Super Bowl movie commercials fail to impress

Posted Monday, February 7, 2011 at 11:29 AM Central
Last updated Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 11:16 AM Central

by John Couture

Every year I get excited about the Super Bowl. Of course, most years the game is secondary to the awesome (and awesomely expensive) commercials that compete for the attention of record-setting audiences. It has become an annual tradition of oneupmanship to see which company can be the "talk" of the Super Bowl commercials.

I have to say that after seeing all of last night's contenders, no one really stood out from the rest and, if anything, some may have tarnished their image. Surely, the movie ads will save us, right?

Not so much. Sadly, they too failed to deliver on the hype. I did enjoy a couple, but for the most part, I didn't get excited for them like I thought I would. You can check out all of the Super Bowl movie ads embedded below with my comments about each one. You can view all of the Super Bowl ads here.

Let us know what you think and which ones were your favorites.

Fast Five

Is there really anything that I need to get out of this movie that I couldn't get from the previous four Fast and Furious movies? So, this spot tells me that this time the action is in Brazil and The Rock is along for the ride in this outing. Overall rating: 3/10

Cowboys & Aliens

This was by far one of the most highly anticipated commercials for me last night, and one of the my more highly anticipated movies for Summer 2011. To say I was a bit underwhelmed would be an understatement. I realize that it's hard to fit all of the concepts of this movie into a 30 second spot, but I was just hoping for something more compelling. The full-length trailer was spot on and I'm holding out hope that the movie delivers more akin to the trailer than the 30 second TV spot. I doubt this commercial did much to reach out and grab the interest of people who weren't already aware of the movie. Overall rating: 5/10

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

There's really nothing for me to add to this spot. There's no dialog (like the words actually matter anyhow) and an annoying raid siren serving as the soundtrack for the bit. Ultimately, it's a 30 second snippet from Michael Bay's personal fetish collection. It just also happens to be footage from the new Transformers movie. Overall rating: 3/10

Thor

So, what happens when you start making so many comic book movies that you start competing against yourself? Well, Paramount will find out this year with this offering and Captain America opening a couple of months apart. Personally, I think one of them suffers and to me, it's going to be Thor. As much as I love me some Natalie Portman, I have almost no desire to see this movie. Overall rating: 4/10

Super 8

Man, is it me or did Paramount spend a boatload of cash for all of these Super Bowl spots or what? That's three so far and I know Captain America is still coming. Finally, here's a Super Bowl ad that delivers. You've got the instant name recognition from Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams and the music grabs your attention as does the action on the screen. Little is about this movie in the movie blogger community, so you know that the awareness among the general public going into the Super Bowl was non-existent. After this spot, people are talking Super 8. Overall rating: 8/10

Being the obsessive J.J. Abrams stalker that I am, I couldn't resist slowing the commercial down last night and playing it frame by frame, much to the chagrin of my girlfriend. But, I think it paid off in a big bad way. Yes, at the end, before the title cards, there are images on the Super 8 camera, but it was the ultra quick green flash right at the end that intrigued me the most.

There's something there. I argue that we are looking at the first look of the monster in the movie. Some have speculated that given the timing of the events in the movie and the location (small-town Ohio) that the monster is in fact an alien being transported to the Wright-Patterson Air Force base. You can read a good summary of Wright-Patterson Hangar 18 and its link to aliens here.

Of course, I snapped a shot of what I saw on TV and you can see it below. While the image is purposely distorted and hidden, you can clearly see that there is something there. And considering that this sequence was only on the screen for a fraction of a second, it's most likely something big. If you look in the middle of the picture at the top, I think you can make out two alien eyes right above the bright, green splotch that might be fire. I could be off my rocker here, but I bet we're looking at the first shot of the creature from Super 8

Captain America: The First Avenger

My thoughts on this spot? Man, Chris Evans is one buff mutha - shout your mouth! Actually, the TV spot is exactly what I would expect from a new comic book franchise looking to reach beyond its set audience. Contrast this with the spot from Thor and you're left wondering how these spots originated from the same studio. And besides, Indiana Jones proved that there's good money to be made fighting the Nazis. Overall rating: 6/10

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Oh, there's a new Jack Sparrow movie coming out this Summer. They are becoming as reliable as the next Saw movie, and sadly as predictable and tired. Here the spot is fine, but really, they could have used footage from the previous three movies for all I know to create this spot and I'd be none the wiser. Wake me when it's out and I might go see it. Overall rating: 5/10

Rango

Ooh, the fourth quarter when most people stop caring as much about the commercials and focus in on the final score. I guess it makes sense then that it's time for the battle of the animated creature flicks. Did you catch that Johnny Depp's in this one? I wasn't sure if you caught it because you know, it was only at least three times as big as the font used for the title. I'm actually rooting for this one and despite there already being a lot out there about this movie already, they introduced something new for these commercials, the owl mariachi/gringo band. Overall rating: 6/10

Rio

Did you blink? Yeah, me too. The odd thing is that all of the stuff already out there is pretty good, so I'm surprised they spent what they did for this half ad. All it does is basically say, "Hey, we don't have Johnny Depp in our movie, but we've got one of those dudes from the halftime show." Hmm, maybe they shouldn't tout this fact. Overall rating: 2/10

Limitless

Well here's an ad from a movie that I wasn't intimately familiar with before the Super Bowl. So, bravo to them for stepping up and buying the ad, although I'm not quite sure what the movie is about, just that Bradley Cooper takes the clear pill and becomes Super Bradley. So, basically, it's just a documentary about his life since the release of The Hangover, gotcha. Oh, and Robert De Niro takes time out of his busy Fockers shooting schedule to make a cameo. Nice. Overall rating: 5/10

So, those were all of the movie commercials shown during the actual game, but of course there were many more that played during the 18 hour pre-game show and the post-game show and who could forget the post-post-game show.

Of those, I've picked up this one from The Adjustment Bureau as the pick of the litter. I think I like it for two reasons. First, it does more in these 30 seconds to explain the plot of the movie than any of the trailers did before now. Second, I just really dig the hat that Matt Damon sports in it. I really hope that he was able to secure that hat from the prop department before they wrapped him on the movie.

And how could I end a recap of Super Bowl commercials without a nod back to the greatest series of Super Bowl commercials ever made. I'm willing to bet that not a single one of yesterday's commercials will have the impact and brand recognition as the awesome Bud Bowl commercials.

I know that, even as a kid, these commercials held more anticipation than the actual game. Here's my favorite, Bud Bowl 3 with cameos from late great Don Meredith and Jeith Jackson. They surely don't make them like this anymore.

So, what did you think of the Super Bowl movie ads? Were there any other commercials that you thought stood out from the rest?