Joyous, sweeping and cathartic, this nearly wordless teaser to the long-delayed reimagining of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty gave audiences more reasons to be hopeful this Christmas. The opening minute of the trailer has beautiful formal qualities, of the protagonist’s drab, orderly apartment and the humdrum nature of Mitty’s office life. Meanwhile, the lack of dialogue atop a rousing Of Monsters and Men tune sucks the audience into feeling the rhythm of the dreamy story and the protagonist’s isolation.
The restrained first half and the wide scope of the second part of the trailer balance out each other beautifully, going from calmness to excitement that the rock song only sells further. The offbeat non sequitur at the end is also charming, bringing even more surprises to a very inspired trailer. Those who may be turned off by Stiller’s more anxiety-ridden, manic performances were likely enchanted by his control here, both as an actor and a director.
This was one of the year’s most dazzling trailers, showing off the scope and dreamlike wonder of what could be one of the holiday’s biggest films.