The Marketing Department: Artemis Fowl Trailer

It’s my birthday today, and well, what a present I have recieved! The movie Gods have smiled on me this blessed day – I have been benevolently gifted the first trailer for the Artemis Fowl adaptation. I have been a die-hard fan of the Artemis Fowl series  by Eoin Colfer (who I met a long time ago, and who kindly signed a page torn out of my mum’s crossword book when we couldn’t afford to buy a novel from him and was generally very funny and sweet) since I was in single digits, and I have been screamingly excited for the movie since it was announced what feels like twenty centuries ago, with Kenneth Brannagh at the helm. And finally, our first look at the film is right here! What are we waiting for? Let’s dive in! I MAY EXPLODE WITH EXCITEMENT IF WE DON’T!

0:10: That’s Judi Dench as Commander Root, a casting choice I didn’t see coming and one that I am at least decently up for. She’s a killer actress, and could bring the gravitas to a story that sometimes slinks into silliness.

0:15:Those opening shots acting as a contrast between the natural and the urban? Way to get your themes out there early, Brannagh.

0:24: That’s a…Radiohead song? Jesus, can I just get ONE MOVIE that Johnny Greenwood or Thom Yorke have nothing to do with? Mutter, grumble.

0:31: This is a gorgeous shot. Brannagh’s a director with flair, and Artemis Fowl is a story that mashes up so many genres (sci-fi, fantasy, crime, thriller, drama) I can’t wait to see him turn his hand to.

0:40: Our first glimpse of Nonso Anozie as Butler! I fell in love with Anozie in the terrible-but-lifesaving Zoo earlier this year (it was a very strange time in my life), and I think he’s got just the right balance between command and compassion to sell the unarguable best character of the series.

0:50: No joke – I actually gasped when the trailer first takes us into Haven, the underground world that the fairies of this universe inhabit. It’s crazy, after having been obsessed with the books for almost my entire life, to see it there in front of me. Man, I’m tearing up a little. Back to the snark!

1:06: It’s wild actually seeing Artemis Fowl (whose name literally means Hunter of Winged Creatures, which is cool as hell, and who is also played by newcomer Ferdia Shaw) on screen in front of me, though I’m still uneasy about any child actor taking on a role of this much depth. There was a stringent casting process so my fingers are crossed that they’ve found the one kid in the universe who can pull off Artemis and give him the commanding, chilly nature he needs to run the show.

1:11: This little sequence here is the opening of the first book, so it’s nice to see that we’re not getting too much in the way of spoilers for the movie. Nonetheless, it’s gorgeous, mystical and magical and impossibly inhuman, and captures the feel of the scene perfectly.

1:18: Quick little montage for the nerds there! I’m into it. Hell, they could have just held up a broom with “this is the Artemis Fowl movie, honest” written on it in marker and I would have still been slack-jawed with excitement.

Overall, I give this trailer “even if Kenneth Brannagh had walked to my house and punched me in the face himself, nothing will keep me from seeing this on opening night”.

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By Louise MacGregor

(header image courtesy of Digital Spy)