8. World War Z
To be honest, when I first saw all the previews and trailers for World War Z, I didn't know the movie was about zombies. I don't know what I had assumed the Z to stand for, but I saw no context clues in this trailer that would lead me to think, "Oh, this is not just an apocalypse story, it's a zombie apocalypse story." There was a mention of marshall law and shots of people falling on top of each other as they were getting shot, so I went with it and figured it was a movie about some sort of political upheaval; obviously I've never read the book, so these were my conclusions from the trailers. In any case, those shots of people collapsing over one another while trying to escape and flying towards the screen when sucked out of an airplane are powerful enough to really sell the trailers. As for the trailer shots of Brad Pitt trying to protect his family and his daughter whimpering in a red-lit room, at the risk of sounding heartless, we've seen that before. Take 2012, The Day After Tomorrow, you name it: we've seen the world chaos movies that focus on families having to stick together and use this time of chaos to reunite with one another. Then again, a reliable cookie-cutter storyline can be a comfort to hesitant audiences spending ten dollars to go to theaters. Brad Pitt starring in an action thriller is a five-word statement enough to sell tickets so quickly you'd think the world was ending. However, what makes this trailer truly brilliant is its smartly crafted use of depth and cool crowd CGI in its action shots. Audiences watching the trailers could thus come away thinking that they've seen the same family story, the same action template that defines summer blockbusters, the same star in similar roles, and the same somewhat tacky population toll counter in exercised in several movies before. But with the angles, depth, and quick flashes of CGI that looks well-utilized upon first impression (flashes, so that there is not enough of it yet shown to criticize or, at the least, look at closely for realness in the trailer alone) this is one action thriller that differentiates itself in its trailer as one you can justifiably buy into for its showiness alone.