Let us pause to ponder the artsy Man of Steel trailer(s)

If you’ve seen The Dark Knight Rises this weekend, you’ve seen one of two teasers for next year’s highly anticipated Superman big-screen return. Yes, two. The above clip is the one that played in the theater where I saw the film, with Russel Crowe’s voice-over as Jor-El. Yesterday I was trying to find a bootleg copy of said trailer, and when I did, I heard Kevin Costner’s voice. For a brief spell I thought that I was going crazy, until the split was (mercifully) revealed. Here’s the Pa Kent version:

Reaction? A one-minute trailer isn’t going to sell anyone either way. It won’t temper reservations about Zack Snyder in the director’s chair, or the studio urge to make everything “dark” to replicate the Batman franchise’s runaway success. Seeing Henry Cavill’s Clark Kent bop around in a scrubby beard, fishing for The Deadliest Catch and hitching rides from Ice Road Truckers won’t get people ginned up about seeing a Superman movie, nor will the weepy GANDALF JUST DIED soundtrack or a butterfly caught in a chain. And everyone — EVERYONE — will probably wonder “Before a Superman existed, would children run around with red capes tied around their necks?”

But it’s nice to see Superman breaking the sound barrier, if only at a distance, and you have to like that two movie stars with substantial resumes are going to be the fathers behind the hero. I wish we had seen some of the revealing Comic-Con footage (which, even in grainy bootlegs, contained more excitement than Superman Returns), but, what the hell, I’m looking forward to next year anyway. Of course, I’m not exactly the type of person that needs to be sold on going to a Superman movie. Nor is anyone reading this.