It’s a double whammy of supersized trailers for Universal’s big upcoming movies, and I am SO excited because 1) The Fall Guy looks really great, and 2) Universal is approaching Dev Patel’s Monkey Man with the same enthusiasm as The Fall Guy.
Let’s start with the latest trailer for The Fall Guy, which runs three minutes and gives us a sense of the comedy this action-comedy is offering.
Just so, so fun. I know everyone is on the Kenergy train with Ryan Gosling, and that is legit, but The Fall Guy is serving Nice Guys realness—real ones know The Gos rediscovered his funny bone first in The Nice Guys. The Fall Guy is one of Universal’s big summer bets, and they’re all in with the supersized trailer, using one of their few passes for a trailer longer than two and a half minutes to get everyone excited about Barbenheimer II: Stunt Man Boogaloo.
But they also released a new trailer for Monkey Man, Dev Patel’s bloody action brawler, and this is now the SECOND trailer with which Monkey Man has gotten the supersize treatment. Universal must be super into this movie to burn TWO extra strength trailers on the same movie.
You always have to be careful of festival hype, because bubbles are real, but Monkey Man’s reception at SXSW last week was raucous, and with this new trailer, it’s easy to see why.
It just looks so COOL. Also, did you know that Dev Patel has a black belt in Taekwondo? He’s putting his money where his mouth is with this one! And yet they will INSIST on casting vanilla ice cream as James Bond!
At least Universal apparently knows they have a gem with Patel and Monkey Man. Ryan Gosling post-Barbie and Emily Blunt post-Oppenheimer, both recent Oscar nominees, both more popular than ever, are as close to a sure thing as you can get in a summer blockbuster, especially an action-comedy directed by David Leitch and written by Drew Pearce. But Monkey Man is Patel’s directorial debut, he co-writes the script, and while he’s had a great career to date, he’s not exactly a household name. And yet. And yet! He’s getting the Full Gosling Treatment from Universal, with supersized trailers, an attractive April release date, and Jordan Peele vouching for his filmmaker bona fides. At least SOMEONE appreciates Dev Patel!
