Do first impressions matter? No, they don't, especially if we are talking about Hollywood. What you see is not always what you get is a more accurate phrase to describe movies and their trailers. There have been plenty of movies that fooled us with brilliant trailers but made us doze off in the cinema. Can we have our money back, please? We need to buy Christmas gifts.
Trailers are a great form of advertising. They help drive traffic to the cinemas. However, they sometimes go over and beyond to promise us something that is not there. Nonetheless, here are 10 trailers that were better than the movie they were cut from.
Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen (2009)
It's hard to figure out what's wrong with Michael Bay. Despite being lambasted by film critics on numerous occasions, he has never changed his style-over-substance method of making films. He probably keeps telling himself, "They are the ones who don't get it. My films are amazing." Or maybe he uses the classic excuse: "They might not understand me now, but in future, they will." No, we won't Mr. Bay.
However, we still find ourselves hoping for a good Michael Bay film, especially when the trailer is too good. The trailer for Revenge Of The Fallen would have made you buy tickets for your extended family in advance. The special effects were futuristic. Megan Fox was also seen looking as good as Marylin on the cover of a 1960s lifestyle magazine. And Shia LaBeouf was having heated arguments with the Transformers. What else could we want? Sadly, it's like they took the movie's only good moments and gave them to us for free in the trailer then asked us to pay for the bad stuff left in the movie.
Friday The 13th (2009)
Can we just leave the classics alone? Puliiiiz! (Dexter tone). If the original is too good, don't touch it. The results won't be the same. This is something that Hollywood refuses to acknowledge. The result? Movies like 2019's The Lion King keep happening and they keep getting destroyed by critics.
When it was announced that a remake of Friday The 13th was happening, nobody was excited. How could you be excited when Michael Bay was the executive producer? Yes, him again. But then the trailer came out and it was marvelous. It resembled that of the original film in many ways. Fans were sure they'd get something equally good if not better. We were also shown the victims just as they were about to face Jason. Sadly, the real movie was a total disgrace to slasher films. The kills just weren't chilling enough.
Man Of Steel (2013)
Man Of Steel? More like Man of Disappointments. He might be currently riding high as Geralt Of Rivia in The Witcher but Henry Cavill has been disappointing as Superman.
The Man of Steel made fans ecstatic. The suit was different. It wasn't the normal light blue that we were used to since the Christopher Reeves days. It was dark blue. We also saw the iconic moment when Superman launched into the air for the first time like a NASA rocket heading to Mars. There was piano music on the background. Joyous! The trailer also promised us a proper origin story. But it became dragged out too much. Total yawn fest!
The Snowman (2017)
With Michael Fassbender in it and Martin Scorsese serving as one of the executive producers, The Snowman promised to be a sure hit. The chilling trailer made us believe that we were about to get the movie of the year. Stephen King would surely be jealous and wonder why he'd never thought of creating a story like this before.
However, The Snowman was a total mess. While the trailer promised a serial killer causing havoc on snowy nights the film felt like dozens of unrelated scenes were just put together. According to the director, 15% of the script wasn't filmed. That's apparently because the budget wasn't enough. I guess that explains it.
Godzilla (1998)
Godzilla's trailer was a masterpiece in itself. Something was coming and it was about to cause havoc. We saw the ground shaking. Cars were being tossed in the air. Was it an earthquake? A tsunami? We saw a cop staring in horror. We saw an elderly fisherman running for his life as something emerged from the ocean.
We finally saw a monster's huge eyeball. That was it. Godzilla. There was no doubt that we'd be in for a treat. Sadly, the film was more about humans and less about the monster. Can a film studio be sued for false advertising?
Terminator Salvation (2009)
The real Batman was here. Well, not really Batman but Christian Bale. After just starring as Gotham's hero in The Dark Knight, Bale was an undisputed Hollywood heavyweight. Seeing him in the trailer of Terminator Salvation as John Connor was euphoric.
“Judgment Day” had already happened, and the now-grown John was fighting the robots. After everyone fought so hard to save him in Terminator 2, John was his own man, able to defend himself. It also looked like the special effects would be revolutionary. Sadly, the film ended up looking like a Windows XP computer game.
Suicide Squad (2016)
The major problem with the Suicide Squad trailer is that it made us believe that this was a film about the Joker leading a bunch of Gotham's B-villains. Given how 'talented' Leto is, we were looking forward to seeing him do an even better Joker than Heath Ledger.
Sadly, that never happened. Joker got very little screentime and Leto tried too hard to look crazy. With the exception of Will Smith's Deadshot, all the other villains were terrible too. We still deserve a better Suicide Squad movie. Let's hope James Gunn delivers it.
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (1999)
Baby Yoda might be the most popular character on TV right now but after The Phantom Menace, anything with sharp ears gave people nightmares. After so much promise in the trailer, the movie and every character in it really underwhelmed.
The most beautiful thing about the trailer was the opening shot that showed a swamp covered in fog. Add explosions and great visuals to this and you have a potentially brilliant film. However, what we were eventually served on the big screen ended up being one of the mos forgettable installments in the franchise.
Battle: Los Angeles (2011)
Hand-picking good scenes from the movie? Not at all. The Battle: Los Angeles trailer looked like it had its own award-winning director. Everything was so expertly done. Johann Johannsson's music played on the background as we were treated to UFO visuals.
War was meeting science fiction and we couldn't wait to see how events would unfold on the big screen. Sadly, the film gave us the same old tired Humans vs Aliens story in which the humans win. The brilliant trailer was later copied by the producers of Edge Of Tomorrow. They even used a Johann Johannsson song. But unlike Battle: Los Angeles, that movie actually delivered.
The Place Beyond The Pines (2012)
With such a beautiful title, you cannot expect the film to flop. The trailer gave us intense longing for the actual events. It showed Ryan Gosling as a tattooed, macho bank robber by the name Luke Glanton as he was trying to put his life in order. Bradley Cooper was a cop called Avery Cross and he didn't like Luke. One of these men would take the other one out. Or would they? The amazing Eva Mendes was present too, playing Luke's lover Romina.
The Place Beyond The Pines kept promising to be a good movie right until it ends. There was nothing special in it. Just three good actors trying their best to do justice to the script they'd been given.