The phrase "you’ve never seen anything like this" is often overused. Nevertheless, there’s really nothing else one can say about Swiss Army Man. The new film has already made waves at the Sundance Film Festival and now the rest of us finally have our first look at what everybody else has been talking about. And...yeah, we’ve never seen anything like this.
When your trailer opens with a man attempting suicide, you know you’re going to be in for something interesting. Paul Dano plays a man stranded and lost when the body of Daniel Radcliffe washes up on shore. He’s...dead? From all outward appearances, Radcliffe spends the film's run time playing a corpse, though he is capable of repeating phrases back to Paul Dano, so it’s not entirely clear if Swiss Army Man has gone full Weekend at Bernie’s here, or if the character is just mostly dead and in desperate need of medical attention. Regardless, in an attempt to survive, and ultimately get home, Dano uses the lifeless body of his new "companion" as a sort of endless toolbox, finding interesting ways to accomplish tasks he needs to survive via the body’s ability to fart, spit, and...break through logs? We’ll have to wait for the movie to figure that one out.
While the trailer for Swiss Army Man points out a number of positive reviews it received when it premiered at Sundance, not everybody has instantly fallen in love with it. There was word from Sundance that the movie resulted in some walk-outs at its initial screening from people who simply couldn't handle the film's reliance on bodily humor. It’s easy to see how that might be possible. The movie looks completely, and utterly, bizarre and it's full of farts and other interesting bodily functions. Even if you knew what you were in for walking in, you still might not be ready for what you ended up with. Shoving something down Daniel Radcliffe’s throat in order to shoot it into the air may qualify as the most insane thing ever put in a trailer.
Having said all that, the purpose of a film trailer is to get you interested in the movie, and damn if we’re not curious. We’re not convinced we’ll like it, but we are convinced we have to find out. What do you think? Does the trailer for Swiss Army Man draw you in, or scare you off? Before you run, take our Harry Potter quiz, and celebrate Daniel Radcliffe's legendary role.
