Star Wars: Into Darkness

I've seen a lot of people praising how Abrams has been revealing so little in the trailers for The Force Awakens,  Like BrosWatchPLLToo.  And in so doing being quite condescending to people who would like more to be revealed.  Saying this is how it should be.

Problem is, this is in fact the exact same thing Abrams did with Star Trek: Into Darkness.  Choosing to never actually reveal who the Villain was before it came out.

The thing about that is I felt confident all the people speculating it was Kahn were wrong, because to me there was no logic in hiding it if it was Kahn, making who the villain is a twist would be worth it if it was someone hardcore Trek fans knew but not so much the general public, or at least a villain who'd never been in a movie before.  Of if you did want to do it with an Icon like Kahn then don't give away that the villain is a mystery, he should have promoted the film with the stuff about the movie's other Villain then Khan being relevant could make a decent twist but still not a great one.

Now I don't hate Into Darkness as a movie, when I finally saw it on DVD I found it better then I expected.  But like the prior film I like far less, it still did not feel a True Trek film to me, and what was Trekish about it was all via rehashing what came before.  Like Nemesis it aped Wrath of Kahn, and the things about the movie that weren't like TWOK, dealing with corruption in Starfleet, felt like a DS9 plot being done with pale imitations of TOS cast.  But I can understand why the general Public thought that was something Trek never explored before, and maybe Abrams was one of those.

I know the trendy thing online is to complain about Trailers revealing too much.  Well I did a post on that before, and I guess you can consider this a follow up.

When a movie is supposed to breath new life into an old franchise, I want to be reassured there will be something truly new.  I don't want to know the whole plot, but some reassurance that the movie isn't running solely on mechanically churning out more of what we've seen before.

Jurassic World's trailers kept plenty from the audience, but made it absolutely clear we were seeing something different.  And it was able to provide that Nostalgia factor at the same time.

So what I've learned from Into Darkness is that trailers trying too hard to hide what the movie is about, are hiding that they have no real creativity.  And TFA being the same director means it's not likely to be an exception.

I'm a Prequel fan, I don't care if TFA throws any bones for Prequel fans, I've said before the test of the new Movie is if it can bring in new fans.  But what that does make me though is someone who can provide somewhat more of an outside perspective on these trailers.  The people who worship the OT as God's Gift to Mankind keep going on about how these trailers were soooooo awesome and mind blowing.  To me the teasers were adequate teasers, but for a full trailer this latest one did not strike a cord with me at all.  I can honestly say I'm less sure I'll bother to see the movie then I was yesterday.

I know, people love to mock those who threaten to not see something.  Well I'm not making any threats, I'm just saying I have opted out of seeing sequels to movies I liked in theaters often. And right now I might not be able to afford to see TFA even if I 100% wanted to.  I greatly fear I may lack the finances to see BvS in March, which is the movie I want to see more then any other.  So I may very well decide not to waste money on a film in December that is sending me all the wrong messages.

So far all I get from the trailers is a bunch of obvious OT Nostalgia , a female lead who was clearly cast at least partly for her resemblance to Portman and Fisher, two villains who people think are "Soooo Cool" because they were masks, just like Vader and Boba Fett.  And some narrators saying lines they clearly wish they had Alec Guinness to say.

The only things remotely innovative are the Cross Guard Lightsaber, a few new Droid designs, and having a male lead who's African American.  I find it interesting how all the people complaining about Boyega being Black are also Prequel haters.  It reaffirms my suspicions that Prequels haters simply hate change.