Trailer Experiment

          So, I've been meaning to write this for a couple of months (before The Avengers came out) but I've been too lazy.  But, now that The Dark Knight Rises opens this weekend, I've finally forced myself to do this.

          A while ago, there was a question on Facebook asking which summer movie I was the most excited for.  And I answered The Dark Knight Rises.  But, after I answered that, I realized that I wasn't the most excited for TDKR, but rather The Avengers.  I answered TDKR because I was expecting it to be the better movie.  But, I was more excited to see The Avengers.  After a few moments of thinking, I realized why I was more excited to see The Avengers than TDKR.  It was because I hadn't seen any trailers for it.  But I had seen several trailers for The Avengers, making it look epic.

          Let me back up and explain why I hadn't seen any trailers for TDKR.  About a year ago, I read an ARTICLE complaining how trailers give too much away in the trailers.  The movie that was used as an example was Battle: Los Angeles.  There were a couple parts during the movie where something that would have normally been unexpected or startling wasn't because it was shown in the trailer.

          So, I decided to do a little experiment.  I was going to pick a movie and not watch any trailers for it and see if it changes my experience.  And this was when the hype for TDKR was beginning to start.  So, I decided to avoid all trailers and any other news concerning the movie.

          However, that proved harder than I anticipated.  I love movies and spend a good deal of my time learning about them.  Most of the videos I watch on YouTube are movie news.  So, it was a little hard to keep up on all the other movies while not learning too much about TDKR, though, whenever one of the videos started talking about it, I always hit the mute button.  So, as of right now, I know this much about TDKR:

• Tom Hardy and Anne Hathaway are playing Bane and Catwoman
• I have seen pics of their costumes
• I've heard that Bane's voice is incomprehensible (though I have not yet heard it)
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt is also in it (but I don't know who)
• I have seen this poster

• It will be Nolan's last one (and the rumors are Batman will die)
• I've seen the clip where the football field collapses
• And I saw my first TRAILER during The Avengers (though I closed my eyes and tried to cover my ears but it was too loud so I gave in)

          Now that I have listed all that I know, I don't think there is too much else I could know, unless there are other trailers that give more of the plot away.  It seems that my little experiment hasn't worked out as much as I had hoped.

          I'm not sure why I'm writing all of this.  I guess it just seemed like an interesting thing to try.  For me, trailers are the number one factor that decides whether I watch a movie or not.  So, seeing a movie sans trailer was a novel idea.  (Though I know a lot of people see movies without seeing a trailer).  I guess I'll have to try again, but this time with a movie that doesn't have as much hype as TDKR.  Maybe the Robocop remake?

     *author's edit (22 July 2012)

          So, I saw TDKR yesterday and it was awesome.  And today I decided to watch some of the other trailers to see what I had missed.  And I am really glad that I decided to do this little experiment.  Because there was a lot of plot left for me to discover.  I was lucky enough that the one trailer I did see gave little of the movie away.  So, when I went in to see it, I had no idea as to what to expect.  Everything was a surprise.  *Spoilers*  I had no idea that Bane takes over the city or that he hijacks that plane, etc etc.  *End*  It was really cool going into a huge movie like this with no expectations other than awesome.  This might become a new way of watching movies.

     But that's just my opinion...