A Review Comparing and Contrasting Two Movie Trailers

When I was told I had to write a review about a trailer I thought to myself, why are trailers important to us? Do they have any bearing on what we go and watch on the big screen? Will a 3 minute bite size chunk of a movie really want us to have a trip down to the local multiplex?

When you go to see a film, you want to see the film don’t you? Starting time: 15:30. You get in the cinema and dig through yesterdays remains of a popcorn fight, try and find yourself a seat with no Green Giant in front of you. You sit down, ready to watch the film, and 35 minutes later… no film! Why not..? Because you have had to sit through 7 trailers, all of which have nothing to do with the film you intend to watch! You’ve gone to see the new horror film to hit the screens, and you are being showed the best 3 minutes in Herby Goes to Monte Carlo!

Trailers have around 2-3 minutes of viewing time. These are the only 2-3 minutes worth watching in the whole film. Of course they don’t show you the ending; you wouldn’t go and see it then! (And someone’s got to pay Hugh Grants wages!)

Do you know how much time, effort and money is spent on producing trailers? The average trailer, even though it only 3 minutes, takes approximately nine days to produce. That’s not just one day for one person. Its nine days at twelve hours a day for four people! That’s 111 hours of work for an advertising method. A normal person will work, at minimum, 39 hours a week, so that’s nearly three weeks work for one person!

For example the Bond films. When people think of James Bond, they think of fast cars, glamorous ladies and of course an action packed film. People see the special effects and instantly want to see that film, because of the trailer. People see the girls, the cars and the action packed scenario and, again, instantly want to see that film, all because of the trailer.

The Casino Royale trailer shows James Bond fighting his way out of everything that comes, shooting, cars, girls, and everything you would expect in a Bond film. After watching the latest Bond trailer, it just confirmed that the James Bond films are not for me. They include the same old story over and over again. There will be a twist in the story and a big fighting scene and Bond will walk away with the ladies just before the end, and still have time to have a cup of tea and boast about his actions at the end! Aren’t we getting a bit bored of this?

The scenes are so predictable and you can pretty much say what is going to happen before it does. For example when James Bond jumps off a high building onto a suspended crane, the trailer goes in slow motion to supposedly cause tension. Be honest. He’s really not going to die is he? Where is the tension in that?!

Don’t get me wrong James Bond is a very strong character but what impression is he leaving on our kids? Is he showing himself to be a good role model, someone to look up to? No! If someone doesn’t serves your drink stirred instead of shaken, you don’t just whip out an AK47 and start shooting! All the men in the film just seem to resort to violence!

The film as a whole is also very stereotypical with the men and women. The men seem to have some sort of gangster obsession with guns. Everywhere they go. They will have a gun. Again what kind of example is this man to our kids?! The women just seem to be there for show as well! I mean what are the odds that that class of women would appear and instantly be caressing and giving Bond his every need? Unlikely, I’ll tell you that!

Personally I have come to the decision that I will no longer see trailers and immediately want to watch them. There are ranges of better ways you can get a mixed opinion from, such as reviews. This way you will have seen the best bits of the film, and you can read what people who have already seen it think. The Bond trailer has a good trailer but a very disappointing film and storyline in my opinion. For this reason i have been put off James Bond films and do not think that in future I will want to view/see them.