This weekend I watched the new Tom Cruise film Oblivion, a film that started well but had far too many moments that grinded the movie to a halt. Anyway I’m not here to moan about that, instead I’m going to moan about a couple of trailers I saw beforehand. I know it’s not fair to review a film based on a trailer, but seeing as they reveal so much I figured I might as well.

The trailer that stood out to me was Star Trek Into Darkness, which seems to borrow from the Dark Knight and Skyfall, and appears to feature a former agent who has gone rogue and is destroying Earth, for what reasons I do not know. Perhaps he has a grudge against his old master? Or maybe he just wants to see the World burn. Fingers crossed I’m wrong but I really hope this isn’t about a terrorist who can not only intricately plan his attacks years in advance but can also plan his capture and escape in advance as well.

With regards to the tone of the film everything looks incredibly dark and serious. That’s all good but you need some light with the dark, just as you need salt with your potatoes, and its going to take an in-form Simon Pegg (who I didn’t really like in the first film) to really lift the mood.

I guess I just want more from a big budget Sci-Fi than just death and destruction. What about exploration? To travel into space and discover new Worlds. I guess nobody would pay to see that.

Another trailer I saw was Iron Man 3. I’m not much of a Marvel fan, but Robert Downy Jr alone has made the Iron Man films worth watching. However the trailer also took the incredibly dark and serious route and hasn’t really hyped me up at all.

It seems that once again Stark’s home/base will be attacked. It also seems that once again Stark decides to take a break from being Iron Man. So will this be just like Iron Man 2 where he spends most of the film wondering whether or not it’s worth his time being the superhero who we all want to see?

Yes I know I shouldn’t judge films on a trailer, but it feels like films are taking themselves far too seriously, to the point where this will all implode and we will all get tired of these dark films. And then one day, a new Joel Schumacher will come along and introduce us a new set of camp comic-book films. It’s all part of the cycle.