Sometimes I think part of the issue of initial reactions is the trailers themselves, specifically certain lines of dialogue that are chosen to be included ... they end up being quite loaded and can easily be taken to have different meanings.
The Rings of Power trailers are including various lines that allude to 'fuck what you know and love, we're doing what we want with someone else's complex work, and if you don't like us buggering it up then you're wrong and we're right', for example. The trailer for She-Hulk is another example: Hulk, who is clearly far larger and more muscular than She-Hulk, throws a boulder only for She-Hulk, who is clearly far smaller and less muscular than Hulk, throws a larger boulder further than Hulk. The pandering is blatant, for one, and condescending to the viewers (women most of all), for two. It's silly bullshit in the place of quality writing, which isn't lost on Disney as they've taken the quantity over quality route (Obi-Wan Kenobi, anyone? Awful writing and direction.).
There's been a thread of 'attack the fanbase' when they don't like what they're being sold, and that's not a good thing in itself.
It's good to hear that this new film isn't as stupid as it was advertised to be, but also by the sounds of it it's not without flaws (i.e. poor characterisation - something which far too many films, particularly in superhero or franchise IP movies, suffers from). There really have been too many instances of 'female character is awesome because she's female', which is an insult to pretty much everyone, women most of all, as it's pawing them off with lame characterisation and motivation. You get talk of "agency", but if it boils down to "I'm awesome at everything, men suck, and the script breaks logic into tatters whenever something needs to happen", then that's not gonna leave a good taste in the mouth.
While Ripley, in the first movie at least, doesn't have a hugely deep character arc, you can't expect that of a genre movie as the requirements of genre movies have to take up a certain amount of screen time (that's why dramas have the deepest character exploration, because they've got plenty of time and it's the entire purpose of that particular genre). Anyway, Ripley, especially in the first two, isn't there because she's a woman, she's there because she happens to be there. Her successes and failures have nothing to do with her being a woman, either, and in fact her being a woman actually enhances her character in the second movie in regards to her daughter Amy as well as Newt and, even, the final battle with the alien Queen.
Back to my original point, part of it comes down to the advertising. Sometimes it conceals "woke crap", other times it actively pushes it in the belief that it's somehow a sales tool ... which it isn't ... and the reason for it is purely money, in regards to companies that "appear more woke" get better ratings on their stocks and are therefore valued higher than companies that fail to "appear woke". Either way, trailers can give false impressions or embed cringe moments or take a fleeting moment and inflate it into something far, far bigger. The same thing happens with promotional articles in, say, movie magazines where certain elements are weirdly hyped-up.
For instance: "Censor". An article in Total Film pushed so-called MeToo and TimesUp relevancy as if it was a major part of the film's plot and/or themes, but when I actually saw the movie there was no such thing. A mere push back against a grotty film producer and nothing more, in a matter of seconds of the total run time.
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Originally Posted by Neil
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