The Obsessive Viewer

Release Date: May 2, 2014

Director: Marc Webb

Written By: Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Jeff Pinker (Screenplay) and James Vanderbilt (story)

As promised, today the Obsessive Viewer gives you a special Thursday edition of Trailer Tuesday: The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

So…spoiler alert…I guess.

This morning Sony dropped the first full length trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man 2. The first viewing of the trailer left me speechless. The second time I watched it, I realized I had no words because Sony did all the talking for me. The ASM2 trailer is, without a doubt, the most spoiler-ific movie preview I have ever seen in all of my obsessive viewings. I’m dumbfounded by the number of surprises and Easter eggs that were going to be revealed in the movie, but were clearly showcased in the trailer. I have to imagine that Sony and Marc Webb have a few other tricks up their sleeve, but at this point I can’t picture more than we already got.

I will refrain here from making too many bold predictions about the film, but as I break it down, I’ll make a few guesses. Let’s deconstruct, shall we?

• The trailer opens the same as the short overseas trailers we’ve seen before. A black screen reveals the spider logo, which we quickly see is Spider-Man’s back, and he is falling a great distance. I really love this opening. If Marc Webb improved upon Sam Raimi’s trilogy in any way, it’s the way he depicts the physics of being Spider-Man. The wind ripples in Spidey’s costume are a brilliant touch.
• Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker then goes into some familiar comic book dialogue about saving people and enemies. There’s another cool action shot of Spidey catching a cop car.
• At the 00:18 mark we see a glimpse of the movie’s villain Elec- wait…Rhino? Well, we knew Paul Giamatti was in the movie from the set photos, but Webb had said before that Electro was the main villain, right?
• So at the 00:19 mark we finally get to see Elec- WTF!? Who’s the scary looking green guy in the suit?
• Spidey swings toward Oscorp. No surprise there.

Late last week a picture of the treyarch poster for ASM2 hit the interweb. Three villains are clearly visible, which came as a surprise to everyone. Electro was already announced for the movie, and the early teasers for him looked fantastic! Clearly, villain cameos would have been a welcome surprise, but from the looks of the trailer released today, Green Goblin (or whatever they call him this time around) and Rhino play just as big a part as Electro. They certainly share the same amount of screen time. That’s unsettling. Let’s name all of the comic book movies with more than two villains that people liked…

Go ahead…

I’ll wait…

Nothing? Yeah me neither. Most people hated Spider-Man 3. If packing ASM2 with villains is a reaction to the underwhelming response to Webb’s first Webs outing, I’d say he’s misguided. Amazing Spider-Man didn’t develop one villain well enough; three seems daunting. Of course I hope I’m wrong, and if I ignore that fear, the rest of the trailer looks awesome.

Let’s continue:

• Jamie Foxx’s Electro clenches his fists and sends a few cop cars flying.
• Emma Stone looks fantastic as ever, and the dialogue between her Gwen Stacy and Peter is still spot-on. I look forward to more of that.*
• Dane DeHaan as Harry Osborn tells us (and Peter) that Oscorp has been watching Peter for a while. “That’s the question of the day,” Harry says with a smirk when Peter and we ask why. This seems to be the main plot of the movie. Beneath the a-plot origin story of the first movie was a conspiracy movie about Peter’s father and his involvement with Oscorp. We knew that this would be a thread in all of the ASM movies to come, but it’s surprising to see it come front and center so quickly, because, ya know, they got Electro! What’s left for Amazing 3?
• If you enjoy Easter eggs at all, I would highly suggest closing your eyes from 1:13 to 1:16.
• Keep watching for conspiracy-sciency stuff.
• Goblin Glider shot followed by a Harry Osborn shot. Coincidence?
• Chris Cooper as Norman Osborn doesn’t look so hot.
• The clearest shot of Green Goblin comes at the 1:50 mark. No helmet this time around, but also no mask.
• The last forty seconds are so are spent on Electro and action scenes featuring him, Spider-Man or both. The action looks great. Particularly at the end as Spidey swings through what looks to be spires or electrical columns while Electro pursues him with blast of electricity. These shots are very cool indeed, and display again Webb’s knack for really understanding the Spider-Man physics.

That about does it. As a spectacular bit of eye candy, the trailer looks delicious. Garfeild and Stone will probably be fantastic yet again, and the action will again be an improvement over Raimi’s trilogy. We weren’t worried about that, though. In a three-villain movie, I’m particularly worried about the character development. Here’s hoping Webb can spin a complicated yarn.

*Emma Stone/Gwen Stacy’s fate is probably the only surprise left in the movie. Even casual fans know that Green Goblin is responsible for her death in the comics, but the question is whether or not Webb will go that route. Set photos have shown Stone/Stacy wearing a similar outfit to the one her comic counterpart wore when she died.

So what are your thoughts on the new trailer? I’m sure you haven’t heard the last from me, so let me know your reactions and theories in the replies!