Trailer Tracker: The Hangover Part III, Iron Man 3 and more

It’s the three-quel show this week on Trailer Tracker, with two of 2013’s most anticipated potential blockbusters The Hangover Part III and Iron Man 3 unleashing trailers with the hopes of drumming up even more buzz ahead of their late spring releases. 

At the polar opposite end of the spectrum is the first look at Joss Whedon’s Shakespeare adaptation Much Ado About Nothing, an already well received modern interpretation shot in just 12 days. Comparisons are odorous – this is Trailer Tracker. 

The Hangover Part III 

Having debauched its way to over $1 billion worldwide with just two instalments, The Hangover franchise looks to add to its total (and hopeful save some face) with its third raunchy entry. I was seemingly alone in my essential indifference to the original back in 2009, but was far from the outlier when it came to people’s reception of the follow-up. Offering up some of the laziest instances of sequel screenwriting of all time, though still a hit, fans were mostly left wanting more. 

Heading back to Las Vegas, The Wolfpack – Phil, Alan, Stu – and the many other eccentrics these unfortunate drunks have picked up in their journeys, appear to get into a pinch of trouble. Essentially an extended teaser, we’re treated (?) subjected to (?) a funeral, gunplay, prison riots and a giraffe-induced car crash. Though The Hangover Part III certainly isn’t looking like a retread of the last, it’s certainly not winding things back to the more contained antics of the first either. Though I’ll need to see more before I make a final call, this isn’t exactly the return to form I was envisioning.

Iron Man 3 

As potent as the technology at its center however is the new trailer for Iron Man 3, which brings maturity, epic imagery and a whole slew of geek-out-worthy money shots to the table. It’s actually easy to forget how played out the Tony Stark/Iron Man character already is (in theory at least) with this film being his fourth big screen outing. It’s looking pretty clear however that director Shane Black isn’t going to let that level of exposure hurt his vision and is raising the stakes with the inclusion of The Mandarin, perhaps touching on the “demon in a bottle story” arc as well as introducing what appears to be an incarnation of The Iron Legion (including the famed Hulkbuster armour). 

We’re also treated to more Ben Kingsley as the aforementioned Mandarin who appears to be following the trend of oddly-accented/inflected villains as of late (The Joker, Raul Silva, among others). Whether this eccentricity becomes an overused cliché remains to be seen, but so far this baddie is looking like one for the cinematic history books. All together, these characters combined with the continued use of superb special effects and Black’s writing promised fantastic things and should kick off the summer movie season with a literal bang.

 

Much Ado About Nothing 

Though director Joss Whedon is no stranger to the character of Iron Man, having directed him in mega-smash The Avengers, he’s not a man to be trapped in a genre, nor only by films demanding massive cash injections. Shot in 12 days, and featuring some of his muses (Firefly’s Nathan Fillion, The Avengers Clark Gregg, etc) this modern retelling of one of Shakespeare’s seminal comedies has already gained some considerable acclaim with its debut at 2012’s TIFF. Though trailers for most of The Bard’s adaptations don’t do the end product a whole lot of justice, this is one for which to be very intrigued, if not absolutely excited.