It seems appropriate that the first thing I'd post from Hong Kong would be an international trailer for an upcoming movie.
There is no question that “Guardians Of The Galaxy” mania has gripped my home these days, and each new clip or poster seems to whip my kids into a frenzy. That culminated this weekend in a lovely moment when we ran into Bradley Cooper at the Los Angeles premiere of “Earth To Echo.” He posed for a photo with the two of them, and my six-year-old got a chance to tell Cooper how much he loves it in the last trailer where Rocket Raccoon fixes his balls in his spacesuit. I'm not sure I've ever been more proud.
It's a bummer that I'm not going to be able to share the new international trailer for the film with them until I get home on Friday, because it's awesome. Finally, it feels like this is the trailer that is making the case not only for how crazy and funny the film should be, but also how it fits into the larger Marvel universe. This new trailer gives us a sense of who Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) really is, and it also shows us more of the dynamic between the various characters while explaining just how high the stakes are for everyone.
This new trailer is packed with eye-popping weirdness, and I love it. There's an image I wish hadn't ended up being used in the last few pieces of marketing of Gamora wearing Star-Lord's walkman just before the two of them kiss, but I guess they're trying to reach out and let women know that there is a love story driving the film. The things that really jumped out at me were the new Rocket Raccoon footage, which is all great, as well as a lovely use of “I am Groot.”
There are several more pieces I'm itching to share with you guys from my visit to the set last year, and little by little, it feels like they're getting better and better at giving audiences a hint of just how big and strange a film this is going to be. For example, there's that shot in the trailer of them approaching a strange floating object of some sort. What that is and what role it plays in things is so fiendishly cool that it seems hard to believe it's just one part of a film instead of the primary concept. “Guardians” promises to be a dense and inventive experience, and if it works, I think it's important for Marvel overall as they start to try to make sense of what kind of studio they're going to be once the contracts are over for Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, and the Hulk.
Honestly? I can't wait.
“Guardians Of The Galaxy” opens in the US on August 1, 2014.