Marvel Plays It Straight with the International 'Guardians' Trailer

After two positively loopy U.S. trailers for Guardians of the Galaxy a new trailer for the movie released by Marvel UK, takes the space outlaw adventure rather seriously.

After two positively loopy U.S. trailers for Guardians of the Galaxy a new trailer for the movie released by Marvel UK, takes the space outlaw adventure rather seriously.

As Nancy Tartaglione at Deadline noted, the "taste" of the trailer is different than Marvel's other efforts. The previous trailers are quick to acknowledge the inherent ridiculousness of elements of this movie—yes, there's a talking raccoon and a talking tree—but the new international trailer opens with the origin story of Peter Quill (a.k.a. Star-Lord). By the end of this trailer we finally get some humor, mostly provided by Rocket, the Bradley Cooper-voiced raccoon and his fake laugh, but it feels discordant with the tone of the rest of the trailer which is all about duty to save the galaxy. And while the other trailers we've seen for the film have featured classic songs deployed with a hint of irony ("Spirit in the Sky" and "Hooked on a Feeling"), the new one has a dramatic orchestral score. (Perhaps Marvel was worried that Norman Greenbaum wouldn't play as well overseas?)

What's perhaps most worrisome about this trailer is that the more dour tone actually makes the movie look less self-aware, and thus worse. Of course, the movie itself can't be all silliness, but our first glimpses at footage made the movie seem like its intentions were for the audience to have an unabashed good time, and the latest makes it look like somewhat of a muddled slog. Here's hoping its just a bit of bad advertising. Stick with the ooga chakas, Marvel.