Culture

In what seems like the longest pause for Hollywood, Warner Bros is making a come back to the big screen by dropping four major trailers to remind people, “Hey, we’re still here”. This weekend videos exploded over YouTube for major blockbusters that we’re originally slated earlier in the year as well as some future sneak peeks. 

Check out the trailers below for some cinematic previews we’ve all been denied for so long. 

Batman 

Batman movies are now an institution and are almost more plentiful than the Friday The 13th franchise. From Adam West to Ben Affleck, and now including ex-sparkling vampire Robert Pattinson, the world has had seven actors step into the boots of the caped crusader. That fact hasn’t stopped DC from paving the way forward for another movie to explore the world’s greatest detective. 

Matt Reeves looks to be following the path of darkness that Christopher Nolan set modern Batman down with Batman Begins. The trailer is muted black and red, hidden mostly in the shadows, with gritty crime scenes and ominous voice-overs from Jeffrey Wright (playing Commissioner Gordon) as well as Paul Dano (playing the Riddler). 

For some fans, the promise of a dark Batman movie that isn’t another origin story is good enough, but others find more delight in the fact that this trailer has more of a detective noir feel, reminiscent of Batman’s original themes. In the first 24 hours the trailer garnered 2 million views alone online, it’s safe to say people are still excited for good ol’ Bats. 

Tenet

Speaking of Nolan and Pattinson, another trailer that Warner Bros has decided to grace us with is the final trailer for time-boggling Tenet. This last trailer is three minutes long and overlaid with Travis Scott’s trippy bass song The Plan. It’s intense and fast-paced, similar to Inception and it’s trailers, with John David Washington as confused as the audience is at points. 

Aside from the basic plot where a CIA agent needs to go on a dangerous time-bending mission to stop World War III from happening, the trailer just shows off more of the big guns. A plan crash, catching bullets and reverse shots, it’s action-packed and definitely promises a wild ride. 

The trailer offers more scenes of Elizabeth Dicki, Clémence Poésy and Pattinson in their supporting roles, though not much else is clearer. Finally able to move forward, the movie is currently slated for early September. 

Wonder Woman 1984 

In stark contrast to both Tenet and Batman is Gal Gadot’s bright and colourful return to the screen as an Amazonian hero. There is no era louder, more technicolour or as fantastical than the 80s. A fun direction for Wonder Woman to head in rather than the murky shadows that Pattinson has been sequestered to. 

We see more of the fun relationship between Chris Pine’s Steve Trevor and Diana Prince with them bouncing lines off each other in easy banter, running through 80s fashion. Alongside this, there is the transition of Kristen Wig from bushy-haired Hermione into the villainess Cheetah. It will be interesting to see the explanation for Cheetah’s transformation into a full-fledged cat-woman. 

Joining them on screen are Pedro Pascal as Maxwell Lord, Robin Wright and Connie Nielsen returning as Antiope and Hippolyta respectively. The movie was pushed from summer this year to October, so be sure to catch it after Tenet. 

The Suicide Squad 

At the time when James Gunn was being shunned for his tweet jokes made in horrendously bad taste, DC picked him up and set him to work on Suicide Squad. Although the original movie with Will Smith at the helm was a critical failure, it did happen to make big bucks at the box office, which spurred this sort of sequel on to being made. 

There is no solid trailer here yet, more like a first look and behind the scenes of what we might get from this revamped version of the self-destruct bomb necklace murder squad. It introduces the new additions like John Cena as Peacemaker, the villainous version of Captain America and Idris Elba as Bloodsport as well as a whole array of new characters. 

Returning to the squad is fan favourite Harley Quinn played by Margot Robbie who is coming off her own movie, Viola Davis as the ever-stern Amanda Waller, Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang and Joel Kinnaman back from Altered Carbon to the role of Colonel Rick Flag. Check out the Roll Call and the long teaser with the behind-the-scenes to get your first taste of Gunn’s colourful menagerie.

In Other News

Following in the anti-hero steps is Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, with the confirmation that he’ll be taking on the mantle of Black Adam for the upcoming movie of the same name in a short comic featurette. The movie looks to be a sequel of sorts to the 2019 Shazam that saw Zachary Levi play boy-superhero blessed with powers from the wizard Shazam. Black Adam too was bestowed great powers only to be enslaved and imprisoned for 500 years. Scheduled for 2021, Black Adam might be delayed due to COVID-19 but a featurette is promising for the future of the movie.