Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen
Summation: This looks to be technically superior to the previous film, but essentially more of the same. Lots of fabulously-realized robots fighting each other. Pay close attention to the enormous Decepticon at the end, dangling Optimus Prime like an annoying bogey.
Star Trek
Summation: It all looks very good, if spiritually more in touch with Star Wars than Star Trek. I reckon this will draw the crowds and help revive interest in Trek, but I hope future trailers start showing some of the humanity beyond the FX.
Land Of The Lost
Summation: Will Ferrel in what appears to be Journey To The Centre Of The Earth... on terra firma. It looks like a lot of fun, actually; great special FX, a few laughs, dinosaurs, giant crabs, time-warps. I'm interested.
Fast & Furious
Summation: Okay, I haven't seen a single one of these movies, and this is the fourth one. It reunites Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Michelle Rodriguez from the first movie (yes, their careers have soured that badly), so fans will probably be quite keen. Me? Not so much. I doubt you'll need to have seen the previous three movies to "get" this one, though, and it looks fairly slick.
Year One
Summation: A Harold Ramis comedy starring Jack Black and Michael Cera as cavemen. Sounds fun, but this spot was disappointing. The opening with Black trying to hunt a beast was amusing, but the extended Cain & Abel argument/fight wasn't very good. It seems strange to have chosen a weak scene as your big Super Bowl spot. Why not a proper, cut-together trailer? Oh well. Maybe this will be good, but nothing here has me excited.
Up
Summation: Pixar's latest, about an elderly man and a boy who are whisked off to have adventures in their flying house, which has been attached to hundreds of helium balloons. This is sure to be excellent given Pixar's hit-rate, and it certainly looks magical.
G.I Joe: Rise Of Cobra
Summation: Stephen Sommers goes from mummies, vampires, werewolves and monsters to bringing GI Joe to the big-screen -- the summer's second toy-based franchise after Transformers. Of course, GI Joe means nothing to most people outside of the US (here in the UK, Action Man fulfilled the same role), but I doubt that will matter too much. Christopher Ecclestone as a bad-guy, Dennis Quaid as the good-guy, Sienna Miller in tight leather, lots of explosions, the Eiffel Tower's destruction (Team America style). It will probably be all style, no substance.
