TRAILER: The Amazing Spider-Man

After a big press to-do yesterday, the official trailer of the upcoming movie, The Amazing Spider-Man, was released on line.  Here it is:

Some initial reactions after watching it:

I was already a fan of director Marc Webb and lead actor Andrew Garfield, but I have to say that this trailer certainly cemented my excitement for this movie. It looks and sounds like a Spider-Man movie that I would hope for. The Lizard is shown here just enough to garner the curiosity of how the villain plays out and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy ain’t too bad either…so in that sense, the trailer worked. Color me officially excited for this next chapter in Spider-Man movies.

What say you?  Are you buying into the spider-film reboot?

Comments

  1. Positive: We finally seem to be getting the wisecracking Spidey of the comics. Negative: The ‘Spidey without his mask’ trope seems to be continuing. Why? How often does Bats take off his mask in his movies? Overall its a strong trailer that hints at potential for the movie as long as it can over one possible major hurdle: the CGI villain. And I am not one who automatically counts CGI being used as negative but something about the glimpses of the Lizard leaves me… disquieted. But that could just be me. Anyways, CGI can take longer than anything else in a film to finish and is fairly open to tinkering during post production. So fingers crossed.

    • Totally agree – CGI villains are an immediate check in the negative column in my book. The overblown CGI sandman and venom at the end of Spider-Man 3 was one of (many) problems with that movie.

    • i agree. quit taking the mask off.

    • It’s difficult to show emotion when the actor is wearing a full face mask. Batman’s cowl at least allows for eye and mouth expressions to be shown. Spider-Man’s mask is more difficult in the comics you can very the eye size and subtly change the mask in order to show emotion it’s not as easy in the movies.

    • Looks great, but if there’s going to be as much “ripping off the mask so we can see the star ‘act’ ” as there was in the previous trilogy, I hope they can at least find less contrived ways of doing it…. The subway scene from Spider-Man 2 still annoys me to no end!

    • While there are definitely more and less contrived ways to do it, let’s be honest here — in the real world, if you encountered a masked vigilante, wouldn’t your first instinct be to remove the mask and find out who it is?

      The fact that a hero’s mask *isn’t* removed every single time they’re unconscious or captured is what seems more contrived to me.

      As for this trailer, the scene makes it look like he’s been captured, but starts kicking ass right after his mask is removed, and due to the poorly lit NYC street, no one gets a good look at the guy because they’re too busy getting their assess kicked.

    • Are you kidding me? It’s Hollywood. That system is about fame and power. Do you get more fame and power by covering up your pretty face? No. You want modern high dollar superhero movies with big stars? You’re going to get a lot of faces without masks. It’s a fact of business.

    • I’m pretty sure that it is actually in the actor’s contracts to have a certain amount of screen time, which isn’t possible with their masks on.

    • I don’t think I can count the number of times a Spidey comic has ended with his mask ripped at least halfway off. It’s the best way for him to convey emotion in this, and I welcome it.

    • Movie and TV cops *always* unmask people in costume that they arrest!

    • I don’t wanna see him take his mask off constantly but if you read Spidey comix and not New Avengers or books like that, he frequently takes it off around MJ or his closest friends, can’t speak for FF (w Spidey on the team) cause I haven’t read it and a giant man-lizard w the level of quality cg they’ll put into this hopefully finely blended w the right amount of hands on prosthetics and make up, Lizard will look great….(like the way Guillermo Del Toro does it w Hellboy/Pan’s Labyrinth)….keeping the make-up fx alive. Some cg if done right can go unnoticed or we have 1980’s lizard from V on our hands.

  2. Wow,nothing can get between me and my love for the Avengers but i cant wait for this either. Marvels really spoiling us this year!

  3. P.S. I love the sound his web slingers make!

  4. I’m definitely excited for this movie. The previous Spidey movies never quite rubbed me right for some reason, but I like what I’m seeing here. The Lizard is my favorite Spidey villain, too, so that’s a plus, and though I wish they were going with a design that wasn’t quite so Silver Age, I can live with it.

    Also: I’m not up on my post-1975ish mainstream Marvel history, but I know what they’re doing with Peter’s father smacks of ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, which works better anyway, I think, for a movie-length story (and as a potential origin for the webbing).

  5. Man. That looked awesome. Is now a good time to mention that im firmly on the Jim Carrey side of the Emma Stone debate.

  6. Clearly I’m in the minority here but that was seriously underwhelming. All three of the lead actors don’t look promising with Garfield especially not feeling like Peter in the slightest.

    Also, it doesn’t look like the quality of the special effects have moved on much since the last round of Spider-Man movies.

    Personally, given the quality of Spider-Man 1 & 2, I would have given Raimi & Co another shot to get things back on track after number 3.

  7. This looks too heavy for Spider-Man. I didn’t care for the trailer at all. They better not screw this up.

    I had no problems with the disco. Take it for what it was – fun. Not sure why everyone got all butt hurt about the dance. Comics are supposed to be fun. Lighten up and take the sticks out of your butts. 🙂

    • They do seem to be playing this one quite dark and gritty for some reason – not really the way to go with a Spidey film…

    • I would have been able to take the dancing spider-man in 3 if that was what was the point of the scene. When Peter wears the symbiote, he was supposed to be dark and dangerous, not a clown.
      I’m still mixed on the trailer though… too much dark? At least he was wise cracking.

    • Fun? Yes. Random and out of place? Also yes.

    • S-M 3 had a lot wrong with it: too many characters/villains, overblown special effects, plot problems, bad acting – but all that was pretty much par for the course in a summer blockbuster. The dance scene was what ruined the movie for me. It was stupid, silly, shoe-horned in for no reason, didn’t serve the plot… I could go on, but it was totally unnecessary. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. I own 1&2 on Blu-Ray, but I wouldn’t watch 3 again.

  8. This is the X-Men: First Class of 2012: I keep forgetting it’s happening, but when I remember I get excited.

    • I’m excited for this too, so I don’t mean this to sound cynical, but I think part of the reason we forget about this movie is because Marvel won’t do much promotion for it since it’s not a Marvel Studios movie.

    • X-Men: First Class also came to mind when I saw this trailer. Not just because it will not be as heavily promoted by Marvel, but also because it seems like it will be less schlocky than Marvel’s in house films. Yeah, I said it.

  9. I didn’t have a high opinion of this movie when the teasers were released but WOW!!!! This looks really solid. I can’t wait to see it.

  10. Not digging Spidey as having somewhat of a tough guy, Joisey accent. But it looks good and we all know we are all gonna see it no matter how bad it may or may not be.

  11. Hmmmmmmmmmmm… Liked the trailer and I’ll definitely go see this in theaters BUT… Dark and gritty is for Batman, not a Spidey film. Couldn’t help but think about The Dark Knight and Watchmen while watching the trailer and it just felt weird to see Spidey in it, kept expecting Bats to pop-up at the end with the Joker that yells: I GOTCHAAAAAAAAAA!

    Anyways, maybe it’s just the overall tone of the trailer, the full movie will probably be better and more light-hearted like Spider-Man should be.

    PS: Loved the sound of the web-shooters also *Slip Slip*! 😀

  12. Like, don’t like it, really don’t care what you guys think. I see this as an opportunity to take something we all love and find a new and entertaining expression for it. Does it look good? … Very much. We already had one director’s take, improve but don’t copy on that. New York can be a dark place, why not play on that. Looking forward to this more than The Avengers because this will be far more character driven. Let’s put our fears aside and give it a chance.

  13. That looks Brilliant! Can’t wait!

  14. For those who feel that the tone appears SlightLy too dark, let’s not forget that this is based off the comic in which the hero’s love interest dies. In some ways, Spider-man stories have always been willing to explore some dark themes.
    Peter Parker is not batman, that’s for damn sure, but Peter Parker’s story is a dark one nonetheless, it’s how the man never loses humanity that is the heart of the spider-man story. If the spirit of Peter Parker ultimately comes through in this film, the darker elements while only make his resilience more pronounced and affecting.

    • I don’t know. I always saw Peter’s stories as light in tone, no matter how dark the events around him got. That has always kind of been the appeal for me.

  15. WE HAVE A HULK!

  16. I accidently had Inquisition playing over the trailer through Itunes. It was pretty sweet.

  17. Like.

  18. This trailer has me officially excited, it looks really good! So glad they went with the web-shooters.

  19. I’m having trouble understanding how this is being positioned – and I wonder if the general public will too. So, they’re doing a Hulk-style “pretend the other stuff never happened; we’re gonna get it right this time” reboot? Even with 3 being pretty much of a let-down, that trilogy was mostly very, very good – so how are they rationalizing this? And it hasn’t really been that long, if the rationale is to bring Spider-Man to new audiences. I’m just confused. (And personally not digging the darker tone.)

  20. The Dark Spider Rises—-it looks pretty cool, but maybe its the music and editing, but it looks like they are trying to make a Nolan Batman movie.

    • I thought the exact same thing when I watched this. ‘Well, Marvel just Nolan-ed up Spider-Man.”

    • I don’t subscribe to that. Just because it’s not drowning in cheese and doesn’t mean it’s Nolan-esque. Chris Nolan did not invent serious takes on superheroes and nighttime shots.

    • i disagree. Nolan has a pretty killer winning formula for blockbuster superhero movies. Its wise for Sony to play “follow the leader” and position their potential blockbuster to appeal to the same tastes of the Batman fans…..cause a shit ton of non comic geeks made the Nolan films successful. These movies aren’t being made for us y’know.

  21. I think it look great

  22. The trailer looks ok but I just don’t buy Garfield as Peter Parker.

  23. I’m in. I wasn’t at first, because I have strongly held negative feelings about Marc Webb’s previous film, and also I didn’t want a reboot. But this looks really good.

  24. I thought it was funny to see Dennis Leary as Captain Stacy.

    I also liked the scene of him dodging the bullets. Nice display of Spidey-sense in action!

    I’ll really miss the Raimi movies’ JJJ tho…

  25. That was sweet. I don’t care if it’s “Darker” or not, it looks like it will be awesome.

  26. Do you think there skipping over Uncle Bens death.

    I’m the scene at dinner, Gwen says Peter lives with his aunt and uncle, then it looks like in the same scene Peter is defending Spider-man. Can he be a crime fighter without Ben dying? Or is it just how the trailer is edited

  27. Is it weird that I was most excited over Denis Leary and Martin Sheen?

    I mean, for this community, that’s weird, right? It’s OK.

  28. Ugh, too serious and emo. Are they trying to make the franchise more like Twilight? Very disappointing.

  29. It looks cool, but I’m just not sure if I need another Spider-Man movie right now. I will probably see this because its a summer comic book movie, but my excitement level is fairly low. I’m also getting the vibe of yet another origin story being in this flick, which, of all things, is completely unnecessary at this point. But who knows? Maybe it will be awesome and in July I won’t shut up about it.

  30. I don’t think I’m imagining that parts of his costume glowed when he shot his webs. That was weird. Other than that, I’m pretty excited for this new chapter in the film franchise.

    • It looked like the web shooters were much more high-tech then the old design, and rightly so. Part of that seemed that they lit up when used which is a much better way to realize you are low on web fluid than Peter’s standard “Now I am plummetting to my death” method.

  31. I got excited when I watched this in a way that I didn’t when I saw the new Avengers trailer. That surprises me since I’m a huge Whedon fan and I liked the preceding Marvel movies, too. Right now, on evidence of trailers, Avengers feels more like a big empty popcorn action film and there’s nothing wrong with that. Amazing Spider-Man seems to be hitting some emotional note that promises something more than that. That’s a good sign that the eternal Peter Parker dilemma will be honored.

    Aside from those impressions, I sure hope the rubbery costume looks less rubbery on screen. The design is cool, but the rubber aspect seems a bit off somehow.

  32. Wow that looks pretty awesome, they’ve totally won me over. Also, Dennis Leary is in this??? Hooray!

  33. Looks awesome. More awesome than I was expecting.

    • Totally agree. I really liked the scene in the car where he’s mocking the their. I hope we get more one liners in this than in the previous films.

  34. Can I buy tickets NOW? I was really “yawn” when this was announced, but this looks like everything you could want in a Spidey movie. I’m excited to see how they do the mechanical web shooters. I was fine with them being organic, but I welcome a different take. The cast looks great (could Emma Stone be any more attractive?!), the effects are awesome, and it has my favorite Spidey villain, The Lizard. Not sure how they will explain the fancy costume (come on, he’s a kid, how can he afford or make that?). As for it being dark, well, yeah it looks that way, but this is what audiences expect these days. The non-comic public aren’t gonna buy anything else – a 60’s light-hearted movie would fail. There has to be a real threat or else the stakes aren’t high enough for today’s audience.

  35. Too gritty for Spider-Man? Did nobody here read Grim Hunt?

  36. I’m on board, have been since the teaser. But I’m liking/worried about one issue. I like that they are going to go into how his parents had a bit of a secretive lifestyle, in this case scientists for oscorp. But Im worried they are going to make it that their research eventually created Spider-man, that just feels hokey to me.

  37. I have mixed feelings about this one, it looks better than Spiderman 3 was, but that is not difficult to do. I just hope they do not spend a huge amount of time re-telling his origin story.

  38. As of this trailer, I am completely psyched.

  39. He, and this is to me, comes off to confident for Peter Parker. He seems less like a shy nerdy guy and more like a rebellious outcast. Idk, the movie looks fun, but I have a hard time seeing Peter Parker as the guy parents try to keep their daughters away from.

  40. I guess I’m one of those who wasn’t too keen on the trailer.

    There’s something… overly dramatic about the whole thing. I mean, I realize that drama has been a staple of Peter’s life from the get-go, but the thing with his parents… the sense of conspiracy with Oscorp… way, WAY too much “unmasked Spidey”… the overall sense of “attitude”. Add to it the vaugue sense of “Twililight” I get from things with the amped up angst and perfect hair, it’s just feel almost too unlike Spider-Man in many respects.

    The whole things seems to be trying to say, “This ain’t your parents Spider-Man.”

    And I’m not so sure that’s a good thing.

  41. Dear Andrew Garfield,
    You are my favorite thing about everything.

  42. I was a little skeptical of this reboot, but after this trailer, I can’t wait to watch this!

  43. Good trailer.

    I’ve always liked Raimi’s 1 & 2, but this seems (based on this trailer alone) more like my kind of Spider-Man movie. All these “too dark” complaints are pure nonsense. Peter Parker’s life has been wrought with tragedy from the get-go. It’s his ability to bounce back and continue to approach life with almost child-like innocence and positivity that makes him so special. As long as his charm and humor comes accross in this incarnation, I’ll be satisfied with his characterization.

  44. I love that the wisecracking comes with a sense off being scared shitless. That was always spiderman’s description “If I didn’t make jokes I’d be crying or screaming all the time.” I don’t see all the darkness as a Batman rip off. A Spiderman movie should happen in darkness. It’s should be terrifying being Spiderman. I didn’t like the original films because of the daylight and the peace festivals and parades in time square. Spiderman needs to exist in a scary word or else there’s no reason for him to exist at all.

    • I agree. As long as Spider-Man is that shining light, you can make the world around him darker. Giving the film a slightly darker tone is not Batmanatizing Spider-Man. It adds stakes to the story. Now if they put Spider-Man in a black leather costume and had him hanging terrified mobsters off gargoyles… then people might have a point.

  45. Wow. Really impressed. Growing up, Spider-Man was my favorite character, yet lately I have been questioning if maybe I’ve out grown him. As a teen I felt a kinship with Peter Parker, but as I get closer to thirty I’ve found Spider-Man difficult to relate to. Even with Andrew Garfield and director Mark Webb, I just could not muster much excitement for this film. So, it’s a great feeling to be won over. While I understand that it is only just trailer, there are many things that just rang true for me.

    The scene where Spider-Man is wise-cracking at the car thief, that is Spider-Man to me. Unlike the Rami films, here it seems like Peter’s scientific genius is actually more than just an obligatory character trait dragged over from the comic books. While I enjoyed the Rami films for the most part, the casting felt off, the directing was distracting, and the overall campy feel always bothered me. This however, looks like the Spider-Man movie I had hoped for 10 years ago.

    Most surprising of all, I had thought The Avengers with Joss Weidon directing, would be a sure fire lock, but the trailer and Super Bowl ads have me feeling unsure. Maybe they are hiding all the good stuff, but nothing about that Avengers ad (other than a bunch of Marvel Heroes in the same film) looked special. Conversely, this new Spider-Man trailer has brought me around, and I’m excited to see how this film turns out. This is going to be a great Summer.

  46. Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy……….<B

    Looks a lot better than I was expecting. I like that it seems we're going to get a wise-cracking Peter Parker, and not a moody angsty Twilight version that the first couple promo shots looked like.

    And yeah, Emma Stone. Just perfect.

  47. Looks good to me and looks like Spidey will be cracking jokes which I really missed in the other movies.

    And to comment on the mask debate. I just rewatched V for Vendetta recently and he never loses the mask and you still get all the emotion and it fact may even enhance the emotion.

    • You’re not wrong that V still works as a character with the mask on…but V is such a different character than Peter Parker.
      In V for Vendetta, we’re meant to identify more with Evey than V, so we don’t really need to see his face to connect with the story. V doesn’t have to be one particular man because he represents something bigger than that.

      Spider-man, at least in a movie, needs to be without a mask some of the time, not only to satisfy the requirements of a Hollywood movie (you don’t pay a top actor to cover up their money-maker), but also because we need to see how Peter reacts to all the craziness that’s become part of his life. As a pretty normal guy in abnormal circumstances, he’s the audience’s gateway into the world. If we can’t connect with him, the movie doesn’t work.

  48. It was alright….I guess?

    I’m just so burned out with Spider-Man lately and the 7 year old in me is pissed I just typed that. With the awful third film, the mediocre (to put it kindly) recent comics, and this ‘meh’ trailer I just don’t see myself caring about it one way or another. I’ll probably see it eventually but not the first weekend it comes out.

    Oh and Denis Leary looks really out of place in this film. I completely forget he’s suppose to be Captain Stacy and while he was fine in the dinner scene, the rest of the trailer he looks like….well like Denis Leary on a normal day. I have a feel that no matter how hard he’s trying I’m just going to think he’s doing more of ‘Rescue Me’ but he went from being a firefighter to a cop.

    • That has more to do with your inability to seperate his work on Rescue Me from his work in this trailer than it has to do with his versatility as an actor. Rather than ignorantly dismiss his abilities, ask yourself why it’s hard for you to make the distinction. Is it because he’s truly that limited? Is it because he’s from New York and has a publicly stated love for the city and its workers? Or is it because he delivered week after week of convincing preformances on the show? He was a believable NYC firefighter, so it’s not insane to think he’ll make a decent NYC police captain.

  49. I really am digging this. I have been waiting so long for the Lizard to be graced on the screen & now with an actor who could do Dr. Curt Connors justice. This definitely has the potential to be the Batman Begins for Spider-Man, just like X-Men First Class, where they correct all of the past mistakes they’ve made with the characters by doing them right in a prequel/sequel/reboot. The Sam Raimi movies were to me what the Bryan Singer movies were to Ron, I knew that it was Spider-Man they were showing, but it wasn’t MY Spider-Man. Mine would be most definitely the Ultimate Spider-Man, where I think Marc Webb, Andrew Garfield & Emma Stone seem to be focusing on that version of Spidey & with a lot of emotionality as well. The 1st trailer was mysterious & intriguing, this one is delving deeper into the storyline & it really is making me so excited for July 3, 2012. Being the Spidey fan that I am, I’ve some doubts, but I also have high hopes too!

  50. Still not 100% sold, but curious – I’ll probably see it.

  51. I’m liking this more today than I did yesterday. Hopefully it will continue to build in my mind until the release, in which case I’ll probably go see it. I wonder how necessary the backstory with the parents is. Since it’s a reboot they may have added it to separate it from the earlier movies, but to me it just looks like more origin madness. Like you can’t have a tumbleweed rolling through a scene without showing it get planted first. As long the movie has good action scenes and is FUN, I don’t see how it could be too bad, but I think it just doesn’t look as good as Avengers to me, or even Dark Knight Rises.

  52. Dark in tone doesn’t mean Grim and Gritty without heart: see the original TMNT. I think this is going to be great.

    • I have very high hopes for this. I could nip pick about the costume not being exactly the same as the comic version. But I for one would rather have the characters portrayed exactly as they have been over the years in some of the best stories. I love having the Lizard as the first villain too.

      Does anyone else think this is going to be in the same light as “Torment” with Gwen in instead of MJ? (Note beginning of Torment has Spidey doing the whole bullet dodging scene as seen in the trailer).