Now that the Super Bowl is over, it’s time to look back over the handful of trailers and point out all the little details that have us excited for our favorite batch of upcoming movies. Surprisingly, we didn’t see anything from Dune 2, Furiosa, Gladiator 2, Ghostbusters, Godzilla x Kong, or Ballerina.
Deadpool & Wolverine
Or, as Hugh Jackman pointed out, “Wolverine & Asshole.” By far, the most intriguing trailer of the day was Marvel’s latest, which promised a healthy dose of superhero action, edgy, R-rated Deadpool humor—”Pegging isn’t new for me, friendo, but it is for Disney!”—and a tantalizing tease of Jackman’s comic book accurate Wolverine. (I mean, let’s be honest, you’ve already seen Jackman’s gear via all those behind-the-scenes photos, but it’s still cool regardless.)
That wasn’t all. The trailer gave us our first look at Pyro, once again played by Trevor Devall:
The trailer also offered a few teases about how the Merc with the Mouth will shake up the MCU (hopefully, for the better) and even brought back fan favorites from previous movies—namely, Peter (Rob Delaney) and Deadpool’s “deceased” wife (Morena Baccarin). I’m not entirely confident Disney knows how to handle the Deadpool franchise (or any franchise, for that matter), but there is potential here, and this teaser gave us plenty of reasons to hope.
Twisters
Universal finally decided to make a sequel to its monster hit Twister three decades later. Why the wait? Who knows? At least it’s finally happening, even if it doesn’t feature the late, great Bill Paxton (who pitched a sequel years ago). I dig Glen Powell. I dig tornadoes, so this could be fun. Some of the VFX looks cool, and the tone appears on point.
My only complaint is that it looks too much like the original. The trailer features far too many callbacks to Jan De Bont’s film, including Dorothy and twin tornadoes. I half expected a cow to fly onto the screen. Hopefully, this one won’t follow the “divorced couple rekindling their love during a stormy season” storyline and present something new to the franchise. But I am intrigued, especially with this bit in the trailer featuring a plane flying straight into a twister. This is the kind of bonkers summer blockbuster stuff I wanna see:
Wicked
I know nothing about Wicked other than that it’s a prequel to The Wizard of Oz and was a smash Broadway hit. In other words, I won’t roll into this one carrying a ton of baggage. From my outside perspective, it looks interesting. I agree with some online viewers pointing out the flat visuals and lighting, a recent trend in big-budget flicks, but some of the VFX shots look cool, and it all looks incredibly colorful. Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Michelle Yeoh, and Jeff Goldblum? Could be fun!
Still, the most goosebump-inducing shot was the bit featuring Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, and my man, the Cowardly Lion, standing face-to-face with Oz. It’s hokey fan service (which I just complained about with Twisters), but still fun to see nonetheless:
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Do we need more Planet of the Apes films? Someone in Hollywood seems to think so. Behold, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes looks to fill the gap between Matt Reeves’ War for the Planet of the Apes and the original Planet of the Apes, I think. The CGI apes still pack a visual punch, though director Wes Ball brings a much different style to the game rather than aping his predecessor.
On a negative note, there’s nothing here that really hooks you. We’ve seen the ape and human versus ape storyline played out across nine films. Sure, the scale is much grander, but what’s the ultimate selling point here beyond another Planet of the Apes film? I guess we’ll see.
That said, I dug some of the glorious VFX and action sequences.
The Fall Guy
Admittedly, this one looks rather bland to me. The one selling point for Fall Guy is the ever-likable Ryan Gosling (playing his latest version of Ken) and the always superb Emily Blunt. This looks like a fun rom-com with a handful of nice stunts and set pieces, but I’d be hard-pressed to say there was anything beyond the lead actors that really grabbed my attention.
Monkey Man
My favorite Super Bowl trailer was Monkey Man, featuring Dev Patel (who also directed) as a John Wick-styled action hero who kicks ass and takes names. Oh, and it’s produced by Jordan Peele and co-stars Sharlto Copley. This one hits theaters in April. This is my jam all the way. Sold.
