The Amazing Spider-Man teaser trailer that was released recently had, it seems, a lukewarm response from fans. Many thought it was too soon, and lots did not like the first-person styling. However having seen the extended footage at Moviefest, I have no doubts that this is definitely one to watch. NAYSAYERS, retract all naysaying as it is not warranted here! Here’s what we saw:
* We first saw Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) in school, suffering at the hands of jock-bully Flash Thompson (Chris Zylka) – Garfield is an awful lot more convincing as a teenager than Tobey Maguire was, and he really conveys the gangly, geeky aspects of Parker well. This was cut in with scenes of him fighting back in school and properly whooping Thompson’s ass – presumably post-Spiderbite. Again, convincing, and clearly the Spiderbite doesn’t turn him into an all-confident all powerful MAN overnight. A good thing.
* More school scenes, this time with Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) brought in after Peter’s altercations with Flash. Sheen brings class to whatever he does, but really shone here. He speaks to Peter about the use of violence to get even (“did you humiliate him?” “do you feel better?”) and clearly has great influence over Peter, who instantly feels obvious regret. Then Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) appears, prompting Uncle Ben to introduce himself as Peter’s probation officer. Peter then tells Gwen that Ben “is a pathalogical liar….thought you were Gwen Stefani” – it’s a great scene and very funny. Gwen and Peter have an extremely awkward moment as she waits for him to ask her out, which he does….eventually. Even here we see some great chemistry between the two.
*Lots of intercut footage of Spiderman in the suit, jumping around buildings and the like, and we see him hard at work developing his web-slingers. Not sure how they work exactly, but his scientific prowess is really emphasised. We saw another funny scene with Spiderman teasing a petty criminal before attacking him with his web. The suit looks great, definitely more ‘homemade’ than before which suits the setting.
*We saw Gwen Stacy’s dad, policeman George, talk about his hatred for Spiderman and intent to stop him. This was intercut with some quick scenes of Spiderman swinging under bridges etc, and again looks more realistic, and less expansive, than the Raimi films. No huge shots of flying over skyscrapers just yet. From the scenes shown, it’s clear that Spiderman gets in a LOT of trouble with the law. We see Peter at dinner with the Stacy’s trying to justify Parker’s actions, meekly.
* In one clip, Gwen asks Peter “do you have your suit?” She means tuxedo….
* Saw a brief scene with Peter, bruised and battered, telling Aunt May (Sally Field) she should go to sleep when he’s out at night. To which the clearly upset May responds, “I CAN’T sleep.”
* We were then shown the original teaser in 3D – trust me, it looks great. The 3D work is sublime.
* Then, the BIG reveal, a collection of scenes about the LIZARD , Dr. Kurt Connors (Rhys Ifans). We see him address a class and talk about his interest in the science of reptiles – Peter is the only one who understands what he’s talking about. In the footage, Ifans still had the greenscreen arm. He tells the class of his ambitions with the reptile research, and how he doesn’t believe he should remain as he is (without an arm). Then comes the good stuff, as we see shots of him experimenting on himself. Ifans isn’t playing this tongue-in-cheek, nor does he appear initially evil at all. Instead, just a dedicated, passionate scientist.
Post-experimenting, we see shots of his arm re-grow – the cgi is very slick here, even if it’s unfinished. This is followed by shots of the arm expand, turning visibly repitilan and muscly. There’s a glimpse at a great scene showing Connors in a sewer with his new arm, clearly becoming overcome by the serum and raising his arm to the air – he screams “I’M BEAUTIFUL AREN’T I!”.
Cut to two girls gossiping in a bathroom, when the floor gives way and the Lizard, fully formed, jumps out at them. He’s not what I expected, a giant he-manesque scaly figure with a blunt, round head and gigantic mouth. He leans into the girls and stares them down, displaying his massive tongue and growling. He’s dark green, and properly menacing. It then cut to black, but then the Lizard jumped right at the screen in full 3D, growling at us – superb. The 3D was brilliant and the Lizard looks, already, like a convincing and scary villain. Expect him to have a proper character arc too – in one scene we saw Peter scream off screen “DR. CONNORS, THIS ISN’T YOU!”
* Overall, I was pretty blown away by what I saw. Not just because we saw loads of stuff, but because it looked so different and fresh, a real surprise. All of the cast look to be bringing their A-Game, and if this is what the Lizard looks like a year in advance, I can’t imagine how good it’ll all look in July 2012.
