A Gears Of War Ad Is The Best Work Of F1 Director Joseph…

Summary

Top Gun: Maverick and F1 director Joseph Kosinski found early success with a Gears of War trailer.
Kosinski has a storied career, including Tron: Legacy, Oblivion, and Only the Brave.
While Kosinski is one of Hollywood's top directors, his masterpiece could still be his Gears of War "Mad World" trailer.

The director of Top Gun: Maverick and F1 has brought unparalleled action to moviegoers around the world, but his masterpiece may still belong to a nearly twenty-year-old video game commercial. F1 stars Brad Pitt as seasoned Formula One driver Sunny Hayes, who finds himself mentoring a young up-and-coming driver, played by Damon Idris. Trailers have highlighted the thrilling race scenes and pulse-pounding crashes, with the director adapting what he learned with Top Gun: Maverick for the world of high-stakes racing.

Top Gun: Maverick featured aerial action sequences unlike audiences had ever seen, helping to resurrect theater-going following the COVID-19 pandemic. Tom Cruise once again took to the skies as Maverick, assisting a group of young recruits, one of whom is Goose's son Rooster, played by Miles Teller, in training for a risky precision mission against an unknown enemy. The movie ruled the 2022 box office long after its initial release, with a worldwide haul of $1.5 billion. F1 hopes to copy the same success, which is debatable due to its inflated budget. Still, the director of both blockbusters, Joseph Kosinski, has a storied and lauded career that began with a famous video game commercial.

Joseph Kosinski Boasts A Stellar Resume With More Than Just Top Gun: Maverick & F1

Joseph Kosinski entered the feature film world with a strong first swing, being entrusted with the 2010 hefty-budgeted Disney sequel Tron: Legacy. The sequel brought back Jeff Bridges and introduced new characters into the neon-soaked world created by the original Tron, featuring one of the year's best scores from Daft Punk. Despite bringing in $400 million worldwide, Disney wasn't pleased with the film, seeing sequel plans put into turnaround. The release of Tron: Ares later this year will finally continue the franchise, albeit without Kosinski.

Still, the director continued with his underrated Tom Cruise sci-fi action film Oblivion, another movie deemed to have underperformed on its budget. Kosinski followed it up in 2017 with another underrated film, Only the Brave, starring Miles Teller, Jeff Bridges, and Josh Brolin. Only the Brave featured a smaller budget for the director but also garnered some of his career-best reviews for telling the true story of an elite group of firefighters battling wildfires. The movie went criminally underseen at the box office, but has found a new audience thanks to Kosinski's follow-up, Top Gun: Maverick.

Thanks to Top Gun: Maverick, much of Kosinski's work that may have missed audiences for various reasons is finding a second life. Tron: Legacy is getting a nice boost with the third film on the way, and Oblivion continues to find fans looking for unique sci-fi thrills. With F1, the director continues his streak of high-octane spectacle with an emotional story at its core. Still, it may suffer the curse of his earlier work, failing to recoup its budget, which is said to be over $300 million. However, before he directed a single feature film, Kosinski's first mainstream project was one of the most impactful video game ads ever.

Despite The Heights Of Top Gun: Maverick, Kosinki's Greatest Work Belongs To Gears Of War

Gears of War has become one of gaming's biggest franchises, which first launched in 2006. The first game is also set for a remaster with the release of Gears of War: Reloaded, and a new game is on the way, with Gears of War: E-Day, which will cover the infamous events of Emergence Day in Gears lore. Still, it all started when the first game's advertising campaign helped Gears of War rocket to success on the Xbox 360. Ads and trailers for the games highlighted the cover shooters' gameplay style and unique elements, like the weapons, environments, and enemy types. However, Joseph Kosinski helped define the emotional stakes for Marcus Fenix and his squad by directing the Gears of War "Mad World" trailer.

The piano notes from Gary Jules' cover of Tears for Fears' "Mad World" are immediately recognizable in the trailer. The somber tones combined with the singer's smooth voice are juxtaposed against a dark world rocked by war, and the lyrics take on a relevant meaning for the Gears of War universe that Kosinski helps establish in the trailer. Watching game protagonist Marcus Fenix take a moment to reflect on the once beautiful rubble before being chased off by enemies brings the stakes of the world into quick focus. As he blindly leaps through a window, hoping to find refuge, he is met with dozens of bright eyes in the darkness, pitting him against potentially unbeatable odds, ending in a fight for survival, much like players will experience.

While Gears of War focuses on action gameplay, Kosinski's trailer featured minimal gunplay, instead zeroing in on the ramifications of war, allowing the song to help paint the darkness that brought the current visuals to life. It's a unique trailer featuring a song that many would think doesn't vibe with gamers, but it has become a renowned bit of advertising that shows how art can still help the marketing side. While movies like Top Gun: Maverick highlight what Kosinski can do with big budgets and unprecedented access to jets, the Gears of War "Mad World" trailer tells a perfect story in 60 seconds, proving to be a masterpiece that gamers still remember.

Gears Of War Is Getting A Movie, And Kosinski Is Heading To The Beach For Miami Vice

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While the Gears of War games are continuing with new releases, the long-gestating movie adaptation has also recently gained traction. Netflix announced plans to take over the development of the movie in 2022. While news was quiet for some time, Netflix recently announced that Deadpool 2 and Bullet Train director David Leitch signed on for the film, which is still in the early stages. Still, even with the project years away, fans may finally get the movie they were promised almost 20 years ago.

Kosinski also has his next project lined up with a movie reboot of the Miami Vice TV series. Andor and Nightcrawler scribe Dan Gilroy is penning the script, which will be a new take on the story unconnected to prior reboots. Kosinski is also developing another project from King Richard and Gran Turismo writer Zach Baylin, reportedly a UFO/disclosure thriller. While F1 is due out soon, Joseph Kosinski shows no signs of slowing down, as his humble beginnings with a Gears of War trailer have seen him elevated to one of Hollywood's top directors.