Monday, February 14, 2022

A Reel Review: The Super Bowl Movie Trailers




The Super Bowl has traditionally been the event for studios to roll out trailers for their upcoming films of the summer; taking advantage of the many, many eyeballs they usually wouldn’t reach. With last year hijacked by COVID, this year’s Super Bowl LVI was the first full-blown opportunity to roll out the best of the upcoming Summer Movie Season since 2019. Here now are The Good, The Bad, and The Glorious trailers for films destined for a big-screen debut. 

 

 

 

THE GOOD

 

NOPE – This horror/thriller/mystery by Jordan Peele (GET OUT, US), had a full trailer released earlier in the day, and this TV spot was a shortened version of it. The quick spot suffered a little from the shortened running time, but still had an excellent build of mystery and atmosphere. 

 

 

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2 – The second film based on the beloved long-running video game character was action-packed, and gave us great looks at Jim Carrey’s returning villain Doctor Robotnik, along with Sonic’s sidekick Tails (voiced by Colleen O’Shaughnessey), and his rival Knuckles (Idris Elba). 

 

 

AMBLUANCE – This Michael Bay thriller sees two bank robbers (Jake Gyllenhall, Yaha Abdul-Mateen II), steal an ambulance occupied by a police officer in critical condition. The many shots of mayhem are backed by a dramatic score which makes the film seem more serious than it probably will be, but it still works very well. 

 

 

THE BAD

 

THE LOST CITY – This romantic adventure comedy with Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum rolled out a spot that made the film look like a cheap JUNGLE CRUISE knock-off. 

 

 

You get negative points for not showing up. There were notable absences from high-profile films such as TOP GUN: MAVERICK, DC Comics’ THE BATMAN and BLACK ADAM, and Pixar’s LIGHTYEAR. As great as it felt to see movie trailers return to the Super Bowl, it felt like there should have been a lot more. 

 

 

THE GLORIOUS

 

JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION – This was a cut-down version of the full trailer that stomped its way onto the internet a few days prior, but the shorter running time did not impact its power. Backed with a beefed-up rendition of the classic John Williams’ score, and a recycled voiceover from dino-creator John Hammond (the late great Richard Attenborough), this DOMINION trailer gave a new life to the franchise that sorely needs it after its last clunky film. JURASSIC PARK alums Laura Dern, Sam Neill, and Jeff Goldblum make a welcome return, and the trailer showcased some impressive shots of the dinosaurs making chaos. 

 

 

DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS – No trailer released last night sent the internet into hyper-analytical mode than this spot for the 28th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Building on the events of the recent SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME, and their WANDAVISION streaming series, MADNESS seems true to its name; popping the cork on the vast multiverse and all of its alternate realities. Since the trailer dropped, scores of fans have been analyzing every frame looking for clues, debating, and creating a huge buzz. That’s what a great trailer should always do. 

 

 

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Super Bowl LVII will be played February 12, 2023. 





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