Thoughts on ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ Trailer

Back in 2002, the anticipation for “Spider-Man” was at an all time high. People were excited to go the theater to watch Spidey web sling his way through Manhattan. The film at that time had good action, great special effects and a decent storyline. This time around there are plenty of changes with a different actor playing the role of Peter Parker and Spiderman, as well as a different story line from a much earlier point in the series. The problem with this reboot is that the action looks like a pretty video game, the acting seems atrocious and overall it seems like a complete waste of time.

This time around the villain of “The Amazing Spider-Man” looks to be The Lizard. Although we see flashes of him in the trailer, it still is not enough that would make this movie exciting to watch. The most important setback that this movie has is the actor who is playing Spiderman. When Tobey Maguire portrayed Spider-man in the previous films, there were many complaints that he did not do a great job. he same could be said for Andrew Garfield because from the looks of the trailer, his dialogue is cheesy with idiotic jokes.

Although the storyline for this film seems to have some potential, there is not much in the trailer that would make the audience jump up for joy this time around.

-Nick Valente

In “Amazing Spider-Man,” Andrew Garfield steps into his bigges­­t role since “The Social Network,” as he suits up in the cool new skin-tight red and blue suit. In the trailer, Garfield’s superhero is physical, edgy with a dash of darkness behind his devilishly handsome stature.

If trailers are an honest indication of what the film will be like (some aren’t; see “The Devil Inside”), then Garfield’s take on Parker is an instant upgrade over Tobey Maguire’s delicate, timid and overly sensitive Parker.

Screenwriters Alvin Sargent and Steve Kloves opted to dump the red-headed vixen, Mary Jane Watson, for the less known but original first Spidey-love, Gwen Stacy, played by the vivacious Emma Stone. Joining Stone is Denis Leary, who trades in his fire retardant suit to play Stacy’s father, the fiery New York City Police detective, George Stacy. In addition, the writers mercifully keep the Green Goblin out of the plot and instead has Parker search through his parent’s past to meet Dr. Curt Connors, or, as fan boys will excitedly rejoice, in unison, “It’s The Lizard!”

From the trailer, it seems the stark visual difference between Raimi’s films and Webb’s is in the cinematography. The acclaimed cinematographer John Schwartzman, whose previous works include “Pearl Harbor,” “Armageddon,” and “The Rock,” joins Webb’s emotional directorial style, to cleverly and intelligently refrain from web slinging in broad daylight. Instead “Spider-Man” is seen to have embraced the shadows, a choice surely influenced by the success of a different masked vigilante.

With the new art direction both the character and the computer generated imagery look sharper, seductive, and importantly, newer than in previous films where we kept slinging through Manhattan on crisp fall days, where the sunlight didn’t quite help make the illusion as magnificent the second, and third, time around.

The main reason why Sony Entertainment rebooted the franchise, why “The Amazing Spider-Man” will be better than it’s predecessors, is that it was shot in 3D, for the entirety of the film. Although at times 3D is a gimmick to lure in more cash, that doesn’t seem to be the entire case here, fingers crossed.

With a star-studded, talented cast, a new direction, and promising scenes of Spider-kick-ass-action, the trailers are promising a new Nolan-like beginning for the ever-popular Marvel franchise that always has tremendous potential to rake in the billions, all over again.

-Kashfi Fahim

Don’t agree? Watch the trailer for yourself and comment below!