The gorgeous first trailer for Steven Spielberg’s War Horse (out Dec. 25) focused on the journey of a heroic steed experiencing man’s humanity in the midst of the fire of war. And though a second trailer recycles much of the same footage, the new emphasis on the horse’s original owner, a young English boy-turned soldier played by newcomer Jeremy Irvine, really delivers emotionally. Everything about the new trailer is amped up, including the horse’s midnight dash through no-man’s land. Silent the first time around, the new trailer incorporates the terrifying sounds of war before connecting the “miraculous” horse with the young man whose bond with his childhood companion refuses to break. Adults who grew up loving The Black Stallion will have pangs of nostalgia, and John Williams’ score swells at all the right spots. “Be brave!” indeed viewers. Take a look.
Which War Horse trailer did you prefer?
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‘War Horse’ poster
EW’s Fall Movie Preview: ‘War Horse‘
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WOW. The more I see of this film, the more amazing it looks. And that trailer was even more gut-wrenching than the first one – I definitely shed a tear!
If you’re crying during trailers, time to up your meds
Get yourself down to Whoville so that your heart can grow a few sizes today.
A true idiot.
Guess we can’t all be as miserable as you.
Or maybe you just have NO SOUL.
The cinemetography looks fantastic. If anything, the movie will look beautiful.
I’m sure the horse will die. I hate movies where the pets are killed.
Joey the horse DOESN’T die.
The whole point of the story is to re-unite the young man with his horse. The book and play have been around for awhile so it isn’t much of a spoiler to say, no, the horse doesn’t die. Doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot of hardship and sadness along the journey though. ;o)
Just give it the Oscar already.
I’m gonna bawl watching this film but I can’t wait to see it.
Well, I’m in tears.
I want to like this film and wallow in tears as I root for Joey across his journey. Really, I do. But I found this second trailer to be too heavy handed with the emotional manipulation and predictably I’m not impressed with Williams’ indulgent score. (He often forgets that less is more; that we like his less derivative work such as in Catch Me if You Can. Hopefully the WH soundtrack will sound better in a less compressed setting and will echo more European, than American-sounding melodic motifs.)
Even the typeface bugs and since the primary audience target is families they ought to be promoting the Christmas, not January opening.
Good points: Janusz Kaminski’s cinematography of Joey running through battlegrounds looks insanely good; we also get a glimpse of Cumberbatch (with another, very different voice than Sherlock.)
Since my longer, but still on-topic comments were deleted…I’ll be brief:
Thought the second trailer was too heavy handed with the emotional manipulation and the score was indulgent. Even the typeface was cheesy and they ought to be promoting the Christmas, not January opening.
I did enjoy Janusz Kaminski’s cinematography of Joey running through the battlegrounds and we got a glimpse of Benedict.
Agree with JL, it looks a little heavy handed and sappy. The movie itself looks gorgeous (purely from a cinematography persepective) but so far I’m not sold on the two trailers I’ve seen.
Why when a movie is “emotional” are there always a group of people who do nothing but talk about how stupid it is, etc.
It is from a children’s book and it was very popular. The play is very popular. It won a Tony and I’m sure an award in England.
A boy trying to find his horse during World War 1 in which so many horses were killed sounds to me like a very strong story.
And one of the most talked about moments in the trailor already is Benedict’s “Be Brave” moment.
Between Sherlock, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy & War Horse a most deserved attention for a truely Great actor.
Julie, I agree that we have to be careful not to be immediately dismissive of emotional content. As I said in my deleted comments, I want to love this film. I’m a sap who’s okay with some shared poignancy in the theater. I just worry that this trailer, unlike the first, veers far into saccharine territory. The tale is already compelling enough without grand swells of music, for example. I want to see Spielberg earn genuine audience responses without cheap manipulative tricks, and just maybe even make overarching statements about the horrors of war that the NY staging of the play failed to make above and beyond the original children’s story (which is not known well Stateside).
As for Ben, he certainly sounds motivational in the snippet of speech we heard but I bet Tinker, Tailor will be a better showcase for him.
JL – understand your comments. Guess we’ll all have to wait until Christmas to really find out just how War Horse will be done.
Yes, there are scenes in “Tinker, Tailor..” I’ve read about which mention Benedict and his performance in them as being very strong. Some have even said he is a stand-out in a movie of incredible actors.
Think i’d read he said he was maybe in 20 minutes of WH as its done in an episodic way. But he will be remembered.
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