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5 Movie Trailers that Were Far Better than the Films

By Jameson Brown · October 19, 2014

Well cut trailers get us excited. A story condensed into two to three minutes with perfectly selected music draped over the background makes the viewing experience addictive. But what happens when the long-form falls short? When the core is rockier than the mantle? It happens. Sadly, it happens quite a bit, but at least we get some solid trailers out of the deal.  

5. Man of Steel (2013)

This lands at number five because the film is not terrible. It's not good by any means, but there are some scripting points that are thought out and written with the source material in-mind. But this trailer is beautiful. It reminds me of a darkly stroked painting. Upon viewing, though, this tonality evaporates immediately into a typical Snyder CGI fest. I don't mind tailored graphics, but as the story runs on (an aggressive 143 minutes) it also runs short, thus making the trailer look that much better. 

https://youtube.com/watch?v=T6DJcgm3wNY%26nbsp%3B

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4. The Bourne Legacy (2012)

A full out disappointment, The Bourne Legacy took the trilogy that was so meticulously built and moved it ten steps backwards. Jeremy Renner was the only saving grace of this film – his acting was the one pegleg that held it somewhat together. The trailer on the other hand features a great first half of inception and then pushes us forward with jump cut after jump cut of ass kicking. The movie fell flat on strong plotting and the shiftiness that made the first trilogy so intriguing. Another reason I was thoroughly disappointed was Tony Gilroy is better than this movie. He has more talent than what was shown onscreen. Sad. 

https://youtube.com/watch?v=jSzy9qQ3mDE%26nbsp%3B

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3. The Strangers (2008)

The Strangers created a lot of word-of-mouth about its premise and setup when trailers first started circulating. I was happy to see some of the old scenarios and environments brought back (eg. the remote cabin, the unknown masked killers wandering around the remote cabin, etc.). After viewing the movie, I could maybe say I got a little tense during a couple pivotal scenes, but that's it. I never jumped. My heart never skipped a beat. My stomach never dropped. Nothing. What went wrong here was the build up lasted too long; and by too long I mean the entire movie. With scenario horror, the build up needs to be meticulous, but it must still respect the meat of the second and third Acts. 

https://youtube.com/watch?v=A0L3eVQfZt0%26nbsp%3B

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2. Terminator Salvation (2009)

Of the trailers on the list, this is the best one. It featured a nicely picked Nine Inch Nails song that reflected what it was SUPPOSED to be on the screen – a rich in plot, SciFi action film that had snippets of homage to its predecessors. It was absolutely none of these things. Why McG was ever brought on to direct this movie is beyond me, but I do know I am looking forward to the Terminator films moving forward. Let's just act like this one never happened. Cool? 

https://youtube.com/watch?v=6GmLfivKQL8%26nbsp%3B

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1. Prometheus (2012)

This is THE end all and be all of build ups letting us down. Prometheus is horrendous aside from the character of David and its visual efects. It contains more plotholes than I can count and longtime fans of Scott's Science Fiction directing are now beyond skeptical about him touching the genre again. Has he lost his juice? Either way, the trailer was haunting and gave us so much hope for the prequel series. I now see that was a massive mistake. 

https://youtube.com/watch?v=iIJeQNyZ6VE%26nbsp%3B

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