Howdy do, everyone, Papa Vinyard here.
Today, we get our first look at the upcoming Cormac McCarthy-Ridley Scott collab, THE COUNSELOR, via this Russian trailer. Even without hearing a word of English, a few things are strikingly clear. One, perhaps most obviously, the film has a really cool, vibrant look. It's awesome to see Scott doing what seems to be a low-down, dirty crime pic, and every frame is infused with a heavy sense of style. Two, for a film coming out in the "post-movie-star era", this film has a freakin' high-wattage cast. We're talkin' a Fassbender, some Pitt, a little bit of Vanilla Sky Cruz and Diaz action, and a Bardem to boot. Fassbender seems to be the center of the action, with the more established movie stars (particularly Pitt and Bardem- check out their do's!) filling out the colorful supporting roles. I love that megastar Pitt is the last name we see in the credits; last time that happened, we got his movie-stealing character in BURN AFTER READING, so I'm hoping for another TRUE ROMANCE/12 MONKEYS knockout from the newly-minted zombie killer.
Another cool aspect of this trailer is the impending sense of dread hanging over everything. This seems to be in the no-nonsense vein of McCarthy's NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, complete with bizarre-looking supporting characters and a pitch-black sense of humor. Lest we forget, Scott is the dude that made maybe the least-cheesy sci-fi film of all time, ALIEN. If anyone knows how to drag out the sense of impending doom for the length of a feature, it's this guy. Might not even have a need for an English trailer at this point; I can't imagine the dialogue doing any more to sell the film than this cool-as-hell trailer already does.
Update: And now we have an English-language version!
THE COUNSELOR opens on October 25th.
-Vincent Zahedi
”Papa Vinyard”
vincentzahedi@gmail.com
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