Even though the arrival spring has just recently provided us with the hope of some warmer weather to come, in the world of trailers it’s already looking like summer. Breaking over the last few days have been some slick clips for upcoming blockbuster properties lead by a duo of trailers for the hugely anticipated return of the bladed mutant Logan in The Wolverine.
Next, on the heels of the release of Olympus Has Fallen is the sombre first look at competing
The Wolverine
Ahead of its July 26 release, we’ve finally got some substantial footage of the next solo outing for everyone’s favourite indestructible X-Men brawler. Much has already been revealed regarding Logan’s journey to Japan in this film, but what exact troubles he would ultimately encounter were kept much more hush hush – until now, of course. It would seem that an old acquaintance of the centuries-old
And the trailer certainly hits at such a feat being successful, from the footage itself to the title cards, it all reveals a weakened and freely bleeding and battered-looking Wolverine. If having the warrior face off against Samurai wasn’t a cool-enough concept, now we’ll have the added dynamic of a mortal hero. Kudos to director James Mangold and his team for looking to introduce such a kink, as having Wolverine just freely slash through his foes (especially after seeing him in four films already) could get dull fast. Though only time will tell if The Wolverine can be more of a success then the maligned X-Men Origins: Wolverine, this first peek certainly offers a world of promise.
White House Down
Not three days after the opening weekend of Gerard Butler’s actionier Olympus Has Fallen, its hopeful competitor has unleashed its first look with White House Down. All direct similarities aside, I must say that this looks vastly difference in approach than the former, employing more of an “end of the world” vibe than simply cheesy action. And even more than that, this is simply a great trailer period: mature, well paced, intriguing and all rather epic. Now hopefully the film turns out that way.
Even more than Olympus Has Fallen being touted as “Die Hard in the White House” this film seems to promise that affair. From star Channing Tatum scooting around the famed building in a grungy, John McClane-esque wife beater to the hint that the attack isn’t just the work of terrorists looking to get even but that there is a heist element tossed in as well, the clues are there. The nature of this trailer certainly isn’t heavy on plot points so we’ll have to wait on those, but all in all it looking at the very least promising and will serve to set up an interesting battle of the doppelgangers come this June.
World War Z
With some more polished CGI and an even more epic scale, this new look at the big budget World War Z does seem to be doing a few more things right, even if it has a long way to go to overcome the stigma associated with its deviations from author Max Brooks’ source material. The most intriguing of the newly affirming trailer elements (for a big fan of the book at least) is a brief shot of what appears to be the Chinese temple where (in the novel) the outbreak originated. With star Brad Pitt playing a globe-trotting UN employee, perhaps we’ll see more of the locations contained in the book after all.
We also get visual confirmation that the undead of World War Z will be “super zombies” as evidenced by the Iron Man 3-esque plane attack sequence which sees one of the things essentially punching a hole in the side of an aircraft. So while I’m not convinced of all the choices being made, it’s still a movie I’ll check out even if it’s ultimately only because of the zombie nerd in me.
Kick-Ass 2
After a gleefully crude red band trailer a week or so ago, we now get an international trailer which focuses heavily on everyone’s favourite teenage assassin: Hit Girl. It’s good to know that in addition to plenty of superhero-driven carnage we’re also going to get some scenes set in high school and in general those that help to form these characters further. If it happens to come in the form of a dance rehearsal where she pretends to fend off ninjas I say all the better.
