What Did You Think of the Movie Trailers Unveiled at Comic Con?

This past weekend was Comic Con, an event that interests people like me from afar because of newly released movie trailers. I probably shouldn’t watch them, but I just get so excited and curious about these movies that I can’t help it. I allowed myself one viewing per trailer.

Tonight I thought I’d list the new trailers and my overall reactions to them: What are they? Do the movies look good? Am I more or less excited to see them now? And so on. Here we go, in no particular order:

  • Aquaman: This looks pretty good. I’m certainly going to see it. The most exciting thing to me about the trailer is that it looks like a fascinating deep dive (literally) into an underwater world. Jason Momoa also looks like he’s having a lot of fun.
  • Glass: I’m certainly intrigued by this unexpected trilogy (Unbreakable, Split, now this). The trailer is a bit uneven, though I think that’s on purpose–we’re not supposed to know if they’re fighting with or against each other. This is one I want to see and I want to be good, but reviews may impact my decision to see it.
  • Godzilla: King of the Monsters: This was biggest surprise for me. The trailer is superb, particularly the glimpses at the sheer spectacle paired with poignant music (Debussy’s “Claire de Lune”). I really want to watch this trailer again, but it’s one I want to forget as quickly as possible so the movie is completely fresh upon release. It looks epic, and it’ll be a must-see for me on the big screen.
  • Shazam!: I know nothing about Shazam, but I read something before watching the trailer that really intrigued me. The idea is that it’s a kid who is granted the ability to say “Shazam!” and temporarily turn into an adult superhero. The interview I read said that it’s a fresh take on the genre because the hero actually WANTS to be a hero instead of brooding about it. I like that. After watching the trailer, I’m still intrigued, but the production quality looks closer to that of a CW television show than a big superhero movie. Hopefully that will evolve as the movie gets closer to release.
  • Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald: As much as I love the world of Harry Potter, I simply could not get into the first movie. It had a really odd pace to it…I’ve never been able to describe it, but it’s something about director David Yates (like all of his Harry Potter movies, they look great, but the pacing, tone, and editing don’t work for me). I got the same feeling from the trailer. It’s is filled with lots of over-the-top action, but unless the reviews indicate a must-see masterpiece, I think I’ll skip the movie.
  • Predator: This actually looks like a lot of fun. Shane Black (the director) is hit-and-miss for me (I loved Kiss Kiss Bang Bang but not Iron Man 3), but he has a good cast (Keegan-Michael Key is always fun and I’m very attracted to Olivia Munn) and what looks to be a nice twist on the format. Again, it’s slightly dependent on reviews, but I came away from the trailer more likely to see it than I was before.

These trailers are compiled here and here, along with a bunch of TV trailers that I won’t get into (though some of them do look cool).

What are your reactions to these trailers? Do they make you excited about the upcoming movies?

1 thought on “What Did You Think of the Movie Trailers Unveiled at Comic Con?”

  1. Comment from Adrian B:

    I think Shazam! was best described (by a news outlet I don’t recall) as a superhero version of Tome Hanks’ film ‘Big’. It looks entertaining, but it mainly fluff. I am not a big Captain Marvel buff, but I liked that he held a place as a magical counterpart to Superman, with a similarly naive (or innocent) faith in humanity.

    I have to say that your appraisal of the production values seems accurate, as the glowing chest emblem and wristbands literally look like plastic toys.

    I also am curious whether they will even bother to address the patently absurd notions of the Shazam power source (Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, Mercury) as these represent figures from Greek, Roman and Hebrew mythology, with some pretty dramatic spacing in temporal proximity. Really just feels like the guys who made Captain Marvel in the first place had little care or interest in continuity (which is fine, it was the ’40s I think, and they had no way to know that the internet could eventually be a ‘thing’) but now we’re stuck, 80 years later, with perfectly intelligent writers and creators trying to shoe-horn explanations for this stuff or simply ignore it.

    Personally, I just want it to be a moderately interesting take, with as few holes in the plot as possible. Don’t bother taking me behind the curtain on why a 12-year old can turn into a magical Mr. Universe, just give him some excellent reasons to use his powers and some interesting reasons to consider why he should or shouldn’t.

    Oh, and maybe don’t cast the gangly ‘Nerd Herd’ guy as the uber buff Captain Marvel. He’s endearing and all, I just can’t get past the idea that this is all just some ‘intersect’-fueled nightmare, and keeo expecting Yvonne Strahovski to jump in and save him.

    Please tell me she and Adam Baldwin have cameos…

    Reply

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