This weekend a good portion of the world will settle in to watch Super Bowl LIV. For some, the focus will be the game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs, but for those whose favorite team didn't make it, the focus will be on the commercials. Of course, for those who can't wait until Sunday, some of this weekend's Super Bowl ads are hitting the internet early, including a very strange one that puts Bryan Cranson in the middle of The Shining, in order to try and sell us...Mountain Dew?
The ad is for the new zero sugar version of the popular soft drink, but the method being used to promote it is a little odd. Bryan Cranston takes on the Jack Nicholson role in The Shining and attempts to, quite forcefully, make somebody drink Mountain Dew, by threatening her with an ax. Check out the new commercial below.
The whole thing is obviously done with tongue planted firmly in cheek. It's not trying to be serious and scary, the ad knows it's silly, though I'm not sure that completely absolves it. Why somebody in the middle of a murderous rage recommending a soda to me is supposed to get me to want to try it, is not entirely clear. If this soda is going to drive me crazy, I'll pass.
And that last shot, showing Bryan Cranston as a pair of elderly twins is just...so very wrong. It might be scarier than anything we actually saw in The Shining.
Still, Bryan Cranston himself certainly looks like he's having an absolute blast haming it up here. And the recreation of The Shining certainly works pretty well. It's maybe not as good as the recent recreations seen in Doctor Sleep or Ready Player One, but considering the more limited budget of the commercial, it works.
It feels like Doctor Sleep might have been part of the reason that a commercial like this exists. The Shining sequel hit theaters late last year, and, while the film ultimately struggled at the box office, it certainly reminded people of the cult classic original film, which might have helped people be in a Shining sort of mood for an ad like this.
We'll start to see a lot more Super Bowl commercials bow online over the next few days ahead of the game. The same will go for movie trailers, which we'll see several of between now and Sunday. The trailer for the new Fast & Furious movie has been announced for an online release on Friday, but we'll almost certainly see it during a commercial break on Sunday as well.
Whether it's future looks at actual movies, or just commercials trying to sell us something that will parody movies, it looks like there will be plenty for movie fans to enjoy come Sunday, whether or not the game itself is any good.
