Super Bowl XLVIII Trailer Previews

Well, the Super Bowl has come and gone, as the Seattle Seahawks came away with probably one of the most dominant performance in any Super Bowl as they beat the Denver Broncos by a score of 43-8… but that’s not what I’m here to talk about. In fact, I really didn’t watch the game that much. I’m not a big fan of games that are ‘one-sided’, especially if that game happens to be a game like the Super Bowl, but at the same time, I’m glad to see the Seahawks win because they really had a great season and, as a Patriots fan, I’m glad Denver didn’t win. But anyway, instead I’ll be giving my thoughts on a couple of the film ads that aired during the game. I won’t be covering every one of these ads, which include some other films like ‘Noah’, ‘Draft Day’, or ‘Need for Speed’; instead, I’m only going to be looking at the three that I think are the most noteworthy. Two of them are superhero films, while the other gave us our first glimpse at the latest movie in an ongoing franchise. With that said, let’s get started.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER

First off, I just want to point out that for this film I’m mainly talking about the online trailer that was released for it, not the ad that directly aired during the game. With that said, I must say… this is, by far, the best looking superhero film that is set to come out this year, more so than ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’, ‘Amazing Spider-Man 2’, and ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ (of which we have YET to see any footage for). The first trailer was already fantastic but this one continues to give us an idea of what we might be seeing. This film just looks fantastic, and directors Anthony and Joe Russo are making quite the impression considering that this is pretty much their first action film. The visual look of this film really looks incredible and I’m interested to see where they go with the story which seems to have quite a bit of a ‘spy thriller’ vibe. I have a feeling that this could very well end up being the best film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since ‘The Avengers’ and I’m interesting in seeing how the events of this film could potentially impact the MCU in the future.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2

Like with ‘Captain America’ this will also be based on the full-length trailer more than the actual game ads. I’ve gone on record saying that this is my most anticipated film of the year mainly because while I’m haven’t read much comic-books, Spider-Man is my favorite superhero. I also really liked the previous film despite the fact that it was a reboot done too soon, and I’ve liked what I’ve seen so far for this film from the footage shown. This second trailer continues to get me excited to see the film. Although, at the same time, I’m going into this with some hesitation because, like everyone else, I do have a slight fear that this will become another ‘Spider-Man 3’, seeing how there are going to be three villains in this film; Electro, Rhino, and the Green Goblin (as portrayed by Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan), not his father Norman (Chris Cooper)). At the same time though, I have the feeling that Sony realized what went wrong with ‘Spider-Man 3’ so hopefully that understanding translates to this film.

Plus, the news of upcoming spin-off films for Venom and the Sinister Six is very promising so even if one or two of the other villains in this film doesn’t get much screen-time, they will probably have a more substantial role in the latter spin-off. Overall, this movie just looks better than the first film in every way and while I do really like the first film I’m hoping that this one turns out much better. On a final note for this trailer, I love that Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man is more in line with the character because of his wise-cracking personality, as shown by the last scene in the trailer between Peter and Aunt May (‘I was cleaning the chimney…’ ‘We have no chimney.’ ‘What!?’) or an earlier scene where Peter’s trying to wash his costume and tells Aunt May that he’s ‘washing the flag’, despite her telling him that no one does that (‘All right, laundry sheriff…’). Also, while I don’t really want to give anything away about what I THINK might happen in the film, there’s a key scene in the trailer where Peter is saving Gwen Stacy and it has quite a bit in common with a key moment from the comics. I won’t say which one, but comic book fans should know what I’m talking about and there is quite a bit of speculation regarding whether or not that moment will happen in this film. We’ll have to see what happens…

TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION

Finally, let’s talk about the debut teaser for ‘Transformers: Age of Extinction’, the fourth film in the Michael Bay directed ‘Transformers’ franchise or, as I like to call it, the franchise that everyone hates, especially the second and third films. And from what I’ve been hearing online, the response to this trailer has been the general same reaction with the common complaint being that ‘it’s all just the same as the previous three films’. While I am a little more positive towards the footage, I do have to agree with what everyone is saying. There’s no denying that it looks just like the last three films; there’s nothing much in it that looks different, aside from a different cast and different Transformers. But with all of that in mind, for some reason I’m still optimistic about this film. It may just be because I do like the previous three films, and yes even the much-maligned sequels. I do like that they do have a new cast in this one instead of the same characters from the last film, particularly Mark Wahlberg as the new lead. I have a feeling he’s going to be a far better lead than Shia LaBeouf. The other thing that intrigues me is the introduction of the Dinobots. I’m not too familiar with this franchise outside of the movies, but even then, the idea of these dinosaur robots just sounds awesome and I can’t wait to see how this will translate onto film. All in all, I’m just going into this one with low expectations although I will stay optimistic about it.