The Avengers Super Bowl Trailer Review - The Event Movie of 2012
It did everything a good trailer should, balance a substantial amount of action with enough enigma and peril to give you tingles that this is not just another movie; it’s an event, one that, if it’s possible, rivals the Super Bowl itself.
Its difficult to comprehend why an American Football event excites me so much because, contrary to what my ultra-macho physique and demeanour give off, American Football is of complete disinterest to me. Maybe because when I was 11 years old and I was 4 ft 10 and 6 stone I was made to compete with the actual rugby team in PE and after my spine reattachment surgery was over I was put off homoerotic contact sport until it resembled me going all John McLean on those Rugby jocks with a baseball bat, but also because the whole format of play resembles something only Michael Bay would call entertainment: 1 Minute of testosterone pumped screaming and running around whilst people fall over and yell things aggressively. 6 minutes of congratulating each other you did that whilst half naked women dance around and the crowd try their best to justify their own continuing existence. Repeat. However, this morning I found myself hurtling out of bed in a confused state after a poor nights sleep, the adrenaline was coursing through me as I fumbled over my laptop desperately hitting nonsensical words in to Google; I was not trying to quickly make up for the fact I missed yesterdays cold shower before class; nor was I actually Googling The Avengers Superbowl trailer; I was trying to remember if there was a new Amazing Spider-Man trailer during the Superbowl. There wasnt. Damn. I tell you this not because this blog is actually a massaging of my own ego, it is to highlight to you how little interest I held in The Avengers, having held every pre-avenger film other than Iron Man as a substantial disappointment and the original trailer doing nothing but making me think; Oh good, its Robert Downey Jr. Playing Robert Downey Jr. For two and a half hours whilst shit blows up around him and the film looks exactly the same as all the other films before it: Too shiny and nice to be taken seriously. However today you will find me a changed man. As the new Avengers trailer did not only look awesome, it took my face, put it in a blender, let a savage dog rip it to shreds and then gave it to my mother for dinner (...in a good way). It did everything a good trailer should, balance a substantial amount of action with enough enigma and peril to give you tingles that this is not just another movie; its an event, one that, if its possible, rivals the Super Bowl itself. I took a fair bit of criticism on a previous trailer review for suggesting that The Dark Knight Rises could be the defining film of our generation; this was clearly said by people trying to deny the truth that we live in an age where adaptations and sequels dominate our yearly cinema visits which is why the biggest films this year are all of that ilk (The Amazing Spider-Man, The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, Prometheus, The Hobbit) but this trailer says to me that this not such a bad age to live in. Yesterday you would have found me saying that Marvel films are the worst culprits of all, as they all have the same look, the same repetitive back story and nature to be too long and too self involved. However full credit to Joss Whedon who, it seems, has managed to add some more grit and originality to the directorial style of this in comparison to other Marvel films which all had that same Aww isnt everything lovely and sunny? sheen to it whilst riding the line of Batman Begins total tone of desperation and even more self-involvement. The trailer is packed with brilliant imagery, from the standard action opening of slow motion imagery of everyone in despair and a wise person giving a voice over to Iron Man blasting shit out of the sky, Thors glorious hair blowing in the wind on top of a plane which felt like a remnant of one of the Loreal ads that came before and the first shot of them all together in the middle of New York...Oh my Ive got tingles. This trailer does have a few little discrepancies though. So far they have done little to tell us that this isnt going to just be the Captain America and Iron Man show. Which would be a shame, as they are two of the least interesting characters when the real focus should be on Thor (and his wonderful, wonderful hair) as he is the one doing the small deal of trying to kill his homicidal maniac brother, come on now Marvel. Are you telling me that wouldnt get Thor talking? Shedding a tear? Doing anything other than running around being a glorified blacksmith? No? It also fails to give any purpose to Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye who feels even more pointless than his cameo in Thor, his mainstream career now turning into a Will Ferrell and Adam McKay vehicle. Same goes for Scarlett Johansson as Black-Widow who is so far just a female in latex there to keep the people who got into comic books as a way around their mum being ashamed at their internet history salivating. However these niggles fail to worry me, because whether its Samuel L Jackson saying I still believe in heroes which oozes importance or Chris Evans looking moody (or being Captain America, either way the result is the same) this trailer tingles with the brilliance of something epic. True, you can make almost anything look good in 1 minute. But you cant make something look THIS good. Also the simple fact remains...They have a Hulk. P.S Im talking about this 1 minute trailer. There are some other ones circling the net which are shorter. Its Marvels official one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gegU39tMbW4#! The Avengers opens in May.