Latest Movie Trailers (15/02/12)

It’s been an exciting week in trailer-land with new releases for both The Amazing Spider-man and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter – and, on top of that, the first trailer for The Bourne Legacy has also been set loose.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

The title may be seem a little ridiculous, but the first trailer for fantasy horror movie Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter has revealed the film to be an action-packed re-imagining of the vampire legend through the eyes of one of America’s most respected Presidents. After the supernatural murder of his mother, Lincoln vows to destroy all vampires, as well as the slave-owning humans who work with them. Vampires and the great American President who freed the slaves; by smashing together two such seemingly incongruous ideas, the producers of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (of which fantasy horror expert Tim Burton is one) will either have an entertaining, innovative film, or a ridiculous flop on their hands this August.

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

In comedy drama Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, Keira Knightley and Steve Carell play a pair of neighbours who undertake a road trip in order to find Carell’s high school sweetheart. Unfortunately they don’t have very much time to spare, as an asteroid called Matilda is due to hit and destroy the earth in about three weeks’ time. The films looks to be a humorous exploration of the varying reactions produced in humans when they are told that the world is about to end. The pairing of Knightley and Carell seems like an odd choice by the casting team though, and it remains to be seen whether they will make a good comedy double act.

Battleship

Aliens will be attacking Earth once again in Battleship, a new action sci-fi film starring Liam Neeson, Taylor Kitsch, and surprisingly, Rihanna. As an entire armada of aliens descends on the planet intent on total destruction, a fleet of battleships must engage with them in order to find out what they want, and stop them from annihilating the human race. Despite the interesting idea of setting the battle for the survival of the planet at sea, Battleship looks like it will be a rather predictable action film. The addition of Rihanna to the cast may attract a few interested fans, as will the admittedly skilful looking CGI, but even so, it seems likely that the film will probably fail to impress most movie-goers.

The Amazing Spider-man

The much anticipated The Amazing Spider-man, starring English actor Andrew Garfield, is being billed as ‘the untold story’ of Peter Parker, the boy behind the mask. Parker will delve into his own past in this latest addition to the Spider-man series, attempting to discover the reason why his parents disappeared when he was very young, and coming across his father’s old partner Dr. Curt Connors (AKA The Lizard) in the process. The film is set for a UK release in July 2012, and will differ greatly from the classic Sam Raimi / Tobey Maguire Spider-man films that superhero fans know and love; it will either be an exciting reboot for the series, or send viewers running straight back to their old favourites.

The Bourne Legacy

The Bourne franchise is also getting a revamp this year in the shape of The Bourne Legacy, a new action thriller starring Jeremy Renner and directed by Tony Gilroy, who is also responsible for the first three Bourne films. Renner will play Aaron Cross, another rogue agent who was subject to the same mind control training as Jason Bourne (who will not feature in this film). The title The Bourne Legacy and the tagline ‘There was never just one’ suggests that the film will dig even deeper into the shady government programme which created Jason Bourne; the film will also feature many recurring characters from the earlier movies, including Pam Landy (Joan Allen) and Dr Albert Hirsch (Albert Finney).