Star Trek

Trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/startrek/

First up for consideration this month is the massive cinematic reboot of Star Trek. The filmic incarnation of the franchise stalled in 2002 with the 10th film ‘Nemesis’, the final adventure for the Next Generation crew, which sadly failed to live up to fan and box office expectations. Some serious pondering and brain-ache no doubt followed, before it was decided that the best thing to do would be to start from the beginning. Literally.

Enter Mister J.J. Abrams, the creative mind behind successful TV shows Alias and Lost. Having been initiated by Paramount (helming Mission Impossible 3) Abrams has now been given the keys to their other lucrative franchise; and so we have a fresh new approach to this 11th film - to be simply called ‘Star Trek’ - which will focus on the early adventures of James T. Kirk and Spock, as well as the formation of the famous crew of the Starship U.S.S. Enterprise.

A prequel to the original 1966 television series, the film will also include Leonard Nimoy returning as Spock, with the younger version portrayed by Heroes regular Zachary Quinto. Other big names in the film will include Eric Bana, Winona Ryder, Simon Pegg and Karl Urban.

The teaser trailer is quite sparse in terms of what it actually shows (hence the word ‘teaser’), but does show construction work being carried out on something big. The voice of President John F. Kennedy can be heard in his famous speech about the ‘Space Race’, as well as transmissions from the Apollo Moon landings, and finally the voice of Spock uttering those famous words ‘Space…the Final Frontier’. The teaser ends showing the Enterprise under construction on Earth, with only the briefest glimpses of the futuristic cityscape behind it.

The amount of money being spent and the quality of people involved in a science-fiction franchise, that has a long history and a vocal fanbase, means that judgement will have to be reserved, at least until more is shown, but so far things look promising.

Hellboy 2: The Golden Army

Trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/hellboy2thegoldenarmy/

Next we have the sequel to Hellboy, Guillermo del Toro’s 2004 movie based on the Dark Horse comic by Mike Mignola, which starred Ron Perlman as the titular character. The comic series is about a cigar-smoking red-skinned demon who is meant to bring about the end of the world thanks to Nazi machinations, but instead is raised in America and becomes a ‘paranormal investigator’ working for the government - investigations which usually entail finding monsters and beating them senseless.

Although the first movie was a fun supernatural action thriller with all the right ingredients - Lovecraftian monsters, clockwork Nazi gimps and kittens - the film was a partial misfire, but the sequel promises to deliver all manner of supernatural escapism and more, leaving behind some of the pulp elements from the first film and delving into the dark world of fairytales and folklore.

The trailer begins with the B.P.R.D - The Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense - investigating strange events involving fairytale creatures; our world is beginning to collide with another. Whilst many of the old gods and creatures of this other world are resigned to the fact that their existence is being affected in such a way one creature - an Elf Prince (Luke Goss) - decides to take very drastic action, which inevitably brings him head-to-head with Hellboy. Cue the fisticuffs, rock monsters, swordfights, freaky angels and…well, you get the idea. The trailer should please fans of both del Toro and Mignola, and leave them in anticipation for when The Golden Army hits the big screen.

Wanted

Trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/wanted/

We end with another comicbook movie, this one less supernatural and more super-criminal.Wanted is based on the comicbook miniseries by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones; the story is about ‘Wesley Gibson’, a young man who discovers his recently assassinated father was a super-powered criminal and that his father’s incredible abilities (perfect aim and superior weapons skills) have been passed onto Wesley, leading him into a new and altogether more dangerous life in a world where super-villains control everything.

The film stars James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman, and is directed by russian(Nightwatch and Daywatch director) Timur Bekmambetov. The film has been ‘loosely’ based on the comic, jettisoning some of the ‘comicbook’ elements (superhero/supervillain history, costumes etc.) and instead running with the characters, the ‘assassin’ aspects of the story, and the truckloads of automatic weaponry.

We meet Wesley at the start of the trailer, a young office employee who is approached by a beautiful woman called ‘The Fox’ (Jolie); she reveals that Wesley’s deceased father was an assassin of great stature. She takes him to see Sloan (Freeman), a partner of Wesley’s father who invites him to join the ‘Fraternity’ - a brotherhood of assassins who carry out death orders as ordained by mystical weavers.

The film looks to be a nice mix of John Woo gunplay, parkour, car chases and breath-taking visuals, but whether it can rise above the post-Matrixaction level remains to be seen - though a shot in the trailer of a man’s face hitting a glass window which fractures like a spiderweb is probably worth the price of admission alone.

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