5 Movie Trailers That Were Better Than the Movie!

(Photo: Warner
Bros.)

Movie
trailers have been a crucial deciding component for movie watchers.
Sometimes they watch them in movie theaters, sometimes it’s an
advertisement online, sometimes we re-watch them (by choice or
not), and sometimes, the trailer becomes the defining memory they
take away from the film. Trailers have the luxury of not needing
90+ minutes and a full, developed story.

Trailers are
trying to deliver clean, emotional little 2-minute promises on what
the film will be. They’re perfectly edited and expertly paced,
delivering emotional arcs and showcasing great music and visuals,
but all the while, the challenge is not giving too much away.

Sometimes
trailers over-promise, sometimes they confuse, and sometimes they
are better than the actual movie itself! So, here is our list of
trailers that were better than the actual movie.

1. Suicide Squad (2016)

With the top
two comments revolving around “This trailer > the actual movie”,
we figured this movie was a good starting point. This trailer has
99M views, and the caption is “Worst. Heroes. Ever.” Which is
eerily close to “Worst. Heroes. Movie. Ever.” And many fans
unfortunately agree.

Suicide
Squad’s trailer is expertly done with Queen’s
“Bohemian Rhapsody” playing in the background, and we see stars
such as Will Smith, Margot
Robbie, Viola Davis, and Jared
Leto. We get distinct, exciting characters, large
personalities, stunts, and a lot of comedy, but in the actual
movie, the critical reception was widely negative (around 26% on
Rotten Tomatoes).

The trailer
told a simple story, of bad guys having fun together, but the
director, David Ayer, actually said that the
direction for the movie turned from “dark and soulful” into a
comedy. All of this put together made for a thrilling trailer but a
lackluster movie.

2. Godzilla (2014)

Another
example (like most of these on the list) of YouTube commenters
discussing how great this trailer was and how flat the movie fell
is 2014’s Godzilla reboot. The trailer is ominous,
intense, and beautiful, with great moments throughout. It leaves
viewers with a chilling feeling of “Woah, that looks really good.”
It shows vivid nuclear disaster imagery and it seems to be setting
it up to be presented as a human tragedy.

Bryan
Cranston even makes an appearance in the trailer,
seemingly showing that he will play a big part, but his character
exits the movie shortly (about 40 minutes) after it begins. And the
complete emotional arc we saw in the trailer — full of fear, awe,
catastrophe, and then hope? — was not found in the movie. It
didn’t maintain much of this intensity for 20 minutes let alone the
full 2 hours. Godzilla 2014 is one of the most classic
examples of a trailer delivering on emotions through a highlight
reel but not actually delivering in the movie.

3. Where the Wild Things Are (2009)

The montage
set to Arcade Fire‘s “Wake Up” in this
trailer creates an instant head-bopping, exciting feeling. It makes
viewers feel childhood wonder, growing up, and nostalgia, all
wrapped in a beautifully, fast-paced trailer with bright lights, a
central character focus, giant “wild things”, and adventure all
over the place. The movie looked set to be a coming-of-age film,
one that felt alive and heightened.

The movie,
though, is quieter, slower, and more introspective. It explores
childhood rather than highlighting a fun adventure story, and
people who read the book seemed to have connected with the trailer,
as the trailer felt a lot like the book, while the movie itself
takes a softer, at times sadder, interpretation route.

4. Sucker Punch (2011)

This trailer
showcases how style can overpower a story. With the feel of the
trailer acting almost like a Summer blockbuster or a music video,
there was a lot of hope for this movie. Besides the strong cast,
this movie also had giant samurais, dragons, fire, armies, and
war-like trenches. The shots were giant spectacles, and the
excitement was palpable.

However, the
movie was widely criticized, and it largely confused audiences. The
movie needed plot, layers of reality, and symbolism past the
imagination and action that the trailer delivered on. With a Rotten
Tomatoes critics score of 23% and a fan score at 47%, one can
easily see that, although fun and inventive, this movie struggled
to get past its exciting trailer.

5. The Purge (2013)

What a
concept. This movie had a fantastic idea — it took it, and it ran
with it one night of the year, every year: “If all crime were legal
for one night…” The concept dominates the conversations around all
of The Purge movies, because, unfortunately, the concept
is the strongest part.

In
particular, in the first trailer for the first movie, we see a
suggested nationwide chaos thriller where people take to the
streets and pandemonium ensues. But in really, the story is a
home-invasion. This trailer sold us a giant idea, but the film told
us a story inside the idea. People wanted to watch a movie about
this tremendous, radical story that only cinema could truly tell.
However, people still only talk about this idea, and they mostly
forget the plot. 

Trailers are
promises, and at times, very exciting, musically-driven, cinematic
promises of what a full-length version would be. Movies then are
the real deal, fully formed trailers, accompanied by structure,
plot, and believable circumstances, among many other things. So
although there are many, these selections are our picks for the top
trailers that were better than the movies!