Eh, that wasn’t the best way to introduce this masterpiece story. The Last of Us Trailer dropped a few days ago, and it was actually pretty disappointing as it really didn’t do too much to promote the grandeur and scope of the story of the original video game.
Perhaps I’m just being too hard on this trailer, but it was a lot worse than the teaser trailer that dropped a few weeks ago. I don’t know but something just feels off about this trailer that makes it seem like the thousand other end-of-the-world/apocalyptic shows and not The Last of Us.
Maybe it was the music, or the clips shown in the order they were presented, but this felt like I was watching a trailer for a completely different franchise. Nothing about the trailer screamed out ‘this is The Last of Us’ as there were a lot of scenes shown that look like they only take place during this T.V. series. Even some of the characters themselves looked off than how they were presented in the games, and I don’t mean in just their appearances.
Obviously, some of the actors and characters look different than how they were portrayed in the PlayStation exclusive games, but I’m not talking about that. Instead, I’m referring to the characters aura and presence in this trailer…rather lack thereof.
Despite boasting of great actors like Pedro Pascal, the characters I saw in that trailer did not have the same vibe or aura as the characters from the beloved video game. To be honest, apart from Pascal as Joel, no one else struck me as a great casting choice for X character, which was rather disappointing to see. I already had my reservations on Bella Ramsey as Ellie, though I’m now kind of doubting the rest of the casting choices given what I saw in the trailer.
(HBO-The Last of Us-Official Trailer)
I’m definitely overreacting, but it seems like HBO has failed to capture the auras of the characters with the actors they chose to represent them.
I hope I’m wrong as HBO have an outstanding track record of casting extremely talented and usual ‘left field’ actors/actresses for major roles, so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. Plus, the visuals and set designs looked pretty decent, but it’s still way too early to judge anything technical at this point.
I really hope this show is as good as the video game is as they story of Joel and Ellie’s adventure across the United States to find a cure for the virus that plagues the world is not only harrowing and inspiring, but also emotional and an instant classic. It deserves to be treated with the upmost respect.
Nevertheless, the one thing that will make or break this show will come down to if the relationship between Pedro Pascal’s Joel and Bella Ramsey’s Ellie. If these two can form a realistic father-daughter relationship with all of the complexities of the game, then this show will be a massive success. If not, then this show is doomed to fail.
We’ll see January 15th if they can.
Images Source: Featured Image: (HBO) (The Last of Us | Official Trailer | HBO Max – YouTube)
In Text Image 1: (HBO) (The Last of Us | Official Trailer | HBO Max – YouTube)
