Monday, November 17, 2008

Star Trek Trailer and TV Spot - First contact is a smashing success.



Ok, now that's a trailer. The scope seems to be vast and/or epic and it's obvious where that $150 million went. Aside from the silly first moments of both spots (the already infamous 'young Kirk hot-rodding' clip), this is an uncommonly exciting preview. The film seems to promise an obscenely epic big-budget science fiction adventure, regardless of your feelings on the Star Trek cannon. It may not be smart, and some of the dialogue may be a little on the nose, but the thing looks like buckets of gee-whiz fun. I still think that the release date is poison, but Paramount may luck out and make their money back as this looks like lots of big-budget fun.

Did I say 'big' twice? Well the whole thing just reeks of scale (the half-finished Enterprise, the vastness of the space battles, the sheer number of ships in one shot), more so than any tent-poler since Return Of The King. Of course, if Paramount can convince America that summer really starts on May 8th (Wolverine who?), then they can avoid the second-film-of summer death curse. As it is, I'd imagine this will be the most downloaded trailer on the internet at least until Transformers 2 or Avatar tosses a clip our way.

While I've previously criticized decisions regarding this film (the budget, the release date), Paramount is batting 1.000 so far in their PR campaign with this preview, the initial release of photos and last month's Entertainment Weekly article. The only thing missing in the teaser is that gorgeous 'space - the final frontier' music that should have closed out the preview (what is the name of that music cut anyway?). I could carp on the minor details (the hyper editing, the fact that the only clips shown of women involve either taking off their shirts or being imperiled), but I'd be nitpicking. Frankly, I haven't been this impressed by an initial teaser since the first full preview for The Dark Knight back in mid-December of 2007. This is a thrown gauntlet, a line in the sand, a declaration to be taken seriously against Transformers 2 and Harry Potter 6 in summer 2009. I'm officially intrigued.

Scott Mendelson
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1 comment:

  1. ActionmanNovember 18, 2008 at 1:16 PM

    I think it looks like fun. The sci-fi action does indeed look epic. I will definitely check it out.

    But I fully expect Transformers 2 to kill Star Trek, both at the box office, and in overall enjoyment. At least for me. I was never a Trekkie. And I LOVED my Transformers figures when I was a kid.

    I was a gigantic fan of the first Transformers; it was the film that Bay was born to direct.

    I am almost scared to see a trailer for the sequel...

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