It has been rather busy over the last couple of weeks. The Avengers has been released (which was great) and we have also seen the release of the new TDKR trailer (again fantastic). Following this we were then given the new Amazing Spider-Man trailer. During this article, I will go through some of the most interesting moments of the trailer and give my interpretation on what we are seeing.
Spider-Man Above The City Of New York - 0:04
This is the very first clip of the trailer and it is a very important one, in my opinion. It immediately separates itself from the previous trailers and gives the viewer a sense of the atmosphere. The colour and tone really suit the mood of the situation. You can clearly see there is a very artistic edge to this film and I think it is a great way to start off the trailer.
Spider-Man vs The Lizard - 0:13
I loved this shot because it completely caught me off guard. It was a great surprise. If you look carefully you can see the amount of detail on The Lizard. There has been many complaints regarding The Lizard's design but to be honest after seeing the trailer, I feel this problem is slowly, starting to become invalid.
Under The Bridge - 0:18
This is one of my favourite shots of the entire trailer. The colour and detail is spot on. I have heard rumblings that it looks fake but I completely disagree. If you study it carefully you can see there are a variety of different particles in the smoke. What I also like about this is once again the visual style. It has a very larger than life edge to it. It kind of reminds me of the visual stylings of films such as, Sin City and 300. It also showcases to the audience Spidey's phenomenal strength.
Breathtaking Swing - 0:33
One of my problems with the previous trilogy was the swinging. For it's time the effects were pretty impressive but looking back at them now they have become rather outdated. Spider-Man seems to float rather than soar, making the sense of gravity feel rather flat.
This sequence particularly impressed me by the sheer speed of it. When Spidey swings you can feel that sense of gravity and the velocity behind it. A smile immediately crept across my face when I witnessed this. I would also like to add, I love the use of colour regarding the streets below. It really compliments the suit, with it's vibrant reds.
Web-Shooter Malfunction - 1:13
During this trailer we were really given some great new footage to chew on and it was great to see Peter working on his trademark web-shooters again. It was pretty amusing to see them malfunction and explode in his face. One of the many comedic moments I am sure will be a part of this film.
Richard Parker - 1:16
This shot only lasts for a brief moment but holds a key piece into what Richard was actually up to during his time at Oscorp. If you look at the image below I have marked out the words "Delivery Agent, Arachnid Genome". Now, this means one of two things, in my opinion.
1) Richard Parker is genetically mutating and creating spiders at Oscorp. So this leads me to ask the question: Does this mean these are one of the spiders that bites Peter? I personally believe so.
2) Richard Parker is creating a formula using spiders DNA and gives it to Peter as a child. If he does it is still uncertain as to why and is something we will have to wait until the film is released to find out.
The Mystery Man - 1:22
This for me was the most interesting point in the trailer. I immediately asked myself who is this? I then did some research and found out it was Michael Masse who apparently is playing David Lowell. As many of you know David Lowell eventually becomes Sundown.
I personally believe this is a decoy. I reckon they are just throwing us off the scent. I believe he is either one of two characters.
1)Norman Osborn - Green Goblin
2)Adrian Toomes - The Vulture
What made things even more interesting in this brief clip is what he says to the supposedly incarcerated Curt Connors: ' Did you tell the boy about his father." This leads me to believe that Peter's, father and Connors were part of a much larger team under the heading of Norman Osborn.
There Has Been A Biological Attack - 1:42
It looks like The Lizard will attack New York with biological weapons. He is obviously looking to make the people of New York like himself but I had a thought and came to an interesting conclusion. What if this is what creates some of the villains for the next films. Maybe some are infected with the formula The Lizard is using as weapons and mutate as a result. There have been several sources that say this film hints at Black Cat, so maybe Felicia Hardy is exposed to the gas The Lizard is wielding.
Falling - 2:05
Here we can see that Spidey and The Lizard are plummeting towards the ground. By the looks of things they have both fallen off of Oscorp. Spidey is trying to fire his webbing to stop them but Lizard prevents him from doing so. It is vey reminiscent of the Spider-Man and Venom scene in Spider-Man 3 when they are both falling whilst fighting each other. It looks to be a very adrenaline pumping sequence.
Those were the scenes I found the most interesting in the trailer. The truth is there are so many spectacular moments, it was very hard for me to choose specifically which ones that stayed with me after viewing it. It gave me everything I expected from a Spider-Man trailer and then some. It has increased my anticipation to new levels and I hope it can meet them when it is finally released.
I am really liking the mystery element to this movie, which will hopefully give it several layers to work with. I felt whilst the Raimi trilogy was great ( number 3, not so great) there was something missing from it. I thought about it and realised it was the science-fiction element. Peter in most incarnations is extremely gifted intellectually and is normally portrayed as a young scientist. Whilst they did portray Peter to be clever in the Raimi trilogy they did not delve into it too deeply.
The Lizard is looking great in motion and it looks like we will be given some great action sequences. Another one of my favourite parts in the trailer, is when The Lizard is chasing Spider-Man upside down on the school ceiling. The way Spidey moves when that sequence ensues is very well thought-out. Webb and Garfield stated that they wanted Peter to move like a spider would and it appears they have put a great deal of work into making it visually possible.
Also I think Webb was the right choice for the character moments. He did a really good job with making the character interactions believable in 500 Days of Summer and I believe this area of the film will be where he truly shines. It is great to have phenomenal action set pieces but they fall flat if you don't believe in the characters.
This is why he went with the more humanised Lizard face and I personally think it was the best option. If Connors transforms into a nine-foot beast with a snout, I feel it would be very hard for the audience to feel any connection with the character. That was one of the problems with Spider-Man 2002. When the Green Goblin wore his mask it really hampered the experience in my opinion because it acted like a barricade. You could not tell what the character was feeling in those moments and made it very detaching. My favourite moments of Willem Defoe's performance are when he is not wearing the mask because you can see the wide variety of emotions he is portraying. One, second he is a snivelling wreck the next he is psychotic. My point is, the Green Goblin was the most interesting when you could see his face because it gave Defoe the opportunity to portray his full acting capabilities. This is why I think it is very important for The Lizard to have a humanised face.
All in all this is looking to be a really solid film. The FX are looking superb, the casting is fantastic and the overall story and tone is shaping up to be very different from the previous trilogy. You can see Webb has a very creative eye and at moments it looks as if the film has brought the comic book pages to life. This is clearly its own film and I truly wish it all the best. It has the potential to go far and I personally believe it will.
Anyway rant's over !
Now, what were your favourite moments of the new trailer and did it impress you or leave you feeling indifferent ?