“Up in the Air” Movie Trailer Review

By our guest blogger, Michaela Zanello

With such delights as suitcase surcharges, the barefoot security line scuffle, frequent delays, and insufficient leg room (unless, however, you happen to have the leg span of a primordial dwarf or an oompa-loompa), it is no wonder that many people find air travel to be incredibly irritating. Ryan Bingham, however, is not one of those people. As a very frequent flyer, Ryan (George Clooney) takes to sterile airport existence like a duck to water. From the creative mind of writer-director Jason Reitman, “Up in the Air” is the story of a man who makes a living out of stylishly firing people, but through his relationships with fellow frequent flyer, Alex (Vera Farmiga), and fresh-out-of-college work colleague, Natalie (Anna Kendrick), he begins to realize that his predisposition for isolationism is not the most satisfying way to go through life.

“Up in the Air” is the third feature for the enormously talented Jason Reitman, who earned oodles of accolades for his first two films, “Thank You for Smoking” (2006) and “Juno” (2007). One of Reitman’s fortes as a writer is breathing hilarity into a casually pitched, insensible remark. The trailer does an excellent job of evidencing appropriate instances of this flair without stealing the thunder of the film’s more serious significance, which involves the growth and development of the central characters.

As an actor’s movie, the trailer’s main focus is to foster character understanding. Suitably so, the trailer doesn’t make use of any extraneous narration. Instead, it relies solely on quips and quotes that come straight from the characters’ mouths, especially Ryan’s--wise choice given the fact that you’d have to be off your rocker to choose the voice of “that announcer guy” over the do-me-now cadence of George Clooney. The trailer is very successful with respect to the dialogue and scene tidbits that it employs to create an empathetic tone for the film’s central relationships. It shows the uptight Natalie serving as a brilliant, comedic foil for Ryan, and it leaves the audience rapt and intrigued about the ensuing affairs between Ryan and Alex, two ultra sexy peas in a peripatetic pod.

As a film that is generating a lot of Oscar buzz, the trailer for “Up in the Air” serves it well. Setting the tone of a feel-good film with an edge, the trailer effectively communicates the film’s dual comedic and tragic nature through the traits and foibles of the characters without making the film seem contrived.

Check out the trailer for "Up in the Air" below.  Any thoughts?