Super Bowl 2021

Despite being a less competitive game than one might hope for, for many sports fans’ event of the year, Super Bowl 2021 fully delivered in its slate of trailers promising film and television delights to come this year, with many challenged to fit a tight 30-second slot to fit the budget that the Super Bowl demands. From Disney+’s latest Marvel-oriented offerings to M. Night Shyamalan’s summer thriller fare, here’s our run-down, with our usual focus on music and sound.

The Falcon and The Winter Soldier

Falcon wastes little time from distinguishing itself from the first MCU television outing, Wandavision, by placing focus squarely on the action. Migos’ “Is You Ready (From ‘Mile 22’)” offers high-octane hip-hop fuelled by an epic music arrangement to help pace the on-screen action for Captain America’s successors. The lyrics and (title of the track) ask the obvious yet effective hypothetical: Are you ready? It’s a solid play for a massive, general audience.

Clarice

This new CBS series focuses on the life of Clarice Starling (Rebecca Breeds), an FBI agent involved with the Hannibal Lecter case (Silence of the Lambs), with a particular focus on how she is dealing with the trauma of that experience. Along with the focus on internal monologue comes a decidedly atmospheric score, drenched in reverb to match the dramatic lighting on screen. On the other hand, some YouTube commenters have derided the “lamb” imagery as overly heavy-handed—so the reaction seems mixed at best for CBS’ latest attempt to expand beyond their reliance on the Star Trek franchise.

Old

Aging is a universal experience as much as it can be a universal fear, and this Universal-backed project by M. Night Shyamalan amplifies that oft-dormant fear in this novel story. It finds a family stranded on a beach that somehow causes rapid aging. Musically, it runs the gamut one might expect from a horror trailer, with glissandi strings, sinister sound effects and the like. Maybe most interesting, however, is the appearance of the classic narrator voice, making a point of saying that this film is “only in theaters”—and this is, at least for now, bold release strategy given the uncertainty of the future.

Raya and the Last Dragon

In contrast, opting for a hybrid model—in theatres or for an extra fee on Disney+—comes Raya, Disney’s latest animated film. The 30-second spot manages to collapse editing conventions of epic action and comedy by punctuating the epic choral music with a one-liner. The shorter spot also makes more sense with its impending release, due out March 5th.

Nobody

Though also notable in its use of Louis Prima’s “Just A Gigolo” (1956), this trailer might well be most memorable for the pure hilarity of Bob Odenkirk screaming “give me the kitty cat bracelet!” as his suburban dad character is made to violently defend his family following a break-in. Once again, we hear the narrator voice reminding us this one is “in theaters only”—a definite trend, this is.

F9

Despite its brief (and expensive, estimated at over $6 million) forty seconds, this trailer for the latest Fast & Furious instalment sees two songs featured: Wiz Khalifa’s “See You Again” and DJ Snake’s “Frequency 75”. The former holds special significance for long-time fans: It was composed as an original song for Furious 7, meant as a tribute to Paul Walker; the song’s inclusion is an almost requisite nod to the series’ history as well as its thematic emphasis on family.

Despite some potential fear of bottlenecks as a result of the coronavirus stalling production in the entertainment industry, these Super Bowl trailers suggest such caution is at least somewhat unfounded; there’s much to look forward to, and the year’s only just begun.

— Curtis Perry