Coming Attractions -- WOO!

[athelind]

There's been some discussion in the comic blogs about the frisson of woo, the essential essence of a superhero that grabs the audience and makes the character something more than just another jock in long underwear.

The litmus test that's been established: if there was a big-budget movie about the character, what would you put in Thirty-Second Movie Trailer?

Ten years ago, when most superhero movies were well-known for Entirely Missing The Point Of The Character, that would have been a terrible test. More recently, however, producers for screens large and small have managed to pull off exactly that: X-Men, Spider-Man, Batman Begins. honestly, the trailer for Daredevil managed to capture more of the character's "woo" than the movie itself did.

Recently, a two-minute trailer for Mercy Reef, an Aquaman series by the producers of Smallville, appeared on YouTube -- but got yanked by Warner Bros. The series, alas, is not on the fall schedule for "The CB", the bastard offspring of UPN and WB; based on the quality of the trailer, fans and former sceptics alike are now hoping to see it as a mid-season replacement. It certainly captured the frisson of woo for the character, in a way that the comics haven't managed since the '60s.

A better example -- and one that we can actually see, for a film that actually will hit the screens -- is Nicholas Cage's Ghost Rider.

In a word...

Woo.

Comments

[hedgegoth.livejournal.com]

The Ghost Rider trailer left me going "OOOOOOH Nifty!" - which is surprising since I'd been bleah about it aforehand.

[paka.livejournal.com]

Awww, man! I'd always hoped that when they made a Ghost Rider movie, they'd get Henry Rollins to play the hero!

This is partly so that you could get a whole movie with "Ghost Rider" as the main song...

And of course I also think it'd be seriously cool if they could get Tony Hawk as the hero whenever they make a Silver Surfer movie, and I bet that won't happen.

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Oh, I've known about Cage's interest in the project for years. I thought he was dead-on perfect. I mean, come on, who else could play a travellin' motorcycle stunt rider who sold his soul to the Debbil?

Y'know, in the '80s, with that mane o' hair, Rollins might have pulled off Blaze. But I think Cage nailed it.

Tony Hawk as the Surfer could seriously rock. He Got Da Moovs.

[halfelf.livejournal.com]

We'll see. I don't watch trailers anymore - they just *lie*. :P

[katola.livejournal.com]

Ghhooooooooost Riiiiiiider. Mmmmmmmmmmm, yus.

[atomicdumbass.livejournal.com]

Hey, that was cool. I never thought much of Ghost Rider, but the movie made him look neat. I like the burning cowboy part. A Ghost Rider Segway guy would probably be the greatest thing ever captured on film.

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Ghost Rider's strong point was always the visuals. I think they've caught the parts of the character that are COOL, and left out the Dumb '70s Marvel stuff.

And yes, the burning cowboy was cool.

(I almost said "flaming cowboy", but that's another movie entirely.

[collie13.livejournal.com]

Oooooooooh, WAY cool! Now I wanna see the Ghost Rider movie! ;)