Australia got a new Amazing Spider-Man trailer this weekend, and I feel I'm safe in saying it's the best Amazing Spider-Man trailer yet. It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it does seem exciting enough for the movie that I momentarily forgot it's an incredibly needless reboot. So let's break it down:
SPIDER-PROS:
• Solid action
• Excellent webslinging (except for that one shot)
• Dr. Connors does not seem quite as transparently evil
• The "I'm going to throw you out the window now" scene
SPIDER-CONS
• That one horrible webslinging shot
• The skateboarding (really? Really?!)
• All the parent shit
• That football bullshit at the end
So that all evens out, I guess. Hmm. Staying positive today might be a little harder than I thought.
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74 comments
How is the "I'm going to throw you out the window now" scene a good thing? It's a direct visual reference to that scene from "The Night Gwen Stacy Died"! I gasped in HORROR, thank you very much!
Has there ever been a nerd property, or more specifically a movie, where universally we all decided, far in advance, "This is going to suck. This is SO going to suck. Look, here it is, sucking. Look, there it went, sucked so hard. Man, that sucked."
I mean, other than Transformers 3. And 2.
They got the director of "(500) Days of Summer" for chrissakes. The last time this happened, they got the director of "Barbershop" to direct both Fantastic Four movies and, surprise surprise.... they both sucked.
I would just like to note that in this entire buildup to DKR, I have been comparing Anne Hathaway to Michelle Pheiffer, completely forgetting that there was a Catwoman movie inbetween. Its very rare that a movie is so bad I completely forget it happened, especially since I like to keep a Marvel/DC score.
so whats the secret with the parents then?
Will it be like Ang Lee Hulk film and Peter will be genetically altered from birth and have powers all ready and they just get triggered by the spider or something?
Ugghh. Really? I don't know what pisses me off more, that this movie took such a cliche turn, or that Peter apparently had some of the worst parents ever.
The things that bug me about this movie are:
1. Garfield just comes across as too smug and not socially awkward enough to play Peter Parker. He doesn't work as the character at all, he's too cool.
2. Why did they base the Lizard on the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park? Particularly the hand through the windscreen, that literally wouldn't have looked out of place in JP. Same type of claws, same colouring etc etc. I mean, I know that lizards (and crocs etc) are the closest to dinosaurs that we have but they could have made a bit more effort. And the scene where the Lizard crawls across the ceiling is straight out of any of the Alien movies. I didn't realise why that clip bugged me till now but now I know.
Apart from that, Emma Stone is gorgeous and I'll see this movie just for her. The swinging through NYC actually looks as good as any of the other movies too.
Wow... I just don't get the amount of hatred being thrown at this movie. Looks like a huge step-up from Raimi's stuff to me. Peter Parker's father being an altruistic scientist was one of the best things about the Ultimate series, and adds resonance to Peter's own scientific interests. I just don't get what people are saying about it being dark. Isn't Spider-Man's origin (as well as tons of his crmefighting career) pretty fucking dark? He's not cracking jokes because he's happy all the time.
This is the kind of question I'd expect from one of the writers of the movie who probably read a character synopsis after watching the first three Spider-Man movies and now thinks he's an expert on all things Peter Parker.
The hatred is because this movie shits where it eats.
Here is what I, personally, do not like about this movie so far: They have messed with his origin by making it so that Peter was always going to be Spider-Man and always had that power in him. This shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the character, a nerdy everyman who stumbled across amazing power and learnt how to use it. The Lizard looks like a shitty CGI Killer Croc and seems like a rehashing of the Raimi villains who were all tragic "I've become a monster!" split personality types. Seen it all before. It is trying to be both dark and lighthearted at the same time. You've got all the 'I must discover the secrets of my dead father's past!' stuff then you've got dumb jokes like the knife thing and the football thing. Pick a tone, movie, and stick to it. Peter Parker does not look like any nerd I have ever seen. He looks like a guy with big feathery hair who skateboards around and wears skinny jeans. Throwing stereotypical 'nerd' glasses on him does not help, it just makes him look even more hipster-y. Sally Field as Aunt May. I can't for the life of me explain why this is so wrong but it is. But my dream cast would include Jessica Walter as Aunt May and Al Brooks as Uncle Ben so maybe I should shut up. This movie is not necessary and I have a built-in urge to boycott it. Fuck this movie.
You've hit on just about everything that I found troubling about the trailer. There were some neat moments, but on the whole it bothered me, and I wasn't quite sure why.
I kept looking at Peter in this trailer and thinking to myself "What is wrong with his hair?" Did I really become one of those nerds who will dismiss a perfectly serviceable movie because the hairstyle isn't right?
But that isn't the whole story. Peter is just...not Peter. The whole look is wrong. The vibe is wrong. The jokes and overdone webslinging are more reminiscent of those awful pre-Raimi attempts (i.e. humor done badly, for the wrong reasons). I get the feeling that they're trying to fix what isn't broken, and so it comes across as even less authentic.
It looks like a retread, but instead of fixing what didn't work about Spider-Man 3 or making it faithful to Ultimate Spider-Man, it has made lots of little changes along the way that push it even further away from being Spider-Man that I recognize. It feels like MTV took Spider-Man and put it through their Teen Wolf filter, and that's not what I was hoping for.
I don't really have a great urge to boycott it, though. The whole thing makes me tired and somewhat sad. All this time and effort and money going into something that is both unnecessary and a giant step back for every step it takes forward. I'll catch it on video at some point, but I'm not invested in it.
i think you forget a pro...spider-man is cracking jokes¡i don't about you,but i like spider-man for his sense of humor
Spider-Man cracks jokes because he's a neurotic motormouth and is usually pretty scared during a fight, not because he likes acting badass in front of the criminals he torments.
i like that,is for blow some steami do the exact same thingthat's why is so human the character
There is a difference betwen being witty and cracking jokes to being a flat out douche, have you seen the whole scene?... bordering on torture.
What did everyone hate about the last movie (other than Venom)? The unnecessary "dark" turn, including Peter's emo-dipshit haircut. What do they focus on here?
What don't you mess with in the comics? Peter's missing parents. What do they focus on here?
interest = zero
Which, which web-slinging shot is the awful one?
To me, they're pretty much all the same web-slinging shots Sam Raimi used in 2002, up dated Lucas style with 2012 CGI.
i was wondering the same thing...
and maybe it'll look better in 3D, but i kinda liked the web-slinging in the first movies more. at least the first 2.
What's REALLY bothering me is that (as in the previous Spiderman movies), Peter's "Secret Identity" is really not.
In the trailer you see that either people know who is Spider-man (even the mask gets pulled off), or there are overtly clear scenes where Peter Parker shows his powers (football scene).
I don't know if the studio thinks that leaving the mask on would mean losing touch with the actor, but come on, by the end of SM3 everyone in NYC had seen Spidey's face, and this one seems to go headed the same way...
This is made twenty times worse by the fact that in this movie, the police are actively hunting Spider-man and still can't find him.
I think they're trying out the Twilight mentality - he's some poor lowly self-loathing outcast who just happens to have superpowers, great looks, great brains, wealthy friends and an attractive love interest.
I think the guy from Kick Ass made a much better 'Peter Parker' type because they portrayed him as a proper bland idealistic unremarkable 'everyteen' who messed up, got things wrong and made a fool out of himself on his path to being half decent.
Yes. I disliked Kick Ass but its depiction of nerds was great. The thing with Hollywood nerds is that they are always actually good-looking, friendly and nice, not someone that would be so badly picked on in real life. The nerds in Kick Ass were annoying, snarky and unattractive, just like in real life.
Also, what's with casting fricking British actors in classic American superhero roles? I'm British, but for crap's sake Peter Parker was born and raised in Queens. Can't they find someone convincingly New Yorker-y to play a frigging New Yorker?
I like skateboarding, but that ollie... There are not many that can even consider doing that on flat. Luis Tolentino being one of the few I can think of. Even then, height maybe, the distance at that height, forget it.
I'm assuming you mean the "throwing Gwen out the window and catching her with webbing" shot? Yeah, I can't decide if that's stupid, tasteless, or ham-fisted foreshadowing. No matter what, I cringed.
Was I the only one, that despite knowing it was a trailer, expected her to snap her neck and die?
"I'm going to shoot you with a sticky white-ish substance from a protruding member of my body." Ends the scene on a totally different note.
To be honest, I'm thinking the football scene was a very subtle jab at Superman/Smallville. Or maybe I'm seeing to much into it.
"It's too dangerous". Clark/Superman playing sports is dangerous to anyone else... I'm seeing too much into this.
heh... except for the mile-long crater/divot Clark's football left behind when it (finally) landed. or the satellite it knocked out of orbit, for that matter.
Of course, Clark wasn't dumb enough to do it with the entire football team watching and / or leave any evidence behind.
i see it more as an homage to the first Superman movie than a jab.
Clark couldn't play football because he was too strong and fast, but look at him kick a football into the next county.
Peter isn't into sports, but here's him catching the ball and throwing it back to bend the upright all without looking.
I don't know, I was wondering if it was like "Remember how Superman played football in HS? Spiderman would never do that, true believers!" As I said, I'm trying to hard to see things where they don't exist.
