23.7.08

gather 'round...it's trailer talk!

The Spirit: I really don’t get the marketing campaign for this film. First, we get posters and a teaser with dialogue so badly pulpy it’s mush. Now we get girls, girls, girls and the film’s villain, the Octopus, wondering what it is about the Spirit and women. I’m wondering too. Not that I mind girls, girls, girls, but still - where’s the crime fighting? And is this focus on the film’s women an attempt to appeal to teenaged hetero males? That would be so comic bookish. If I have any curiosity about the film, it stems from knowing that the Spirit is a classic comic book hero – I remember reading some of Will Eisner’s work, but it apparently didn't take – and that Frank Miller knows how create a visually dynamic film world.

Watchmen: The long-gestating adaptation of Alan Moore’s notoriously complex work is showing signs of life. Director Zack Snyder, like Dr. Frankenstein, is finally pulling the lever that sends thousands of volts of electricity through the body of his film. This early tease, however, is disappointing. Connoisseurs of the book will recognize key scenes and visuals from the book. Everyone else will see pretty pictures. But here’s the question: can anyone say what the film is about based on the trailer? Anyone? As a flavour of things to come, this trailer just doesn’t cut it.

Punisher War Zone: This actually looks pretty interesting, in a glossy B-movie kind of way. Better production quality that the Dolph Lundren vehicle, a gritty yet comic bookish look, and the actual semblance of a plot – this movie might actually have some pull. Nothing I saw of the Thomas Jane edition made me want to see that movie, and the critical consensus hasn’t changed my mind. But this newest film, an independent endeavour from the previous two, might actually be on to something. I say this despite the silly bit in the trailer in which the Punisher dangles from a chandelier in yet another of those slow-mo gunplay ballets. As of this writing, a new trailer is due in 21 hours.

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