Steven Spielberg’s War Horse Has a Beautiful New Trailer

Steven Spielberg is a master filmmaker. At times, he is also an erratic one. Not in terms of quality (which, on the whole, is consistently good to great), but in terms of output. For most years, when he isn’t producing up a storm and making bundles of money off of the movies, he pumps out about one film every year or two. But then, every so often, he ends up taking a break from directing before bursting back onto the scene with two movies together–and both are usually very different, in terms of commercial and Oscar-gold potential. In 93, he came out firing with an absurd (and absurdly great) combo: Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List. In 97 (after a few years off after the aforementioned combo), he gave the world a sequel to the dino-spectacular, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, and Amistad, a movie chronicling the legendary slave rebellion and Supreme Court case. 2002 brought us Minority Report and Catch Me If You Can (though this duo muddies the water a bit because both are pretty damn commercial.) Then in 2005, he nearly obliterated the human race with War of the Worlds before turning his eye towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Munich.

It’s almost as if Spielberg likes to show how much range he has, a premeditated attempt to exhibit his storytelling prowess all at once, just as a reminder for all of those who may be asking, “What happened to Spielberg?” (Note: This is what I like to think happens. It very well could be that both projects finally came together at the same time and he ended up doing them back to back, but I like my romanticized version.)

Now, after a three-year hiatus since the last Indiana Jones installment, wily Steven Spielberg is back again to answer the question with another one-for-the-public-one-for-the-critics combo: The Adventures of Tin Tin and War Horse, whose UK trailer just dropped today and can be viewed below (via Empire).

Like the previous trailer, this one is low on plot details, but it nevertheless sucks me in because it’s just so damn beautiful looking, showing me things in an engaging (ie. supremely cinematic) way. I may be easy to please–and the trailer may be a touch manipulative, but   Spielberg has always liked to tug at the heartstrings for effect without, I   would argue, it being grossly overdone or without it having earned it first–but this is precisely what trailers should do: interest you without showing you everything. It shows you what it has to offer, how it is different than other movies rather than playing up the same formula to get people to see it, which we can all agree is done far too much. Now, it may end up being formulaic or sub par, but at this point, I am excited because the trailer boldly says, “There is a great filmmaker at work here, so you probably should check this out, my friends.” And I like that. A lot.

I for one am a friend of Spielberg, and I will be checking out his dynamic duo this December, especially War Horse. What say you, people of OL? Are you a fan of this new War Horse trailer? Are you a friend of Spielberg?