Nov 18 2008
Six Unforgettable Movie Trailers That Have Stayed With You
It’s been a good week for trailers. First we had a new Watchmen spot that amped up the excitement/anxiety level for the hopefully-not-delayed project, and then yesterday we saw the new Star Trek trailer finally come online. Time will tell if these will be the type of trailers that will stay with you (I’d say the original July Watchmen spot will for sure), but I’ve rounded up six others that had a lasting impact that has carried through until this day.
1) 300
Why You Remember It – A striking visual style that artistically blended CGI with live action and setting nearly the entire thing in super slow-mo gave the trailer a surreal property. And of course, there’s an incredibly badass soundtrack to go along with it.
Was the Movie Better or Worse? – The same, 300 was essentially a 2 hour extension of its trailer, which was viewed by most as a good thing. Sure the movie was mostly style and little substance, but that didn’t make it any less fun to watch.
2) The Prestige
Why You Remember It – Christopher Nolan sure makes a good trailer. He was put on the public map after Batman Begins and the trailer for his next feature was a riveting mystery in itself.
Was the Movie Better or Worse? – Depends on who you ask, I’d say better, but many might say worse because they didn’t follow many of the twists the film took. But that’s because they’re stupid.
3) Superman Returns
Why You Remember It – People often forget the hype that surrounded the return of Superman to the silver screen. This trailer with its triumphant score, iconic imagery and Marlon Brando from-the-grave voiceover made everyone wait with baited breath for the Man of Steel to rise again.
Was the Movie Better or Worse? – I think it’s universally agreed that the film didn’t live up to the hype. It wasn’t…bad, but it certainly didn’t take us back to the glory days.
4) Sin City
Why You Remember It – The Sin City trailer had one of the most distinct visual styles you’d ever seen, black and white, almost cell shaded, with bits of color splashed in. A badass soundtrack and a massive ensemble cast helped as well.
Was the Movie Better or Worse? – About the same, it maybe didn’t flow as smoothly as the trailer throughout, but it was still plenty stylish.
5) Cloverfield
Why You Remember It – The film with no title? Come on, don’t tell you me you don’t remember the hype surrounding the “1-18-08” trailer. No one had any clue what the hell this J.J. Abrams project was about as the trailer gave no information at all about the film, not even a name. All we heard was an explosion and a roar.
Was the Movie Better or Worse? – Probably worse. Everyone was speculating that Cloverfield would be some sort of new take on old Godzilla films, and that’s pretty much exactly what it was. There wasn’t very much mystery in the film itself. Just a lot of shaky-cam and screaming.
6) The Dark Knight
Why You Remember It – The Joker, the Joker, the Joker. This was the first time we could match a face with a voice, and the results were spine chilling. You’ll always remember the first time you heard “Let’s put a smile on that face.”
Was the Movie Better or Worse? – This trailer turned the hype for The Dark Knight into full blow hysteria, but despite the massive expectations it created, the movie actually exceeded everyone’s wildest dreams
More Unreal Posts
- 10 Awesome Trailers/Mashups of All Things Transformer
- A Look at James Cameron’s Career as a Director Through Movie Trailers
- 10 Forrest Gump Mashups For No Reason At All
- Five More Brokeback Spoof Trailers
- Five Entertaining Iron Man Movie Trailer Mashups
“Depends on who you ask, I’d say better, but many might say worse because they didn’t follow many of the twists the film took. But that’s because they’re stupid.”
QFT.
c|oser: The trailer set to Susan Vega’s “Caramel” was poetry in motion, so was the film.
The Phantom Menace teaser: Come on, people paid money just to see this then left.
Transformers teaser.
“The Matrix” because it actually made you want to go see a Keanu Reeves movie, it didn’t ruin the main plot of the movie, and you left the theater going ‘WTF is that all about?’
The Dark Knight is overrated and while Heath Ledger was pretty good, and the movie very interesting, it was way too long and sometimes predictable and boring. That being said, it was one of the greatest movies this year.
[...] 6 Unforgettable Movie Trailers. [Unreality] [...]
i am looking forward to “bitch slap”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mqi3JXjED40
So…the most memorable movie trailers of all time are all from the past 4 years?
i’m so late [i just discovered this site] but The Ring’s trailer. bc when it was shown in theaters it was the movie that was on the cursed tape. i had even tried to look it up to see what it was about.