This trailer for the new thriller “The Debt” caught my eye…
I’m a big fan of Daniel Silva’s “Gabriel Allon” novels, so the Israeli angle grabbed my attention…
…along with an absolutely top-notch cast.
Let’s go through our trailer effectiveness review…
A – Attention
“We should never forget how young they were”.
On the face of it, the line that opens the trailer is straightforward…
…but there seems to be an implied justification of the actions of the characters…
…a hint that something happened that wasn’t quite right.
There’s a big hint in the title itself, of course.
We start at the commemoration of a mission…
…the broad details of which are then laid out.
Mossad agents sent to snatch Nazi war criminal…
…which is a familiar tale…
…but the attention grabbing twist is that they have to go behind the Iron Curtain.
The opening is a little slow, but the broad outline is enough to grab attention
Score – 1.5
I – Interest
As the trailer develops we see more details of the mission…
…along with some development of the characters.
And then…
…something goes wrong.
Now, normally an obstacle to the heroes is there to create drama and tension.
In this case, it’s more than that, as we shall see.
Score -2.0
D – Desire
It’s in the final section where the trailer kicks up a gear…
…and the hook is not just one mystery…
…but two.
What happened on the original mission 30 years ago…
…and what is the problem today?
What is “The Debt”?
The double mystery ramps really increases the curiosity factor…
…and certainly piques my interest.
Score – 3.0
Bonus Mark – 1.0
Total – 7.5
A tale within a tale and this trailer relies heavily on the curiosity factor.
It’s success (as a trailer) depends on how much we want to know what happens.
Do we care what happens?
Works in my case and this is definitely on my “To See” list.
How about you? Feel free to leave your thoughts about the trailer for “The Debt”.