Trailers of the Week: ‘Gemini Man,’ ’21 Bridges,’ ‘Deadwood’
It was a fairly light week for trailers (maybe Avengers: Endgame is scaring the competition so badly that other studios are afraid to even put out their previews of coming attractions?) but we’ve still got a few, from the much anticipated Deadwood movie to a gritty cop thriller starring Black Panther‘s Chadwick Boseman — and our first look at the Will Smith-vs.-Will Smith action movie Gemini Man. Check ’em out.
Catch-22
“That’s some catch, that Catch-22 …” “It’s the best there is.” The official trailer for George Clooney’s forthcoming adaptation of the Joseph Heller novel ups the absurdity and the black humor factor substantially from the teaser we got a few weeks back. Christopher Abbott’s Yossarian seems more anxious and manic; Clooney’s goofball general seems more ridiculous; the war raging all around them seems more hellish; the vibe feels more fatalistic. In other words, you get a better sense of the Catch-22 you know and love from your old high-school reading curriculum days. May 17th.
Deadwood: The Movie
We have to admit that we had not counted on how sentimental — nay, damn near weepy — it would make us feel to hear Ian McShane growl the word “cocksucker” again. The we’ll-get-it-when-hell-freezes-over conclusion to David Milch’s epic masterpiece of a Western series will finally bless our TV screens, and this teaser promises that we will get more than just loose ends being tied up. Virtually every living cast member has returned. Things still look muddy, violent and profane. Timothy Olyphant’s Sheriff Seth Bullock still looks like a shining beacon of justice, McShane’s Al Swearingen still looks like frontier capitalism personified and this doomed American town still doesn’t look big enough for the both of ’em. We have waited so damned long for this. May 31st.
Gemini Man
Will Smith is not just your run-of-the-mill professional killer — he’s the best in the murder-for-hire game, people! So who do you send to take him out? Why, the only person who might have an edge on this veteran: a younger clone, i.e. a digitally de-aged Fresh Prince-era version of Will Smith! There’s a lot of meta-baggage being hauled out here. Ang Lee directs, which makes us think this could be something a little chewier than just two hours of Smith-Smith-bang-bang. Bonus points for moody cover of Alphaville’s “Forever Young.” Oct. 11th.
Men in Black International
The second trailer for this MiB sequel/spinoff/brand extension doesn’t tell us much more than the first one did: Tessa Thompson is a civilian who wants to join the organization, she gets assigned to the London branch, she and Chris Hemsworth team up, aliens give them a lot of shit. But we do get extra banter between the Thor: Ragnarok dream team, plus we meet Kumail Nanjiani’s comic-relief green guy and the film’s villains, some shape-shifters known as the Hive. June 14th.
Swamp Thing
We have no idea how many people have actually joined DC Universe’s subscription service, or whether an adaptation of their comic featuring a brooding existential hero made out of moss and bog debris is going to cause a groundswell of new members. But we can say that this brief teaser does a great job of selling the horror aspects and the dripping-lead-character elements (it’s produced by James Wan, who directed both Aquaman and the original Saw, so there you go). Quicker than you can say “Alan Moore’s run on this title back in the ’80s helped set the foundation for a complete revolution of superhero storytelling,” we find ourselves very intrigued by this show. May 31st.
21 Bridges
Or, Chadwick Boseman hangs up the superhero costume for a second and slaps on a badge. The Black Panther star is an NYPD cop who catches a case involving two cop killers (Taylor Kitsch and If Beale Street Could Talk‘s Stephan James). He thinks they’re trying to flee the heat in Manhattan ASAP, so he does what any good police would do: closes down every way of getting off the island (see title) and starts the dragnet. Sienna Miller, J.K. Simmons, Keith David and the sort of character actors that are perfect for gritty crime thrillers costar. July 12th.
What/If
They’re calling this a “date announcement,” not a trailer, and you won’t see any footage of Netflix’s anthology series starring Renée Zellweger. What you will see, however, is Ms. “You Had Me at Hello” glide through a room filled with people making out, glaring, dancing, arguing and just looking plain ol’ smoldering, while she ascends a staircase and drops a chess piece. Our first reactions are: WTF is What/If, exactly? And: When can we see this? May 24th.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQcPqm3EqY8