films typically cannot match the budget of Hollywood blockbusters.
The cast looks like they are popping out of the anime series. Hopefully, Attack on Titan will get a limited release in theaters in the US, for I would love to see titans battling on the big screen.
So, which trailer did you love the most? Email me with feedback, and I’d love to discuss it with you!
