Prepped to give viewers the chills before they, well, get the chills, the third trailer for hotly anticipated The Dark Knight Rises is set to debut before the hotly anticipated The Avengers this Friday. Thankfully for Bat-fans everywhere, Warner Bros. has released it online a few days early. Set to blow up more shit than Bane and The Joker combined, old-school action ensemble The Expendables 2 also delivers its first look.
Also, we have the “sort of spinoff to Knocked Up,” This is 40, from director Judd Apatow and starring Leslie Mann, Paul Rudd and Jason Segel. Next, we have “This is 60,” I mean Hope Springs, a dramedy about a late-in-life couple (Meryl Street and Tommy Lee Jones) trying to rekindle their romance with the aid of a self-help guru played by Steve Carrel.
The Dark Knight Rises
Pulsating with grim, ominous, melancholy and epicness, the latest trailer for Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises is mystery done with panache. The antithesis to the trailer for Inception, which overwhelmed us with a blaring score, the soundtrack for this third look is non-existent for the majority of the running time, instead letting the uneasy quiet and foreboding images make their impact. I can imagine some viewers being underwhelmed based solely on the fact that not much is really revealed about the events that are to transpire in what could be the final days of Gotham.
Now, in addition to the prologue and first trailer, we get another memorable quote from the hulking terrorist leader Bane. After asking why he has not simply killed him, Bane responds to Bruce Wayne: “your punishment must be more severe” which is not only awesome in its own rights (and clearly audible) it hints at the calculating type of villain Bane will be. Also unveiled is Batman’s new flying vehicle “The Bat” a peek at Catwoman kicking some ass and a hint that Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s John Blake may have a fairly significant role. I expect after The Avengers finally hits and is off my radar, my The Dark Knight Rises hunger is going to reach a fever pitch.
The Expendables 2
If explosions, one-liners and the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger isn’t your thing, then you might as well stop reading now and go watch “Twilight”, but if you grew up in the age of the '80s action icon, then The Expendables 2 should whet your appetite as much as your pants. Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews and Randy Couture are all back and are joined by Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Liam Hemsworth in this globe-trotting action orgy.
This sequel to the 2010 hit will blend revenge with your typical supervillain plot, as Van Damme’s aptly named Jean Vilain seeks to blow up the world (or something) with five tonnes of plutonium. If possible, The Expendables 2 looks even more explosion and carnage-packed than the first and is certainly more star-studded. Not everyone was as keen on the gimmicky setup of the original, but if this trailer doesn’t get you at least a little giddy then I fear for the future of the action film.
This is 40
Judd Apatow has been a producing machine since he made waves with The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up, having been behind an astonishing 17 films. For the average viewer, however (this writer not included), Apatow’s name is currently synonymous with the ill-received flop that was Funny People. Now, he will return with his first directing gig since 2009 with This is 40, a spin-off of the aforementioned Knocked Up that will this time follow Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann), the bickering, pedophile-tracking obsessed couple as they reach middle age. Although I thought the trailer was very funny, I wonder if the subject matter tilted toward an older demographic mixed with Apatow’s brand of raunch will create an odd mix that will miss on all fronts. Hopefully that is not the case, and personally I can’t wait to see what the man has for us next.
Hope Springs
From one troubled couple to another, Hope Springs finds aging couple Kay and Arnold (Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones, respectively) who head to a marriage retreat in an attempt to recapture that spark with the help of counselor Steve Carrel. Streep has carved out a nice little niche for herself late in her career and has become a surprising draw amongst older cinema-goers in hits like The Devil Wears Prada, Julie & Julia and It’s Complicated. She is reunited with her “devil” director David Frankel and the addition of Jones and Carrel should make a fantastic team. If you can’t handle the notion of old people having sex then I would recommend you steer clear, but otherwise this has the makings of a naughty little trifle.
