The recent extended look at Grand Theft Auto VI has sparked a unique wave of reviews on Letterboxd, a social media platform centered around film journaling. Users are logging the 25-plus minute trailer, which premiered on Netflix, and treating it as a feature film, complete with ratings and critiques.
One of the most popular user reviews comes from eddyburback, who humorously panned the trailer as a film. "Structure was a mess, narrative was vague and confusing (felt like a trailer instead of a movie), animation looked like a video game," they wrote, before adding a sarcastic note that the "gameplay looked incredible" for GTA 6. Another highly-rated critique references the recent GTA 6 leaks, noting that it is "unbelievable the trailer starts with Cyberleek's execution."
Meme culture has also found its way into the reviews, with one user, Albert, commenting, "GTA in Letterboxd before GTA VI." User Atrius questioned the practice, asking, "So we are logging ads now?"
Stephanie Gillespie offered a more in-depth critique, calling the presentation "Legitimately embarrassing." She contrasted it unfavorably with Rockstar's previous trailers, stating, "Where Rockstar used to do these fascinating trailers that talked you through tech and mechanics to really show why their games are interesting, this is just ... A bunch of limply edited-together footage of Grand Theft Auto." Gillespie awarded the trailer one star out of five.
Another user jokingly suggested the extended trailer could be "Netflix's Oscar contender for best short film."
These film industry comparisons follow other recent commentary. Last week, some users noted similarities between the voice of GTA 6 character Jason Duval and Tom Hardy's Bane character from The Dark Knight Rises, citing unintelligible mumbling. Rockstar has released a total of 29 major takeaways from the latest GTA 6 trailer and confirmed that a full playthrough could take approximately 80 hours. The game is scheduled to launch on November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, and it will not feature microtransactions.