In Hollywood, nothing succeeds like excess. Following the success of Sam Raimi’s trio of films released between 2002 and 2007, which collectively grossed almost two and a half billion dollars worldwide, that there was to be a fourth Spider-Man film was not a surprise. What was unexpected was that 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man was to be a new version of the story, with new actors, a new director and a new origin story, but the decision was a good one, with former music video director Marc Webb’s second feature following the low budget romantic comedy (500) Days of Summer revitalising a brand which, despite the box office takings, was critically dead in the water. With stars Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone returning as Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, the first trailer for which has just been released, they are joined by Jamie Foxx as Electro, Dane DeHaan as Harry Osborn and Paul Giamatti as The Rhino.
Kevin Gilmartin – I never thought I’d say this, but I think I’m getting Marvel Fatigue.
I love Spidey, but really all that trailer showed us was our favourite web-slinger jumping around, swinging on webs and dodging bullets and obstacles, doing a bunch of typical Spidey things.
I’m quite sure it’s all very exciting for people coming to Spider-Man for the first time, or for the first time after the reboot film, but for a long-standing fan of the web-head there’s nothing new here, nothing to excite us.
Michael Flett – I found the first two Raimi films utterly tiresome and didn’t even bother with the third, and was astonished how much I enjoyed The Amazing Spider-Man– the two reasons I saw it were that I loved Marc Webb’s (500) Days of Summer and I knew from Never Let Me Go that Andrew Garfield was a fantastic actor.
This however, rather than being another piece about story and interesting characters whose company we enjoy, looks to be a montage of special effects. There is nothing here to tell me anything about an actual plot, it all seems to be just to get Spider-Man from one sequence to the next.
I know folk are getting excited over Electro and Rhino and what have you, but I don’t know who they are; I’m not a comic person, so the studio need to show me something to interest me, and as impressive as these effects are, other than the final shot of Spidey crashing through what look like illuminated toilet roll tubes, it’s not selling the film to me.
I’m hoping that this is just a marketing decision to give the kids some flash to get them excited over the festive season and a second trailer closer to release will show that I’m wrong and Marc, Andrew, the lovely Emma Stone (she really is one of the shining stars of her generation of actors), the reliable Paul Giamatti and so on will give us something worth getting excited over.
Stephen Sutherland – Its interesting. All the focus for the Marvel films has been Avengersrelated stuff, or the DC Man of Steel stuff, but in the background we have Sony quietly turning out one of the best superhero films in recent years in The Amazing Spider-Man. I always felt bad for it that it didn’t get quite the credit it deserved, as it updated the Spider-Man origin and character of Peter Parker so expertly.
So here we have the sequel, which looks to have all the restraint of an unrepentant drug addict in a meth lab. And this is a good thing. Of all the superheroes, Peter Parker’s life just plain SUCKS. Looking forward to seeing him with his back firmly against the wall, and a historically dead girlfriend to lose. This could be the superhero sleeper hit to keep your eye on…
Matthew Rutland – Firstly, why does every single film trailer now “have” to have the obligatory foghorn from Inception sound in it? Is it the aural symbol for epic now? The score itself sounds like it was ripped straight from Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, so not winning any points so far.
In terms of visuals, the hyper-realistic look has gone too far, the scene of Spidey holding the manhole cover I literally thought was a cartoon shot, half the other scenes look like they were lifted straight from the original Raimi movie, again begging the question in my mind of why these reboots are needed.
In terms of plot and storyline, it looks like there is too much going on. With the main criticism of Spiderman 3 being that there were too many villains and not enough cohesion and direction, I can see this suffering the same fate. Jamie Foxx looks quite disinterested in the shots chosen, and Emma Stone is better than this. If you compare this with the 2004 Spiderman 2 trailer, you see this is more a brash toy advert that lacks any depth.
As a child Spidey was my favourite superhero followed by Batman, but in terms of recent movies, Affleck will have to fumble the ball in an excruciating way to drop below Garfield in the disappointment stakes.
Garry Mac – Electro looks fantastic, The Rhino looks terrible. Goblin, I’m not sure about, but it’s nice to see a more weirdo Harry Osborne on screen. Otherwise, this looks like it’s fallen into the trap of more spectacle and less heart, the reverse of the stuff that made the first film such a great surprise for me. We’ll see, this is obviously a showcase trailer, but I really hope we’re not ditching the humour and characterisation to make room for so many villains…
Les Anderson – I found the first film rather too cartoonish and slavish to empty 3D visual effects and I fear the same for this. Andrew Garfield was an engaging lead, he is a talented actor after all, but he was swamped by excessive visuals and some badly-realised designs – The Lizard for example.
Dane DeHaan is also a striking new talent so there should be no worries on the acting side of things. However I suspect this will suffer the same problems as Raimi’s third film – too many villains, too many gimmicky setpieces and too little real plot.
Adam Dworak – I never cared about Spider-Man. I have seen all three of Raimi’s Spider-Man movies and I despised them all.
Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst were miserable and depressing characters. “With great power comes great responsibility.” No, being a superhero should also be fun and the 2012 Spider-Man reboot brought joy back to the character. But even with the fun back I’m indifferent to the films, it’s just that watching the last one was less painful.
Spider-Man needs a true villain. I am tired of watching some unfortunate who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, having an accident or experimenting on themselves in the name of the greater good only to change into a crazy monster with moral issues. Raimi`s Spider-Man suffered from the lack of true evil and Doctor Connors from The Amazing Spider-Man was a great example of that and I’m afraid after watching the trailer it seems The Amazing Spider-Man 2 shares that weakness with its predecessors.
Another problem I have is about the quality of special effects and CGI. Some of the scenes shown in the trailer look just horribly plastic and artificial. I know that probably the studio used the newest and the best technologies to create Spider-Man but I will say “That is enough.” What’s next? 10k resolution, 400 fps? To copy reality digital technology is evolving much faster than my eyes and it reaches a level when I just can`t see any significant improvement in the picture quality except that everything is more plastic and no closer to reality than five years earlier.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is scheduled for release on May 2nd 2014
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 trailer – reaction
I love Spidey, but really all that trailer showed us was our favourite web-slinger jumping around, swinging on webs and dodging bullets and obstacles, doing a bunch of typical Spidey things.
I’m quite sure it’s all very exciting for people coming to Spider-Man for the first time, or for the first time after the reboot film, but for a long-standing fan of the web-head there’s nothing new here, nothing to excite us.
Michael Flett – I found the first two Raimi films utterly tiresome and didn’t even bother with the third, and was astonished how much I enjoyed The Amazing Spider-Man – the two reasons I saw it were that I loved Marc Webb’s (500) Days of Summer and I knew from Never Let Me Go that Andrew Garfield was a fantastic actor.
I know folk are getting excited over Electro and Rhino and what have you, but I don’t know who they are; I’m not a comic person, so the studio need to show me something to interest me, and as impressive as these effects are, other than the final shot of Spidey crashing through what look like illuminated toilet roll tubes, it’s not selling the film to me.
I’m hoping that this is just a marketing decision to give the kids some flash to get them excited over the festive season and a second trailer closer to release will show that I’m wrong and Marc, Andrew, the lovely Emma Stone (she really is one of the shining stars of her generation of actors), the reliable Paul Giamatti and so on will give us something worth getting excited over.
So here we have the sequel, which looks to have all the restraint of an unrepentant drug addict in a meth lab. And this is a good thing. Of all the superheroes, Peter Parker’s life just plain SUCKS. Looking forward to seeing him with his back firmly against the wall, and a historically dead girlfriend to lose. This could be the superhero sleeper hit to keep your eye on…
Matthew Rutland – Firstly, why does every single film trailer now “have” to have the obligatory foghorn from Inception sound in it? Is it the aural symbol for epic now? The score itself sounds like it was ripped straight from Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, so not winning any points so far.
In terms of plot and storyline, it looks like there is too much going on. With the main criticism of Spiderman 3 being that there were too many villains and not enough cohesion and direction, I can see this suffering the same fate. Jamie Foxx looks quite disinterested in the shots chosen, and Emma Stone is better than this. If you compare this with the 2004 Spiderman 2 trailer, you see this is more a brash toy advert that lacks any depth.
As a child Spidey was my favourite superhero followed by Batman, but in terms of recent movies, Affleck will have to fumble the ball in an excruciating way to drop below Garfield in the disappointment stakes.
Les Anderson – I found the first film rather too cartoonish and slavish to empty 3D visual effects and I fear the same for this. Andrew Garfield was an engaging lead, he is a talented actor after all, but he was swamped by excessive visuals and some badly-realised designs – The Lizard for example.
Dane DeHaan is also a striking new talent so there should be no worries on the acting side of things. However I suspect this will suffer the same problems as Raimi’s third film – too many villains, too many gimmicky setpieces and too little real plot.
Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst were miserable and depressing characters. “With great power comes great responsibility.” No, being a superhero should also be fun and the 2012 Spider-Man reboot brought joy back to the character. But even with the fun back I’m indifferent to the films, it’s just that watching the last one was less painful.
Spider-Man needs a true villain. I am tired of watching some unfortunate who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, having an accident or experimenting on themselves in the name of the greater good only to change into a crazy monster with moral issues. Raimi`s Spider-Man suffered from the lack of true evil and Doctor Connors from The Amazing Spider-Man was a great example of that and I’m afraid after watching the trailer it seems The Amazing Spider-Man 2 shares that weakness with its predecessors.
Another problem I have is about the quality of special effects and CGI. Some of the scenes shown in the trailer look just horribly plastic and artificial. I know that probably the studio used the newest and the best technologies to create Spider-Man but I will say “That is enough.” What’s next? 10k resolution, 400 fps? To copy reality digital technology is evolving much faster than my eyes and it reaches a level when I just can`t see any significant improvement in the picture quality except that everything is more plastic and no closer to reality than five years earlier.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is scheduled for release on May 2nd 2014
Follow the link for our full review of The Amazing Spider-Man 2
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