Which is why I despise them. Sure, I admit that I watch them just like anyone else, and give an early judgment of the film based on its trailer (it is footage from the movie after all), but for the most part, I can't stand them, for a number of different reasons.
For one thing, and this is my biggest complaint, movie trailers show us far too much of a movies plot. This is a trend that I see happening more and more. One of the biggest examples of this is the trailer for the anticpated mixed martial arts film, Warrior, starring Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton:
The trailer shows us pretty much everything about the movie, except which brother wins at the end. This is a film I am really looking forward to seeing. I love Hardy's work in films like Bronson and Inception, and Gavin O'Connor is an intriguing director (he's previously done the forgotten but worth-a-look crime film Pride and Glory, and Miracle, the story of the 1980 U.S. Hockey team). Obviously I know that just about every synposis you read for the film mentions that the brothers fight in the championship bout, and that it would probably be pretty obvious early on in the film that they will, but why bother putting that in the trailer? Why not let the audience see it develop on the screen as the film occurs?
I feel also as if, when you see a trailer, and you maybe see it a few times before the film is released, whether it be from screenings of other films or TV spots, that you remember the scenes they show. This is pretty obivous, but consider this: You're in a suspense or mystery film, about twenty minutes away from the ending. The protagonist is in a tight spot, they may or may not live...and you remember a scene from the trailer that has yet to make it into the movie. So the suspense of the scene is runied, because you know the protagonist will somehow get away. I recently had this happen with Cowboys & Aliens. One of the main characters had a touching and emotional "death", but I remembered seeing that character in a scene in the trailer that had yet to show itself in the film, so the emotional resonance, and shock when that character wasn't dead, was taken away.
Cast Away, starring Tom Hanks is the quintessential example of showing far too much footage for trailer. If you haven't seen it, Hanks plays a FedEx man who gets stranded on a deserted island. The trailer tells us that he gets back home. Let me say that again: The trailer tells you he makes it home safe:
It's as if Dreamworks didn't want audiences thinking they'd leave Mr. America Tom Hanks on the island, or worse, kill him. Although I suppose not revealing that Wilson wouldn't make it would have been much easier on audiences to take.
I worry that every time I see a film's trailer, I will have somehow been exposed to too much of the films plot. Could we imagine Soylent Green being as shocking if we found out in the trailer it was people? Or finding out that Planet of the Apes was actually Earth? Or that in Casablanca, Rick doesn't get the girl? Trailers far too often nowadays reveal their plot twists in their trailers, and it not only spoils a good plot for us, it may also ruin a films credibility.
One great example of this is the 2009 film Terminator: Salvation. While the film was panned by critics (33% of critics gave it a positive rating on the site Rotten Tomatoes), and performed terribly at the box office (it only brought in $125 million in the US, while it's budget was around $200 million, although making a strong opening weekend of $51 million), I personally enjoyed it, and although it's nowhere near the first two Terminator films, I feel has some amount of credibility in the series.
However, I think the film loses much of its appeal thanks to its final theatrical trailer, shown below:
By revealing that Marcus (Sam Worthington) is in fact a "terminator" per say, kind of gives away the films huge emotional side. Salvation isn't so much about John Connor's (Christian Bale) fight to save humanity from Skynet, but about Marcus' journey from a murderer, to a pawn for Skynet to use, to ultimately, a hero and savior. It's a pretty powerful story, yet when a big chunk of that is revealed in the trailer, it loses its value on screen. I'm not saying that the film is considerably weaker because of the trailer; the film has many faults, but revealing a big secret (mind you, the scene where Marcus finds out does not come until about the middle of the picture), it diminishes it's shock or awe factor on an audience.
One final thing that I notice with trailers comes with comedy movies. Let's be honest here, how many times have we seen a trailer for a comedy that has some very funny parts in it, seen them in the actual film, and just not laughed as hard, or at all? There's a countless amount of movies that fall victim to this, with recent examples being films like Bad Teacher, The Hangover Part II and even something like Horrible Bosses, a much better film than the previous two, but still, several jokes lost their appeal because I had seen the trailer so many times.
I have always found that my experiences with seeing a movie without seeing any footage of it beforehand in a trailer make it all the more enjoyable. The best example of this I can think of is Woody Allen's new film Midnight in Paris. I had not seen one trailer for it before my screening, and only saw it based on its cast, and the fact that it was Woody Allen. I was intrigued from opening scene on. The terrific twist that comes at the end of the first act is so pleasantly shocking and wonderful that seeing it in a trailer previously would have probably weakened its awe factor. It's just better watching a film without any prior knowledge of it whatsoever.
But the big question is: what is there that we can do about it? The answer, unfortunately, is nothing. We yearn for trailers, just to get a glimpse of footage from one of our most anticipated movies of the year. Trailers have been a staple as long as movies have been around. However, they should be a way to intrigue you about a movies premise, not give away its best moments or biggest twists. The best thing Hollywood can (and should) do with trailers is have them reveal only footage from the first act of a film, or footage shot exclusivley for a trailer. That way, we get intrigued by what we see, but are not spoiled with middle and end plot twists and big action scenes. To me, there should also only be one or two trailers per movie.This idea of films having a teaser, and then a full theatrical trailer, and then one or two more full trailers is overwhelming, and, in many cases, could be viewed as a way to see most of the film.
I will no doubt be anticipating the full trailers for upcoming movies like The Dark Knight Rises, The Hunger Games, Man of Steel, and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, but, in a way, I'll be hating myself for being exposed to perhaps far too much footage of a film, just to whet my appetite even more for a movie I know I'll be seeing opening weekend. It's tough to get away from them, especially for those of us who are constantly going to the movies, but maybe that is an excuse for us to take just a little extra time getting to the theater.
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