A tale of two trailers

It's hard to suppress my inner geek when trailers for "Iron Man" and "The Dark Knight" make their Web debuts roughly the same week. The films don't hit theaters until spring and summer, respectively, but it's already easy to see some differences between the two. "Iron Man," starring Robert Downey, Jr., can't nail a consistent tone in its own trailer, which shows far more of the story and the superhero's costume than I expected. And Downey, Jr.'s line readings make it sound like he wants nothing to do with the project. Meanwhile over in Gotham, "The Dark Knight" offers just an audio snippet of what's to come, complete with a Bat logo disintegrating before our eyes. Less is more, and I must say my expectations for "Iron Man" just went down a few notches.

"Iron Man." "The Dark Knight."