Ah how I was unimpressed with the first The Amazing Spider-Man trailer. Despite the intriguing inclusion of Peter Parker’s parents, the
melancholic tone, overly trying attempts at profundity , and the first person
sequence which felt like a poor man’s version of Mirror’s Edge, did nothing to get me excited for the reboot. Thankfully, the second trailer fares better
than the first, but when it came to hype generation, it was still a bit lacking,
and revealed too much.
The greatest thing the new trailer had going for it was the
revealing of new story dimensions which were not a part of the first Raimi
movie. The impressing upon the audience
of the importance of Peter Parker’s parents, and the reveal of how Spider-Man
will not only be facing the Lizard but the full force of the NYPD led by Gwen
Stacy’s father, are both done well. They
did a great job driving the point across of how the reboot will not be treading
step-for-step ground Raimi had already trod. Quite frankly, the inclusion of the police against the webslinger looks
to have the most story potential, since it looks to ratchet the tension up a
notch. In this origin movie with
Spider-Man learning the ropes, this is a good adversary for him to tackle apart
from the super villain, and not that gregarious newspaper mogul who hates his
guts. Points must also be given to how
they do not inculcate the audience with heavy-handed narration by way of Andrew
Garfield as Peter Parker like Tobey Maguire did, and leaving the overdone, if
legendary quote of ‘with great power comes great responsibility’ out for the
moment.
It was also good to see the costume more fully and in
motion. The shots of it in this trailer
were dynamic enough to give the audience a good taste of it. From the look of things, the costume has its
own character instead of being a retread of the Raimi version, and the presence
of the mechanical web-shooters instead of those odd organic ones are
wholeheartedly welcome.
When it comes to flaws, it is unfortunate how the trailer
decided to spoil a bit of the movie. The
trailer was highly reminiscent of the second trailer of the 2002 movie in how
it showed its cards right down to the way it introduces the antagonist. It is disappointing to see The Lizard
showcased so readily when he ought to have been rarely seen and heard. Catching glimpses of what appears to be the
final battle between him and Spidey does not help any in this regard. It would have been best for this trailer to
follow cues from The Dark Knight Risestrailer, which showed its villains but did not reveal a lot on what the hero
and the villains are going to do to one another.
While the movie looks to be intense, it does come off at
times as lacking in inspiration. We have
already seen Spider-Man face off at death-defying heights against a villain and
swing through New York City with the greatest of ease. The imagery in this trailer ought to have
showcased a more dynamic uniqueness from its predecessors. Sure what was seen was well-done and like
what was aforementioned will be intense, it has yet to strike that iconic chord
like the original did with its dynamic shots and unique moments like the upside-down
kiss. Also, it may have been great to
see a snarky Spidey attempting some banter with criminals, the tone of the
trailer still leans toward too much heavy-handedness. The seemingly forced awkwardness of
Garfield’s performance (hard to tell if this is intentional or not due to this
being a trailer), and the overbearing epic soundtrack to the dark moody
seriousness is grating at worst and procedural at best. It made the few wisecracks in the trailer
feel remarkably out of place. It is not
being asked that the movie be like Raimi’s in terms of tone, but a little more
light-heartedness and a lot less overemotional browbeating does not hurt.
While this ‘untold story’ still looks rather ham-fisted in
its dramatic scope and aesthetics, the trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man is successful in showing enough (if a bit too much) interesting material. It may not be enough of a hype generator to
get people clamouring for seats, but
it generates enough to get them to wander into it out of curiosity.
