Trailer Tracker: The World’s End, Captain Phillips and more

It’s a veritable smorgasbord of high profile clips this week in the world of trailers with everything from comedy, to drama to sci-fi vying for attention. First up is the hugely anticipated conclusion of Edgar Wright’s “Blood and Ice Cream” trilogy with The World’s End which reunites the director with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. 

We also get the first look at Paul Greengrass’ Tom Hanks-starrer Captain Phillips based on the true events of the hijacking of a cargo ship by Somali pirates. Last off is the debut clip for Ender’s Game, the adaptation of the classic science fiction novel and starring Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford and Haliee Steinfeld. Yes, Ender may be off playing but here at Entertainment Fuse we don’t mess around – this is Trailer Tracker. 

The World’s End 

After the masterful satires Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz made audiences worldwide love British humour all over again (not to mention make Simon Pegg and Nick Frost recognizable names) director Edgar Wright sets out to conclude his unofficial trilogy with The World’s End. The plot centers around four childhood friends who unsuccessfully concluded a pub crawl years earlier. Now adults, the quartet (Pegg and Frost along with Martin Freeman and Eddie Marsan) seek to complete this challenge once again but when they return to the quiet town they soon realize things are far from fresh in Denmark, so to speak. 

While we knew generally that The World’s End would take aim at disaster and invasion films, little was known about which niche corner from the larger genre would be tackled. Well now we get confirmation (if of the still-mysterious variety) that it will be aliens straight out of Invasion of the Body Snatchers the goofballs will battle with next. The trailer is absolutely hilarious and unlike most comedies these days you can bet that there are tonnes more jokes Wright is keeping under wraps. If the man can pull this film off and make it even half as funny as the first two, he’ll have concluded one of the most incredible cinematic endeavours of all time.

Captain Phillips 

After blowing three separate tires in one way or another) with Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Larry Crowne and Cloud Atlas over the past two years, A-lister Tom Hanks looks to get his affairs in order over the course of 2013. He already has the promising Saving Mr. Banks on deck which has him playing Walt Disney but even more intriguing is his portrayal of Captain Richard Phillips, the commander of the first U.S. cargo ship to be hijacked in two hundred years. 

The trailer sets up things quite well from the basic premise to the life and death stakes at hand and with Paul Greengrass at the helm you can bet care will be taken. What will be key is that certain liberties are kept to a minimum and Hanks turns in a restrained, gritty performances and not something heroically over the top. However, from what we’ve seen so far that seems to be the case and with not a shaky camera movement to be seen, this will be one discussed right up until Oscar season.

Ender’s Game 

Considered a seminal science fiction novel in most any avid circle, Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game is finally seeing the big screen in a star studded blockbuster from director Gavin Hood. Along with the already-released Oblivion, this adaptation will join the ranks of a slew of (mostly) original sci-fi in 2013 which also includes After Earth, Elysium, Pacific Rim, Europa Report and Gravity. Outside of Will Smith’s involvement in After Earth, Ender’s Game is certainly among the most high profile to remain, and with the gorgeous aesthetics at play in the trailer (and plot still to come) it’s poised to be a late-year hit. That is of course if the source material is honoured.