I was fine with The Kite Runner‘s poster conjuring up happy memories of Searching for Bobby Fischer; I am, however, disheartened by the Gump-ian sight of CG kites whisking about the frame in this boilerplate trailer for a movie I no longer want to see.
This is the game. Though I will always give David Benioff the benefit of the doubt based on 25th Hour alone, until he can protect his work as a director (or collaborate with directors who are not Marc Forster – and Gavin Hood on Wolverine is a propitious development), I cannot rubber stamp ever film bearing his credit; he is not yet at a Charlie Kaufman or Paddy Chayefsky level where his writing is, to an extent, director-proof. And I’m not about to hold him (or expect him to rise) to that impossible standard.
Whatever Benioff might have done right with his adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s bestseller, hamfisted Marc Forster appears to be undoing with this scream-it-to-the-hills, all-caps rendition of a story that desperately requires a sure, steady, non-leaden touch. Hosseini’s nuanced human drama now looks like an impersonal Hollywood prestige misfire. And the preponderance of "trailer voice" ain’t helpin’ in the least.
I should probably be withholding judgment based on my own principles, but fuck it: this trailer is the end of The Kite Runner as an awards contender. I’m getting a distinct Moonlight Mile vibe from this thing. Give it a watch and tell me you don’t agree.