Trailer Overload! - Spider-Man: Homecoming, Apes, Transformers, And More!

This has been a heck of a crazy week for trailers hasn't it? I can't imagine why, it's not like there's a little movie coming out next week which is taking audiences back to a galaxy far, far away that studios might want some marketing for their movies to play in front of. Who knows what could be the real reason behind this flux of trailers. What matters is that we got to see the trailers online this week. I would have loved to do full trailer reactions and breakdowns for all of these, but I'm only human, so let's break down the 6 big trailers for the week and I'll give you some quick thoughts on each of them.

Spider-Man: Homecoming

This is one of the more recent trailers revealed this week, and one of the very best. Spider-Man was a great part of "Civil War" earlier this year, and fans have been extremely eager to get a first look at his upcoming solo adventure in the MCU. Thankfully, Marvel seem to have knocked this one out of the park, and looks superior to the most recent Spider-Man ventures (which were then fully headed up by Sony). The main reason this one looks great to me is because it is placing good emphasis on both the roles of Peter Parker and Spider-Man. Tom Holland is great in both of these roles, with the new focus on Peter's high school life being a welcome addition, while also having the trademark humour of the Spider-Man character. His relationship with Robert Downey Jr's Tony Stark is also something else that is going to be fun to explore. The effects work in the movie is stellar, particularly on the cruise ship sequence at the end of the trailer and the look of the villains, including Shocker (who you can see in the international trailer) and especially the Vulture, not looking at least partially ridiculous for the first time across comic books and the cartoon series that he's been a part of (Michael Keaton bringing some spectacular menace to the role also adds a great deal of excitement to the character). Overall, this is one I can't wait to see.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Well, I certainly didn't expect two Marvel trailers this week, but in addition to the return of the web-slinger, we also got our first, full look at the return of the Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel's break-out hit of 2014. This movie looks to be raising the stakes of the plot considerably, with the numbers being faced by the Guardians being far larger than those faced in the first movie, a fact that is particularly clear from when you look at the incredible space battles seem when Star-Lord is piloting his ship, the Milano. The rest of the Guardians also make a reappearance, but a great deal of emphasis seems to being put on one member of the team in particular. I'll give you three guesses who that is? Of course, it's Baby Groot. In fact, I'm a little concerned that too much of the focus of the movie may be being placed on the plant, despite the difficulty to give the character significant development (although the first movie did this rather effectively), so hopefully director James Gunn and the crew haven't built the entire movie around him. That said, everything else in the movie seems spot on. The jokes are all excellent, the effects work is fantastic, and what little glimpses we've had of new characters (in this case, Mantis, seen at the end of the trailer and played by Pom Klementieff) make this look like a movie to be excited about.

War for the Planet of the Apes

Between this trailer and Spider-Man: Homecoming, this may be my favourite trailer to see released this week. The rebooted Planet of the Apes series has been a fantastic sight to see on screen and the latest entry of the franchise "War of the Planet of the Apes" looks to continue that trend. This looks to see a far more vengeful Caesar than we've seen in the past, and this is hopefully going to give Andy Serkis more of an opportunity to show off more emotion and development for the tribe leader, particularly after trying so hard to make the relationship between humans and apes work, but it ultimately leading to this potential climax. Just look at the tag line used for the movie: "This is our last stand". If that doesn't have a sense of finality to it, I don't know what does. The action looks incredible in the movie and the effects work is at the point where the apes are extremely realistic. Every part of the trailer has an intense and dark feel to it, even more so than the past couple of Apes movies, and I hope this carries over into the movie itself. Basically, I can't wait.

Assassin's Creed

I am shocked by Fox. Less than a month to go until the release of Assassin's Creed, the video game movie that might be able to go against the curse of this genre, and they release this trailer which has just practically given away a general outline of the entire plot of the movie. Admittedly, this does seem like it is sticking to the story of the video games, including the use of the Apple of Eden as a plot device (I predict a MacGuffin here), but it would have been nice for Fox to not start giving away every potential plot point they possibly could in an attempt to draw in both new audiences and the players of the franchise. That said, it doesn't mean the movie doesn't intrigue me as a fan of the game. The effects work looks to be largely faultless (helped in a big way by the incredible work of the stunt men) and the movie does have a great aesthetic to it, both in the present day and during the Spanish Inquisition sequences (which will thankfully be in Spanish rather than continuing the typical trend of the games by having them all speak in British accents). All in all, there are plenty of potential problems at play in this movie but I am cautiously optimistic to see this one come January. 

Transformers: The Last Knight

Here's where the trailers for the week really start to go south. I mean, what did we honestly expect from this? It's another Transformers movie directed by Michael Bay, so of course it's all explosions and flashy action sequences over any kind of substance, plot, or decent characters on show. One of the big attractions for a lot of people may be the mechanical dragon, and the historical events tied into the plot including the Nazis and (I swear I'm not joking) Kind Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. However, I guarantee all of you reading this that these sequences will be regulated to a quick few minutes at the start before we get back to dull new Transformers will little to not personality outside of racism (oh yeah, don't think any of us have forgotten Revenge of the Fallen Bay), even more dull Marine stereotypes, and, worst of all, ultra-dull Mark Wahlberg. Not even a possibly evil Optimus Prime can get me excited to see this movie. Hey, at least they've got Anthony Hopkins this time round, and it's anyone's guess just how big his pay cheque must be.

The Mummy

Check it out, it's Tom Cruise back for yet another summer blockbuster. "The Mummy" is Universal's attempt to kick start their own cinematic universe of all their classic monsters. It seems like Tom Cruise is the right choice for the leading man, bringing all of his usual charisma and humour to the role. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast around him hasn't been given much development, at least in this trailer. The only other even remotely interesting character is Russell Crowe's Dr Jekyll who we see towards the end of the trailer. Even then, while Crowe seems to be giving a more sinister edge to the role than we've seen in the past, I've still got a bad feeling that he is going to be a horribly generic character, possibly being set up over the course of 5/10 minutes to be the big villain fro this new series. The visuals are impressive in the movie, there's no denying that. The Mummy herself seems to have some interesting abilities, and, knowing Tom Cruise, that was probably a real plane crash at the beginning of the trailer (not too convinced by that scream though).