Good Trailer, Bad Movie: Oldboy, Gangster Squad & Only God Forgives

In the age of dwindling theater attendance, the importance of smartly crafted trailers has never been more critical. Movies live and die by their trailers to ensure they turn a profit. It is in studios’ interest to convey to audiences that they can’t afford to wait for DVD releases, regardless of the quality of their movie. But what happens when a well-cut trailer sells the audience on a movie that falls short of what it promises?

This ongoing column highlights well made trailers for movies that ended up falling short of the mark.

 

Oldboy (2013)

I had not watched the original Oldboy until after (unfortunately) watching the Spike Lee remake.

Let’s pretend for a moment that the fantastic original Oldboy (2003) did not exist. On its own, the trailer for the 2013 remake from Spike Jonze starring Josh Brolin is inherently intriguing. A man is kidnapped and imprisoned for 20 years only to be released suddenly back into a world he no longer knows. He vows to exact revenge against the person who imprisoned him while uncovering the reason behind his imprisonment. I was sold on this premise from the trailer given the mystery behind it and the slick editing and promise of brutal fight scenes.

What we got was a disjointed mishmash of convoluted plot plots that were never greater than the sum of their parts. The stylized nature of the trailer is completely lost within the film itself. Top it off with comically choreographed fight scenes, and you have a film that feels completely unnecessary, and if anything, sullies the source material it’s based on. Spike Lee’s remake was a classic example of a western filmmaker taking a successful film from another country, and failing to justify why a remake was needed.

 

Gangster Squad

Listen, Gangster Squad was never going to be a terrific film. The trailer promised a darker action-packed take on pulp-era gangster films of a bygone era. Fine by me. I’m willing to allow for a certain amount of overemphasized character tropes and grandiose monologues in the name of action-packed shootouts and grin-worthy one-liners. What Gangster Squad ended up being was a ham-fisted script that was so painfully over the top that I spent a majority of its runtime laughing at it. The film’s complete lack of self-awareness resulted in my being bored for a majority of it, only looking up when a hail of bullets could be heard. And even then, the shootouts were edited in such a way that they had a very unauthentic look to them.

And finally, there’s Sean Penn who gives one of the worst performances of not only his career but maybe of any gangster film. Every line is so forced that any semblance of fear and power Penn is attempting to channel through his character is ultimately lost. Classic one-liners such as, “here comes Santa Claus” before unloading a Tommy gun were the epitome of cringe. I found Sean Penn’s line, “You’ll be begging for a bullet before it’s over” perfect to describe my experience with Gangster Squad perfectly.

Only God Forgives

Coming hot off the heels of his neo-noir thriller Drive, Only God Forgives from director Nicolas Winding Refn seemed to be the next logical project. Once again teaming up with Ryan Gosling, the trailer for Only God Forgives appeared to indicate a highly stylized and violent south-east Asia crime thriller that retained specific aesthetics of Drive. While Drive exuded style over substance, Only God Forgives ended up being neither, opting for the grungy drivel that wasn’t indicative of any of the qualities that Refn has as a filmmaker.

Only God Forgives was utterly devoid of anything remotely interesting from either a script or visual delivery standpoint. The film is filled with convoluted scenes that vaguely hint at the inner turmoil characters are experiencing, filmed in a way that Refn seems to think makes it edgier than it is. The thing about having a film that chooses to focus on its stylized look and feel is that if that is the main draw, it has to be well done. Or unique. Or something.

The number of subplots that never go anywhere is numerous, such as Gosling’s major mommy issues, his brother being a pedophile, oh and he challenges an old man to street fight. The film is all over the place, and instead of resolving any of the conflicts in a meaningful or coherent way, it all feels like a vapid attempt at being edgy. Easily one of the most disappointing movies I have ever seen given just how promising its trailer made it seem.