Yes, No, Maybe So: "The Hobbit" and "Prometheus"
Friday, December 23, 2011 at 6:08PM Just a short time after similarly DRAMATIC (!) black and whiteish teaser posters for the new Batman and Spider-Man movies arrived, posters for the two other 2012 event movies, Prometheus and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey also emerged. Each poster gives us a character's back spotlit as they enter the fantastical of their movie which awaits us too. It's easy to project yourself into the image as you walk into the bright light of... the familiar unknown?
The weird thing about event movies is that they're promoted as if there was only one ONE MOVIE TO RULE THEM ALL but they all seem so interchangeable from a distance. Maybe that's because they're always sequels so the journey we're about to take isn't so unexpected. Even Prometheus is a sequel. Sort of.
The movies all seem interchangable until the trailers arrive to differentiate them. So let's break down Prometheus and The Hobbit after the jump with our "Yes, No, Maybe So" Expectation Management System.
PROMETHEUS trailer
YES
- Love that 20th Century Fox logo... and love it when movies mess with their logo in film speficic ways.
- underscoring as threatening metronome (with accompanying flashes of visuals) is overused in teaser trailers these days but when the images have this much suggested grandeur we're okay with it.
- Ridley Scott was an art director before he was an A list director and damn does it show. His movies always look great.
- I love the deeply saturated colors that pop into the overused grayish blue on occasion.
- Love the shot of Michael Fassbender (?*) looking all guilty sitting on the edge of his bed with crumpled sheets. Shame 2: Now With ExtraTerrestial Fucking!
* Seisgrados tells me in the comments that Empire says this is Logan Marshall-Green? How can they tell? Fassy's silhouette is equally this skinny.
- What the hell is going on? Would that all trailers left this much to your imagination... though I suppose to be fair it is a teaser and many of them do.
- Some of these images are disturbing and Ridley's Alien and Blade Runner suggest he knows how to sell existential horror and plain ol' horror within the sci-fi genre.
- Whoever is getting into that space pod has a spectacular ass. Just saying. Is it Charlize?
NO
- Where is Charlize? None of these blondes look like her. If it is her why is she dressed like Leeloo from The Fifth Element? And why is whoever that's dressed as Leeloo doing Aeon Flux poses?
- Does Noomi Rapace spend all her time screaming and running away from things and feeling terrible about something she did? (if that's her voice at the beginning?)
MAYBE SO
- Where is Idris Elba? Is this like one of those films where they kill the black guy off first. That would be too disappointing.
- Ridley Scott's three masterpieces were made 20 years ago, 29 years ago, and 32 years ago all of which adds up to a long time ago, only once in a galaxy far far away, though.
- I want this to be an original but there are definite flashes of other movies cropping up in this overworked genre. I worry. Like why do certain shots remind me so much of Avatar or (gasp) Stargate and not just Alien which I believe is intentional.
- How this is or isn't connected to Alien is a constant source of discussion online -- That one room with all the pods on the ground recalls an alien egg room... only man made rather than organically birthed from a queen. Curious -- but i'd actually prefer it trod entirely new ground. There's nothing inherently wrong with franchise movies but there is something inherently wrong with only familiar franchises being made and something that feels more original would be highly welcome.
THE HOBBIT trailer
I've run out of time -- leaving the computer for an expected journey (Harry Potter singing and dancing on stage before he leave "How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" if you must now) -- so we'll have to race through this one. Which is for the best really.
All of my "Yes" is also my "Maybe So" is also my "No". I am of three minds about this project: One says "yes yes yes" for another two Decembers spent in Peter Jackson's version of JRR Tolkien's Middle Earth; Another says "no no no" because, like even the best TV series, if you stay on the air too long you totally suffer from diminishing returns and laziness and once rousing spectacles of entertainment becomes little more than comfort food for gluttonous fans; the "maybe so" is just that obviously there's a chance that it will be wonderful.
I do have one YES that is not all knotted up in confusing emotional arguments with myself. And that's the moment that Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) is introduced and they all start singing. Arresting!
Plus I loved all 58 seconds of seeing / hearing Sir Ian McKellen back in grey pointy hat, smoking on his pipe, and delivering those A++++ line readings. Love that Man / Wizard / Gay / Actor to death.
Where are you with these two trailers? YES, NO, MAYBE SO? Are you counting down the days until Prometheus (June 8th, 2012) and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (December 14th, 2012)?
Reader Comments (16)
Maybe you need to rewatch the trailer! I agree that you don't get to see the castmembers for very long, but they're all there! Look closer!
Is it just me that is starting to feel that THE HOBBIT is going to be Peter Jackson's PHANTOM MENACE i.e. continuing with the franchise that is your masterpiece, only to stuff it up because you have way more ego than when you started the first one? I don't know. (Maybe it's still just left-over resentment for the two hours of my life I lost with THE LOVELY BONES.)
The Hobbit is pure YES for me. That trailer transports me to a world I have SO missed. In truth, LOTR: FOTR is my favorite of the trilogy. Less Sauron and orcs, more hobbitses please. So this totally works for me.
Prometheus, I dunno. Alien is one of my all-time favorite movies, but this looks almost like a remake. Do not remake! So, maybe so until I learn more.
I'm not sure how I went from "they're making the hobbit? give it up, peter jackson! find another project!" to "adfjlskjadkfsjfdksfj I want to see this like, fifty times more than I want to see TDKR" within the course of a year. The wonderful production videos they've been releasing probably had something to do with that.
I already have crushes on Richard Armitage and Martin Freeman in the trailer, which is slightly worrying because it means that I have a crush on a hobbit and a dwarf.
Watching the trailer for "The Hobbit" just reminded me of what Peter Jackson did right. He treated that material with such command and respect and I got a kick out of, once again, seeing that amazing production design and fabulous actors.
However, "Prometheus" blew me away with its imagery. Officially psyched for this one.
I was not excited at all for The Hobbit but now I'm hooked. The dwarves singing as the backdrop? Sign me up. I have this fantasy where Sir Ian blows it out of the water (as he obviously will) and the Oscars realize what a big mistake they made 10 years ago and he gets that Oscar.
Prometheus, however, I was always excited to see as Alien is one of my favorite movies. As for the connection though, at 44 seconds into the trailer is the EXACT same set from Alien. Its the kind of "control seat" that the Spacey Jockey skeleton is on when they first enter the spacecraft where they find the eggs. I guess since the Alien franchise has become such a joke, what with the Alien vs Predator movies and Alien Resurrection, I'm eager for Ridley Scott to reclaim the genre that he sort of started.
Prometheus knocked my socks off completely. I'm not sure we've ever seen a movie with this huge a scale go for the kind of freak out horror that the trailer suggests. The teaser is so good it really makes me wonder if the movie as a whole can live up to the potential suggested here. If nothing else, this looks like a more engaged Sir Ridley than we've seen in many a year, and that is an exciting prospect.
The Hobbit... Well, I'm obviously dying to see the movie, but the trailer feels overstuffed and unfocused and I do worry that that will extend to the movie - er, movies. I like how the stupid dwarf singing morphs into the magestic orchestral theme, but it's all a little too scatter shot, a little too, "Remember Lord of the Rings? Well this is kind of but not quite the same thing, and here are some familiar characters so you won't feel too weirded out by it, and oh look some singin' dwarves and now something exciting's happening and oh yeah did you know that Gollum's in this one too? Christmas 2012!!!!"
I have never been more excited and petrified of a movie than the Hobbit-it looks so exciting, but there are so many examples of directors picking up years later where they left off and it being terrible that I am worried-Star Wars, Indiana Jones, The Godfather-even the gold standard of picking back up a franchise, Toy Story, switched directors. Is there an example where this truly worked out for a 3+ film series? I loved LOTR, am one of the huge champions of King Kong, and am desperate to love this movie, but very, very nervous. I sat through The Phantom Menace-I don't need to do it again.
John T: Star Wars, definitely, Indiana Jones, certainly, Godfather 3, only relative to the other two.
About Prometheus, I'm afraid that guy in bed is not Fassy as you presumed but Logan Marshall-Green. Also, Idris Elba DOES show up in the trailer. Why do I know these things? I read a complete Trailer breakdown at Empire Magazine. It is quite interesting and funny, in a obsessive geeky kind of way. You guys should check it out:
http://www.empireonline.com/features/prometheus-trailer-breakdown/p1
On the question of whether or not there has ever been a consistently good film trilogy by the same director, the one(s) that came to mind for me is the Red, White , Blue films by Kieslowski, though I suppose those are not true sequels. So yeah, not sure if that is the exception that proves the rule or not. I'm hoping both of these movies are good.
Nathaniel, I am dense right now, but what is the third Ridley Scott classic? Alien, Blade Runner, and _______?
timothy -- that'd be thelma & louise
seisgrados -- god, how can they tell? Fassy IS as skinny as a teenager and the man is totally in silhouette. ah well. I've always been outgeeked by the internet.
john t -- agreed on most of that.
I've seen none of the "Alien" films, so this "Prometheus" trailer means nothing to me. But "The Hobbit"? I'm there for both of these films! Gollum at the end? Come on now. I'll see it opening night. If these films had to be made (and split up--the curse of "Harry Potter" and "Twilight" continues), better it be Peter Jackson continuing his vision than some hack taking the reins. I think/hope both will be great, and this trailer was a lively one.
I was already a YES on The Hobbit when they announced it but I'm mixed on the trailer. Visually, it looks exceptional and that (possible) new music sounds great but the trailer was awkwardly cut together and doesn't tell a clear story (too many tone shifts in the first half and doesn't really build to its conclusion). I'm happy it doesn't give much away but it also kind of leaves you unsure what to make of it.
As for Prometheus, it looks intriguing but I have yet to see any of the Alien films all the way through, so I don't have a particularly strong emotional investment in the project. Still, I'm a YES on it. Good looking Sci-Fi is still good looking Sci-Fi.
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I'll be watching out for these movies!!! I love the posters