Fanboy Comics: Super Bowl Teaser Post-Game Analysis
Written by: Sam Rhodes, Special to CC2K
Fanboy Comics Creative Director Sam Rhodes breaks down his favorite ads from Sunday night.
Well, we lost the Super Bowl (three turnovers, Steelers? Really?!), but it wasn’t all bad. We got to see a whole bunch of new footage from movies promising to make this summer very exciting for us fans. Below are links to the TV spots and my humble opinion on what we saw.
Cowboys & Aliens Super Bowl TV Spot!!!
I have been excited about this movie ever since I first heard about it while sitting in Hall H at the 2010 SDCC (the last SDCC I may ever attend unless they figure out this ticket thing, eh Barb?!). This movie from Dreamworks/Universal is based on a graphic novel of the same name written by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg. The movie has some heavy-hitters involved like Favreau, Howard, and Spielberg, and the cast is equally as exciting with Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, and Keith Carradine. Having not read the graphic novel, the movie seems to be a mash up of gritty western and sci-fi action. How could it be anything but amazing? The teaser that aired during the Super Bowl featured a ton of new footage (highlight: when Daniel Craig leaps from his horse onto a speeding UFO). Distinct from any other clips/trailers we’ve seen so far, this one was far more testosterone-fueled, giving us 30 seconds of explosions, bar brawls, crashing spaceships, and naked Olivia Wilde. What’s not to love?
Battle: Los Angeles Super Bowl TV Spot!!!
This teaser was released a month or two ago and still looks pretty darn good to me. The movie chronicles an alien invasion in L.A. Apparently, they’re looking to colonize Earth for its resources. The effects highlighted in the trailer look incredible: lots of cool Alien tech, L.A. burning, etc. Mostly, what looks cool about this movie is the scale of the invasion. They do a great job of making the humans look completely unprepared and hopeless. Ultimately, it kind of looks like another Independence Day, only without Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, and Randy Quaid. This film stars Aaron Eckhart and Michelle Rodriguez, and, though the teaser is pretty exciting, I’m really just luke warm about seeing the movie.
Transformers: Dark Of The Moon Super Bowl TV Spot!!!
Do you want car crashes and explosions? Do you want giant robots destroying Earth? Do you want a blonde-haired, blue-eyed female lead instead of a dark-haired, dark-eyed one? Then, you want the new Transformers: Dark of the Moon 30-second teaser. That’s really all this is. I didn’t see either of the other movies, and this one looks to be about the same speed. There isn’t even a single line of dialogue in this spot. Hopefully, the movie will be that way, too. Michael Bay really needs to stick to Victoria Secret commercials, if you ask me. My favorite part is that the very first thing you see is a black screen with his personal website on it: michaelbay.com. Way to throw that in there, Bay.
Super 8 Super Bowl TV Spot!!!
“Do not speak of this. If you do, they will find you.” These are the words that are spoken over the Super 8 Super Bowl teaser. I believe this is the first we’ve seen of this movie, and it looks great. I think it takes place in an early 80s rural american town, judging by the clothes and hairstyles of the actors. And, though you can’t tell exactly what’s going on, it has something to do with some monster/alien that a group of kids see in the background of their super 8 footage. I guess it comes looking for them, or maybe the government does; I don’t know. Regardless, it seems like a classic Spielberg action flick (produced by the man) and directed by J.J. Abrams. E.T. meets Cloverfield, only without all of that shaky handheld footage. I couldn’t be happier!!!
Thor Super Bowl TV Spot!!!
The Thor teaser really makes this movie look like it’s gonna be good, and, man, I hope it will! This is pretty much a shorter version of the official trailer focusing mainly on Thor’s time on Earth. Like the others, it is heavy on action, but they do add a funny little exchange that we haven’t seen before between Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman driving somewhere presumably to prove something to her, which kinda makes it for me.
Portman: “Who are you?”
Hemsworth: “You’ll see soon enough!”
Potman: “God, I hope you’re not crazy.”
Hemsworth: [Laughs]
It kinda grounds the film for me, which is important for me in a story that is so fantastical. This should end up being a quality Marvel project, and I hope they’re rewarded with box office success.
Captain America: The First Avenger Super Bowl TV Spot!!!
This is the most we’ve seen of Chris Evans in costume, and, I must say, I’m not sure what I think. I was really hoping for a gritty story and maybe it will turn out this way, but what I’m seeing here looks awfully clean. Captain America can be kinda goofy, and I think the best way to tell a story about him is to go completely the other way with it, like Mark Millar’s Ultimates. Much of what we’ve seen so far from the movie (poster one, poster two, photos) indicated it would be dark, but this teaser seemed a little too cartoonish. We did, on the other hand, see some AMAZING things in this trailer, including the before and after of Steve Rogers, which look great. Also, the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) looks equally incredible. I guess I wanted this movie to be more of a war movie than a superhero movie, and I’m not sure it’s going that way, but that doesn’t mean it’s gonna be bad.
Sam Rhodes is the Creative Director of Fanboy Comics, an independent comic book publishing company based in Los Angeles, Calif. For more interviews, blogs, and reviews by Sam and the FBC staff, check out the Fanboy Comics website at FanboyComics.net or sign up for the e-newsletter, The Fanboy Scoop, by emailing subscribe@fanboycomics.net.