PREview REview: Harry Potter vs. Harry Potter

This isn't a review for the movie itself. It's a review on how clear and enticing the trailer is on provoking interest in the film, or how deceptive it is on luring you into watching crap.

I'll preference this with the fact that I haven't read any of the Harry Potter books so I honestly don't know what to expect from the Deathly Hallows films.With that said, a second Harry Potter trailer was released this week for Deathly Hallows Part 1, but let's begin with the first trailer that was released.

First off, I loved this preview. This trailer did lack one thing that most trailers require, plot points, which is usually done with snippets of dialog. The dialog in this trailer does not outline the plot of the film, it just moves the dramatics and action of the trailer forward. Now let me tell you why this was completely acceptable. Usually, a teaser gives you a glimpse of the film's imagery with no plot points, just to give you a taste, and a trailer gives you a bigger picture of what to expect from all aspects of the film. Teasers are mainly used for action or suspense based films. You'll never see a teaser for a Jane Austin adaption because dramas' only selling points are plot related. This was not a teaser, regardless of the lack of verbal plot hints. This was a full on trailer for two reasons...

1) The film's main audience already knows what to expect since they read the books, so more time for action.

2) (My favorite aspect) The plot points are laid out visually, even recognizable to someone who has no interest in the HP books (me). The land scape shots display the journey that Harry must take. Harry also seems torn from his usual trio, conveying that he's alone during his journey. Ron and Hermione are paired away from Harry to reveal their separate struggle (subplot?) And of course the beautiful conveyance of conflict and connection between good and evil. The first character scene with Voldemort and Harry is bone chilling, along with the closing scene of clashing beams, a stimulating display of the ying and yang of good vs evil. This trailer had me on the edge of my seat wanting more, despite my lacking allegiance to Harry Potter.

Now on to trailer #2

This trailer is just as enticing, if not more. You get the whole package with this one. Plot elements are shown with Snape in conference with Voldemort, plans for disguising Harry, and the amazing display of conflict between Ron and Harry. You get everything from the previous trailer plus so much more. But there in lies my only quarrel with the trailer. I have found that if a trailer is too enticing and too revealing, it ruins the elements of catharsis for me when I end up sitting in front of the actual film. This is a dying cliche in the movie marketing biz, but if you want your audience to be more entertained from the film itself than the actual trailer, 'less is more'. Given that this is an amazing trailer, I feel that way too much has been revealed at this point. I've seen about five solid minutes of action flashes and sequences now, and I have a feeling that I've caught a glimpse of every climactic action scene, just like when a comedy trailer shows all their funniest parts, so now I'll be sitting there thinking "Oh Hermione is being chased. This is the part where she does that thing and black smoke appears", and so on.

I loved both of these trailers, they are mastered beautifully to intrigue both it's loyal and un-loyal fans. But I think it would have done just as good a job with just one rather than two. I feel like I've already scene the whole movie while it was on fast forward, so now my only motivation to buy a ticket is to watch it at normal speed so I can see what I missed. The only problem here is that the two previews are too good for their own good.

Check out last week's PREview REview: Preview Review - The Fighter/Hereafer

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