10 Trailers That Completely Mis-Sold The Movie

Honourable Mention - Brothers

When compiling this list, Brothers was one of the movies that immediately came to mind. A remake of Danish hit Brødre, it tells the story of a US Marine returning home after being presumed dead, convinced his brother and wife have entered into an affair. With an incredibly competent cast (Tobey Maguire, Natalie Portman, Jake Gyllenhaal), it would have been an intense family drama, if it weren't for the trailer. It€™s common to hear people say that a trailer gives away the entire plot of a film and this is no truer than with Brothers. Now in a film such as this, where the action is pushed forward by the emotions of the characters and there is little in the way of visual spectacle, it€™s understandable for a trailer to focus on the rare moments of action. Brothers, however spends so much of the plot dealing with characters repressing their feelings, that these moments are even more sparse than expected. Rather than using creative editing like some culprits later on, the marketing department decided instead to just have the film€™s ending at the end of the trailer €“ a decision made worse in that the previous two minutes had already been a perfectly condensed version of the plot. This film doesn't make the list because it€™s hard to say the trailer actually mis-sells the film. In fact, it is an overly honest representation; one that ruins the enjoyment because we know the ending from the beginning. It€™s like getting full from the appetiser, but not worthy of making the list. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xYyCCjLpZs
 
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Film Editor (2014-2016). Loves The Usual Suspects. Hates Transformers 2. Everything else lies somewhere in the middle. Once met the Chuckle Brothers.