
At ComicCon Wednesday, Sony and Marvel released the first trailer for the upcoming The Amazing Spider-Man movie. Surprisingly, it is actually a full trailer with some vague plot details and showing many of the films characters, and not just a simple show-nothing teaser.
The trailer - in its entirety - is shown below:
Meh. It's an ok trailer. The first-person perspective is fun to watch. But it makes me afraid that the movie-makers might try to milk the 3-D gimmick a bit too much if scenes like that are actually commonplace in the movie. The designers have already compromised Spidey's trademark costume apparently for the sake of 3-D. I really hope other elements of the movie aren't overly-stylized for the purposes of 3-D film-making. 3-D is nice and all, but when it starts influencing the design of things like costumes and action sequences in such a way that it detracts from the realism and narrative integrity of the movie, then it has gone too far.
I definitely did not find this trailer anywhere near as exciting as the masterfully done first teaser for the 2002 Spider-Man movie. When I first saw that trailer while watching Jurassic Park III in theaters in 2001, I teared up like a 1960's school girl at a Beatles concert. I guess having three full-scale Spider-Man movies released in the past ten years diminished the impact of it a little bit compared to the long wait to see the first big-screen adaptation of Spider-Man. In either case, the old 2001 trailer was pretty kick ass, so I'm going to put here just to remind you of how kick ass it was:
There's also been a ton of set photos and even a few plot details and spoilers that have sneaked on to the internet over the past few weeks and months.
The most revealing release was an Entertainment Weekly article that previewed the upcoming movie and provided some more detailed looks at the new costume.
Entertainment Weekly promotional photos
Entertainment Weekly preview photos |
 1-A.) Font of costume from The Amazing Spider-Man movie. |
 1-B.) Backside of costume from the Amazing Spider-Man movie. |
 1-C.) Close-up of Spider-Man's mask and chest. |
 1-D.) Andrew Garfield posing as Spider-Man. |
 1-E.) Peter Parker using his powers while playing basketball. |
 1-F.) Plain-clothes Spidey costume. |
Let's stop for a moment and take a look at these images before going on to more of them.
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1-A through 1-C: The costume has been revealed for a while now, and I've already talked about how I think it looks. In a nutshell, it is overly complicated. Not because I don't think Peter Parker could make it (I've seen enough cosplay costumes to know better). It's because I don't think Peter Parker would make it. Let me go into a little more detail:
In his early years, Peter Parker was very unsure of himself. He was very shy and reserved and easily pushed around. The Spider-Man costume is therefore bright and colorful and expressive because he wants people to notice him when he's Spider-Man. He's loud-mouthed, obnoxious, and flamboyant. So I can understand if this new costume is an attempt to bring out that element of Peter's character. His "inner Spider-Man" trying to let itself out. In that sense, the costume works.
But if that were the case, then the costume really should be brighter. More comic-bookey. This costume is too dark and pale to be some kind of "Hey! Look at me!" statement. The excessive texturing in both the red and blue regions wash out the colors and make the whole thing blend too easily into gray and black. Maybe that helps him to keep in the shadows and remain unseen. But again, that defeats the purpose of having a "loud", colorful costume to begin with. He might as well just have the black leather of the X-Men movies.
More importantly, Peter Parker is not coming from an art or design or drama background. He's coming from a science and technology background. He's a geek. Not an artist. So I would expect the things he designs to be very utilitarian, functional, and - most importantly - practical. If Peter Parker were a millionaire or billionaire like Tony Stark, Bruce Wayne, or Reed Richards, then this suit would make perfect sense. I'm sure it's very flexible, durable, water-resistant, an unrestricting. Which all makes sense. So points in that department for the designers! But it looks like it's going to be a bitch-and-a-half to maintain. How's he supposed to clean and maintain this thing? He can't just take it down to the dry-cleaners or ask Aunt May to patch it up while he's at school. That's going to get expensive, and be very time-consuming considering the material and complexity.
In all fairness though, the Raimi movie suit had the same issue. But I can let that one slide because its design at least stayed the same as the comic book suit.
Also, I'm very confused by the eyes. Are they shiny gold? Are they some kind of mesh thing, and so appear gold because we can see the skin of Peter's face behind them? Are they reflective like in the Raimi movies and are just reflecting browns and oranges from the surroundings? Are they the white mesh pattern that we see in the close-up picture? Or is that just a stunt version, and the eyes are going to be digitally inserted in post-production? Seriously, why do they look gold? Spidey's eyes are WHITE!
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1-D: I'm not sure if this is Garfield or a stunt actor. But whoever he is, he's good at doing Spidey poses! Tobey Maguire may have been a great Peter Parker, but he never looked lanky enough for me. Remember, Spidey's strength doesn't come from rippling muscles. They come from radioactive super-powered muscles. Garfield looks much better in the Spider-Man outfit, even though he is a little on the tall side, and even though the costume itself looks like crap.
Why do the boots appear to have soles? Spider-Man is not supposed to be able to stick through rubber soles. In the comics, he always has to take his shoes off in order to climb walls. Why do the movies keep dropping the ball on this issue? I'm pretty sure the trailer shows scenes of Peter climbing up walls and sticking to the tops of subway cars while still wearing his sneakers. Come on, man.
- 1-E: Im assuming this might be part of the Flash Thompson subplot. But Flash Thompson was supposed to be a football player, not a basketball player. Maybe he did both...
- 1-F: Yep, that's a smart boy. Run around fighting crime in a mask but no gloves. Just get your finger prints all over everything why don't you!
Alright, moving on...
Entertainment Weekly preview photos (cont.) |
 1-G.) Martin Sheen and Sally Field as Uncle Ben and Aunt May. |
 1-H.) Peter Parker abuses skateboards cuz he has the munchies. |
 1-I.) Rhys Ifans as Dr. Curt Conners (the Lizard). |
 1-J.) Denis Leary as Capt. George Stacy. |
 1-K.) Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy cleaning Peter's wounds. |
 1-L.) A close look at the mechanical web shooters. |
Above, are a bunch of photos of supporting cast and props. One thing I have to say in Raimi's credit: he did a really good job of casting in his movies (except for Harry Osborn). So far, I'm not thrilled with this movie's cast.
- 1-G: I don't like Martin Sheen and Sally Field as Uncle Ben and Aunt May. I really liked Rosemary Harris and Cliff Robertson as Aunt May in the Raimi-directed films. They worked great together. Rosemarry Harris really has that sweet-old-lady look about her. Sally Field just looks so unkempt in all these pictures. No offense to Ms. Streep, but she's really drifting more towards the "crazy old witch-lady" or "nagging old prude" look rather than the "sweet-old-lady" look. Well, looks aren't everything. We'll see how it turns out.
- 1-H: Apparently, Peter's new powers are going to give him a serious case of the munchies. But look closely at this picture. What else do you see? A skateboard? Peter Parker is a skater in this movie? He's even got the arm-sleeves cut out around his thumb! Oh, come on! Peter Parker's supposed to be a preppy nerd. Not a skater-goth-punk. Seriously! What the hell?! Is this something that they borrowed from those stupid Ultimate Spider-Man comics? Ugh...
- 1-I: Rhys Ifans is the new Dr. Curt Connors. I was really looking forward to seeing Dylan Baker get a chance to be evil. Whatever. People around the internet seem to be excited about Ifans presence in this movie, so maybe he'll turn out to be a real delight. I'm not sure if the bad guy voiceovers are from Ifans or Irrfan Khan's Nels Van Adder, but if those are his voiceovers, then from the photos and the trailer, he seems kind of sketchy and evil even before he turns into the Lizard.
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I-J: It's looking like Gwen Stacy's father, police Captain George Stacy, is going to have a major role to play in this film. In the comics, George was killed rescuing a civilian from falling debris during a battle between Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus. George secretly knew Spider-Man's true identity in the comics, which probably made things very akward for him. Gwen blamed Spider-Man for his death, and even though she did not know that Peter was Spider-Man, her anger at Spidey and Peter's sense of guilt put a damper on their relationship and almost ended it. In the awesome Spectacular Spider-Man television series that was canceled by Disney when they bought Marvel, George Stacy hints several times that he suspects that Peter is Spider-Man, and actively disuads him from continuing his role as a hero out of fear for how Peter's injury or death might affect Gwen. I'm wondering if we'll see a similar mechanic at work in this movie.
- I-K: This photo is the single scariest of all that I've seen about this movie so far. Scarier than the weird costume. Scarier than Peter Parker skateboarding. Scarier than the lack of J.K. Simmons being recast as J. Jonah Jameson. What is Gwen Stacy doing cleaning up Peter Parker's wounds? Gwen Stacy is supposed to die without knowing that Peter is Spider-Man - or at least, she's supposed to die without telling him that she knows. She probably knows. Everybody who knows Peter probably figures it out eventually. George Stacy, Aunt May, Mary Jane, heck even J.J. probably figures it out. Well, so much for the Gwen Stacy story turning out like it did in the comics...
- I-L: When it was first announced that the Raimi movies would give Spidey organic webbing generated by his body, I kind of liked the idea. But by the end of the second movie, I realized that his mechanic web shooters are much more important than a simple tool. As I stated in my earlier analysis of the costume, the web shooters are a symbol of Peter's geekiness and genius. And not having to supply and maintain them (even during battle) took away lots of opportunities for added drama from the Raimi movies - as well as really detracting from one of the key advantages that the black symbiotic suit offered him. This is a good move by the new writers and designers. Although I would still prefer if they would keep the shooters themselves hidden under Spider-Man's gloves.
Leaked set photos
Now for something a little more interesting: leaked photos from the movie set. These have been getting released on and off for the past few months, and I've collected some of my favorites here to showcase the real stunts being performed by real stunt actors in costume (and maybe some by Garfield, himself).
Leaked set photos |
 2-A.) A high-flying Spider-Man stunt actor twirling through the air. |
 2-B.) A Spider-Man stunt actor swinging under a bridge (I think). |
 2-C.) More swinging under the bridge. |
 2-D.) Daylight crime fighting in the streets. |
 2-E.) Spider-Man apparently disarming a criminal. |
 2-F.) Spider-Man's new "ladder powers". |
This is good to see. I always prefer when modern movies do things the old-fashioned way and use real actors in costumes, real sets, real props, and real models whenever possible.
CGI is a great tool for augmenting a scene as a supplement to real actors, sets, props, and models, but it should never be used to completely replace them. Focusing too heavily on computer graphics can really make your effects stick out from the rest of the movie or create an akward contrast between what is real and what is not. The sterility and blandness - or sometimes, excessive shininess - of a completely CGI environment can sometimes really take away the humanity from a movie. This is expertly explained by the "Harry Plinkett" reviews of the Star Wars prequels and Star Trek: The Next Generation movies at RedLetterMedia.com.
What's even more exciting is that these stunt actors are doing a fantastic job of emulating the movements and positioning of Spider-Man in these shots. If the choreography turns out to be this good in motion, then Spidey fanboys are going to be in for a real treat when this movie is released.
So when will we see the Lizard?
We still haven't gotten a look at the Lizard yet. But hopefully that will be remedied soon. There are, however, two little tid bits of information about the Lizard that I'm aware of.
The first is a leaded set photo supposedly of Rhys Ifans in partial Lizard makeup. He is covered by a mask and coat, so we can't see the details of the makeup or costume. All we can see is a little bit of green scale makeup around his eyes.
Rhys Ifans in (at least) partial Lizard makeup.
I'm going to assume that this photo represents Dr. Connors during a partial stage of the transformation. I really hope that the Lizard will be a full-featured Lizard costume complete with snout and tail, and not just some makeup, yellow slit contact lenses, and some faux fangs.
I'm also hoping that the Lizard costume is actually a costume!
As I said earlier, I always prefer when CGI is used as a supplement to real world, physical models and costumes. They just have more substance on screen. If there is no Lizard costume and there is only some partial transformation makeup and a CGI model, then I will be very disappointed.
Hopefully we'll get a glimpse of the costume soon. Either as an official promotional release from Sony/Columbia/Marvel, or as a leaked set photo. Otherwise, I might have to start fearing that the reason we aren't seeing a Lizard costume ... is because there isn't one...
Possible spoiler ahead!...
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According to an article I read at http://bigfanboy.com/wp/?p=6423, there may be more than one Lizard monster in this movie. Somebody involved in the production of the movie supposedly squealed to a friend that there is a scene in which Spider-Man must fight a group of S.W.A.T. members who are turned into Lizard creatures.
According to the source, many of the movie's stunt actors had to spend hours on end having makeup applied for use in a fight scene between Spider-Man and these supposed mutated S.W.A.T. guys.
This is exciting for three reasons:
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Spider-Man having to fight multiple Lizard creatures will just be plain cool!
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If this source is to be believed, then it appears that actual makeup and costumes are being used for the monsters in this movie. Although nothing was said about the main villain Lizard, the fact that stunt men are doing live stunts in reptilian costumes is a promising sign that the Lizard will not just be a CGI model.
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We don't know why these S.W.A.T. guys are turning into lizards, but it is highly likely that it is all part of some evil plot by the Lizard. He does have a fondness for either releasing his fellow reptiles for zoos or attempting to turn other people into lizard monsters too (you know, for their own good). It's also possible that transformations into the Lizard could be the result of meddling by Nels Van Adder. In either case, this could mean that the movie will pit Spider-Man's intellectual muscles against a villain rather than just his physical ones, and we could see Spidey having to use his talents in science to overcome this conflict - which is something that was sadly absent from the Raimi movies.
However, it's also possible that the transformation of the S.W.A.T. team could be an accident. It could be the case that Connors develops the lizard serum as a public works project to help heal amputated limbs of soldiers and law enforcement officers. He could test it on himself, regrow his own arm, declare it a success, and pass it onto the police department before the transformation takes effect. Dr. Connors could give his lizard serum to them promising that it will heal wounds they may have sustained in the line of duty, without knowing of it's consequences yet. While that doesn't necessarily negate Spidey having to use science to revert the changes, it does mean that he will not have to match intellectual wits with the villain. Which would be a shame.