Today's News: Spidey slinging into more action on novel poster threesome

Here's some more MS news for ya:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/152901/nieuwe_posters_voor_the_amazing_spider-man_2

The marketing campaign for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 continues to throw more goodies our way in rapid pace, even though the release of the film is still a good three point five months away. I must say, I both love and hate this particular set of posters. I like the dynamic pose of the protagonists on these, rather reminiscent of actual comic book cover art, especially the one showing Spidey in typical web slinging fashion (top). They're bound to get more enthusiastic attention than the rather dull posters of Sam Raimi's trilogy of movies, which in typical Hollywood fashion showed just a bunch of heads, or at best, a full shot of Spider-Man in a fairly energetic posture. The poster that shows an extreme close-up of Spider-Man's mask with a reflection of an angry Electro in his eye (bottom) certainly can be taken as a nod to some of the posters of the predecessors, where you would have the identity of the movie's main antagonist revealed in a similar fashion, except much smaller.

However, I'm bugged by the laziness of these posters, applying the same elements in slightly different order and size. Whereas there's a respectable diversity in the way the titular character is displayed, you'll notice Electro assumes an identical pose on all three one-sheets, as the exact same piece of imagery is used. A similar thing is happening with the video boards on all three posters, showing the same characters in precisely the same shots. It's like some member of the promotional team just had him/herself a ball photoshopping these posters by rearranging the way said elements are portrayed, the only piece showing any originality being our friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man himself. Given there's still three months of marketing to be done, you wonder whether releasing a single new poster of Spidey versus Electro would not have sufficed for now, so more money and attention could be spend on following posters showing Rhino and Green Goblin too (even though there's a hint at the Goblin present here, poor Rhino is totally neglected on these posters!). Assuming such posters won't be released later on, which remains to be seen as this film's promotional campaign seems to go all-out. Even though the blatant similarities on these posters are kinda disappointing for movie/comic nerds nitpicking at home on their computers for lack of existential purpose, it probably won't matter where theater marketing is concerned. I doubt many theaters, save for the really big ones, will get all three of these anyhow, considering there's been a few TAS-M2 (much shorter!) posters released already - though at my theater we didn't receive any yet - and I doubt these will be the last of them. Besides, it's only posters: it's the actual movie that counts. I'm certainly looking forward to it, though I'm kinda hesitant about the presence of three baddies (plus hints to various others) all in a single film. Didn't work out so well the last time...

Today's News: more Spidey pics, and a trailer soon slinging our way

Look what I found online to post on MS:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/152139/nieuwe_fotos_amazing_spider-man_2_online

These pictures are getting increasingly oriented, as was to be expected. The shooting process is now over and done with (excluding eventual pick-ups), so the first finished (or nearly so) effects pop up in the promotional material as evidenced here. We now know who the new villains are and which actors will be playing them - in case you simply can't care less and/or missed this bit of news, it's Electro (Jamie Foxx), Rhino (Paul Giamatti) and the Green Goblin (either Chris Cooper or Dane DeHaan) - so now we are dying to see what they can do to the poor webhead. These few pictures are just the tip of the iceberg as the marketing machine slowly but surely starts to crank out more and more intriguing stuff with the intent to drag us along in the typical Hollywood hype surrounding this type of excessively expensive (but often equally lucrative) blockbuster flick. Pictures are one thing, but what the audience wants is trailers. And they're getting one pretty soon, as we've been teased with little snippets of it for a week now. These days, simply releasing teasers and trailers for a big budget film like this is apparently not enough, you have to release teasers for the trailers themselves too. It feels like commercial overkill, as it's likely the trailer will be seen by most people who would visit the film itself in theaters sometime along the next five months anyway, but the marketing execs take no chances, spending even more top dollar bombastically announcing the upcoming trailer event which like the film itself should not be missed by anyone since it's gonna be oh so special; a thing the studio system tries to convince us of in the case of pretty much all summer blockbusters, with most of them failing to live up to such hype. Of course, with such a thorough marketing campaign, the more money is lost if the movie flops (e.g., John Carter). Not that the movie will flop, considering the Marvel logo alone is enough to draw record breaking attendance levels in these days.

Oh well, the trailer is up tomorrow, folks! Be sure to plan your life accordingly so as not to miss this must-see online spectacle! Or simply wait till you see it in theaters somewhere before the end of April next year. Or ignore it altogether and go into the movie without knowing what's gonna happen, as people used to do in the old days. Now the ability to be surprised about a blockbuster's content, that was truly amazing!

Today's News: Spidey slings into action two more times

Here's a bit of news of mine that the guys at MovieScene posted two days too late, oddly enough:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/148014/nog_twee_amazing_spider-man_sequels_in_de_planning

There's a word for this type of thing: overkill. And in Sony's case, there's also the element of 'not learning from past mistakes' involved. After all, the same studio kicked production of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 4 into gear before Spider-Man 3 had started to break box office records: in fact it had barely arrived in theaters at all. The negative backlash for that film, coupled with the age old 'creative differences' - i.e., a big falling out - between studio and director caused that project to backfire, making the studio lose a fair bit of money, not to mention the webhead's fanbase's respect. Yet here we are again: Amazing Spidey 2 hasn't even finished production yet, but Sony smells money. Lots of it apparently, giving the huge step they are taking with announcing no less than two (!) additional sequels. They're trying to make it look like they're thinking long term here, but compared to their rival Marvel Studios they only seem to be showing the exact opposite, namely a lack of careful planning.

Marvel is breaking new ground with establishing an extensive Marvel Cinematic Universe, comprehensive for new or casual viewers yet increasingly appealing for (comic book) fans, in giving us films we can both enjoy on their own and in a broader context. They do so in phases, breaking down the establishment of this universe in smaller units of four or five separate films while working up to a big film (currently The Avengers 2) each time. And so a vast universe grows on the big screen, without becoming overly convoluted but instead accessible for all, even to those who haven't seen any or all of the other Marvel films. Sony however has a hard time properly handling a single character (though it must be said, since Spider-Man is undoubtedly the most popular and well known of the Marvel superheroes, the stakes are high, and so are the expectations the audience carries). It started out successfully under Raimi's care until he went overboard with Spider-Man 3, adding to many characters and plot lines to a single movie, which ended feeling disappointing in most of them. The box office certainly wasn't hurt because of that fact though, as the third movie ended up the highest grossing in the franchise. However, critics and fans responded mostly negatively to the film. Had Sony waited patiently for the general reception of the film they might not have rushed pre-production of Spider-Man 4. Instead, they did, to dire consequences for the project and Raimi's involvement with the franchise.

A movie scrapped, a director leaving the studio, the stars refusing to participate without Raimi; it's not illogical the studio opted for a reboot to start fresh, even though that wasn't what the fans wanted. And so we got The Amazing Spider-Man within a decade after the premiere of its counterpart in the first Spidey trilogy. It too left a lot to be desired, but once again proved a box office smash. So there's a definite precedence for the sequel currently in production, but there's seems to be little for two more sequels. Or is there? Maybe Sony has actually taken a hint from Marvel's approach to its movies and the studio has developed a long term plan, but so far there's nothing to suggest that (and there probably won't be until TAS-M2 hits theaters). It just feels Sony is making the same mistakes all over again, except doubly so this time (though it's likely prepping part 4 will be on hold until part 3 is well underway). So far, the statement Sony clearly makes with regards to "its" Spider-Man is that the studio won't let go of the rights to the character. Ever. It's no surprise, considering Spidey's webshooters might as well shoot money for the studio execs, but for the legions of fans who were hoping Marvel and Sony would come to see eye to eye and join forces to incorporate Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe - and to see him become an Avenger in his own right - the news of Sony's pair of sequels will come as a disappointment. Spider-Man will just have to continue going his own way in his own universe, without counting on back-up from his fellow superheroes when super villains are roughing him up. And us, the audience, just has to hope Sony won't fall into its own pitfalls again, since there's no web to catch them if they do. There's only the option of rebooting the franchise yet again, something nobody wants at this point (let alone five years in the future). Or maybe Sony ought to make it easy on itself and sell the Spidey rights back to Marvel after all...

Uncle Ben dies again

The Amazing Spider-Man: ***/*****, or 7/10

One of the most respectable and thoughtful things about this year's biggest Marvel movie, The Avengers, is the way it was set up in the first place, introducing the various superheroes individually before assembling the team itself, thus establishing a shared, epic cinematic Marvel universe very close in feel to the comic books it is based on, yet not so convoluted as to alienate audiences unfamiliar with the wondrous world of Marvel Comics. It was a huge gamble, but fortunately for the studios involved and for the many fans of the characters and their films, it payed off big time, smashing many box office records, thus paving the way for a 'Phase 2', another large scale five year plan, not only adding sequels to the Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and Avengers films, but also kickstarting more Marvel projects to tie in with this brave new world on film, including Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man and Nick Fury movies. Such foresight and careful planning unfortunately can't be detected in the Sony Pictures' franchise of that other much beloved Marvel character, Spider-Man, who after an initial hugely successful trilogy of movies ingratiously was denied a third sequel because of creative differences between the studio and the top people involved, making the former take the much dreaded 'reboot road' instead, restarting the movie franchise all over again only a decade after it first originated. It's a kick in the groin, not only for the webslinger himself, but also for his legions of fans and even regular audiences across the globe, who now get treated to another take on a character who's origin story is no secret to anybody.

Of course a different approach had to be taken to avoid the new flick, now titled The Amazing Spider-Man (and so at least respecting Spider-Man's first own comic book series of the same name), feeling too much of a déjà vu compared to what we've seen before. Warning! Spoilers! Undoubtedly inspired by the success of the recent rebooting of the Batman franchise, the studio opted for a darker beginning for the otherwise merry and witty superhero, heavily involving the absence of his biological parents – something Raimi's trilogy largely ignored – who left their little son Peter Parker (now played by Andrew Garfield) to be raised by his Aunt May (Sally Field) and Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) and were supposedly killed in a plane crash shortly after their departure. Drawing inspiration from the Ultimate Spider-Man line of comic books, Peter's parents were involved in shady genetic experiments involving the crossbreeding of humans with animal species, which is of course what the origin of Spider-Man is all about. Unfortunately the subplot concerning Peter's mommy and daddy is largely left unresolved the moment Peter's investigation into his past leads him to his father's close colleague Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans), a one-armed scientist working for the sinister Oscorp Company, further attempting to crossbreed species, in his case humans and lizards, in an admittedly somewhat silly, comic-y attempt to regrow his lost limb, with dire consequences.

However, under the direction of Marc Webb (I'll refrain from using 'nomen est omen' remarks here, since that has been done to death already), whose director's credit of importance prior to this gig only included the acclaimed romantic comedy (500) Days of Summer, it's not all creepy experiments and traumatic childhood incidents that form the prime ingredients of Peter Parker becoming Spider-Man. Clearly establishing Peter, performed by Andrew Garfield of The Social Network fame, to be a typical high school kid, Webb also finds time for lighter scenes developing the romance between him and Gwen Stacy (the beautiful and talented Emma Stone). Peter's previous movie girlfriend Mary Jane Watson is left out altogether in favor of having him hook up with his original lady love from the comics, even though this might confuse audiences since Gwen was already featured in Raimi's Spider-Man 3 (then played by Bryce Dallas Howard). Stone plays off wonderfully against Garfield's Peter Parker: unlike ex-Peter Tobey Maguire, he seems more appropriately aged to convincingly pull off a high school teenager, and he does a better job at playing both Peter and Spidey, carefully balancing between being too much of a nerd and too cool a superhero to believably be a nerd in real life. However, unlike Stone, Garfield is found guilty of overacting in his display of various ticks and goofy mannerisms when first feeling spider powers within: but playing a regular human being, Stone just has it easier, while the task of carrying the picture falls on Garfield's shoulders, which he does it adequately enough. The lighthearted scenes of teen angst and young love between the pair form a stark contrast with the gritty look into Peter's family issues, but they are a necessary part of recreating the Spider-Man persona, since the webslinger was always a lighter, easy going and cheerful superhero to begin with. In fact, it's clear Webb has more experience with romance and teen drama than he does with superheroism, considering the scenes between Garfield and Stone on many occasion feel more compelling than the action stuff, which of course is also a major must-have for any superhero movie. Plus, the smart and ambitious blonde Gwen is a welcome reprieve from the naive, childhood traumatized redhead Mary Jane from the previous films: unlike the latter Gwen does not find herself in grave danger at the hands of nasty supervillains at least twice per film, at which point her only solution seems to scream for her hero to come and rescue her very loudly. Apparently there was still some room for improvement left in Raimi's otherwise superior tackling of the franchise, which Webb eagerly accepts by making Gwen an independent young woman who's at least as smart as her boyfriend and shows much more tact and discretion when the going gets tough.

And tough it gets for poor Peter Parker. First, he has to contend with the bite of a genetically enhanced spider, which is what you get for sneaking into a lab which is clearly marked off-limits due to biohazards. The result is Peter not only gets superhuman strength and reflexes and the ability to walk on walls (even when wearing shoes), he also gets a lot grumpier, to the point of treating his loving Aunt and Uncle in a very ungrateful manner (the many occasions where he immediately plunders the fridge when coming home, all the while ignoring their sound advice, are a good example of his douchery), as well as breaking an excessive amount of stuff both at home and in school. Obviously, this leads to the obligatory life lesson that with great power must come great responsibility, a value the audience already had learned in obnoxious preachy detail in Raimi's films, but is also too important an element in Spider-Man's origin to be ignored. And so, Uncle Ben bites the dust again, shot dead by a thief, and Peter knows he shouldn't be an ass and help people with his new found abilities instead of acting like a dick. Only took an hour of the film to set this up, thus making half the film a redundancy for retelling things that didn't need retold, except for the mounting sexual tension between Gwen and Peter. Fortunately, from here on out Webb gets the opportunity to develop the story more as he sees fit, now that the back story is firmly on people's minds again (though it can only be called arrogant on the studio's part to think it never was in the first place). However, there's still plenty of unresolved things left, so we can only assume the truth about Peter's parents is left for the unavoidable sequel. Considering the dull way it was handled here, that's not something to look forward to too much.

After Uncle Ben has died, Peter looks for the criminal who did it, acting like a vigilante and beating up people who were not at all involved, though many of them were caught in the act of unlawful behavior anyway. This gets him on the radar of police captain Stacy (Denis Leary), Gwen's father, who feels nobody but law enforcement should clean up society's sinister side. This ideological conflict between Peter and Stacy is one of the movie's strongest additions to the overall Spider-Man film franchise, though in itself it's not entirely new, considering a similar difference of opinion was witnessed in the previous trilogy between Peter and newspaper edition J. Jonah Jameson (a beloved normal human character from the comic books who was present throughout Raimi's films, but sadly remains completely absent in The Amazing Spider-Man), but is handled on a more serious note here instead of ending in skits of comic relief as it did before. It also adds fascinating but underused conflicts of interests for Gwen, who has to choose between her loyalty to her father and her love for her boyfriend. However, Spider-Man's main problem in this film lies not in the police issuing a warrant for his arrest, but in a scientist losing his objective thinking because of his obsession for personal enhancement on a genetic scale.

Like Gwen Stacy, Curt Connors was already introduced in the previous Spider-Man films, but was never put to full use. Originally, Raimi had planned a fourth Spider-Man film which would see him evolve into the bad guy Lizard. Ironically, Raimi left, but Lizard stayed and is now the first supervillain Webb's new Spider-Man faces. As an introductory nemesis, Lizard may not have been the best choice, especially considering the rather ridiculous diabolical ploy of his to release a bioweapon that would turn the population of New York City into lizard people like himself (and what is the silly deal with him attracting all those little lizards in the sewers? I'll have you know under normal circumstances lizards would just die in such an environment. Shenanigans!). However, in relation to the subplot taken from Ultimate Spider-Man concerning Peter's father dabbling in biogenetics and the personal connection between Peter and himself this implies, he's the logical choice, considering the other available Spidey foes, Norman Osborn/Green Goblin and Otto Octavius/Dr. Octopus, have already been used in Raimi's films (though one of them does get his fair share of references and possible sequel set-ups in this film). Rhys Ifans portrays the “mad scientist” affectionately as a sympathetic but obsessed man who too desperately means to improve his body, which affects his mind as he finds his judgment impaired when his solution transforms him into a huge lizard man. Oddly enough, unlike the Lizard of the comics, he seems to fully retain his mental faculties instead of becoming more beast than man, which makes it all the harder to accept his final weird wicked scheme. However, the creature he ends up becoming does make for a decent amount of action scenes, including a rampage on a bridge, a high school confrontation between him and Spider-Man and an impressive though overly digital final battle on top of a skyscraper when he fights both Spidey and Captain Stacy. However, Webb ultimately disappoints where action is concerned, considering there's not nearly as much fight sequences as one would expect from a superhero movie, mostly because of the excessive focus on retelling Spidey's origin story and dragging his parents into the mix. At least the action that is present feels dynamic enough, but we would have wished for more. Better luck next time.

And there will unmistakably be a next time, considering the amount of unresolved plot lines and the extra scene after the main end credits which sets up the next movie's bad guy very similarly to the way The Avengers did, except the precise identity of this villain still remains somewhat of a mystery (quite frustrating if you're a long time avid comic book fan like me). However, it's clear this new Spider-Man franchise, like its predecessor but unlike the superior Avengers franchise, doesn't look much further into its own future than a few years down the road, a tactic that, if not changed soon, will undoubtedly lead to yet another unnecessary reboot in the next decade. Unlike the many superheroes that form the Avengers, Spider-Man still stands alone, so if it's amazement you're after in your marvels, this is not where you should look for it.

And watch the trailer here:

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/theamazingspiderman/

The Amazing Spider-Man trailer impressions

Latest trailer for the arachnid epic spins a web of questions: will it be Amazing, or just Spider-Man?

Now that the first official trailer (not to be confused with last year's lenghty teaser, which was based more on characters and showed little actual Spidey), is out, I find my common sense tingling as to whether this premature reboot will deliver an equally carefully weighed balance of characters and FX, as well as humour and drama, as Sam Raimi's first film did ten years ago. After all, it's only been five years since Spider-Man 3 and people undoubtedly will still link this movie to the ones that came before, even if they're aware Amazing Spider-Man will restart the franchise. Judging from the trailer footage, some elements from the previous film(s) have been retained, either to help guide the audience back into this side of the Marvel Universe, or to confuse viewers with leftovers from the previous trilogy mixed with a retelling of how Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) became Spider-Man.

So what glimpses did the trailer offer? With regard to familiar characters and situations we have been introduced to in Raimi's Spider-films we will be refamiliarized with:

-Curt Connors: the one-armed college teacher and scientist was first introduced in Spider-Man 2, played by Dylan Baker. In both the second and third film, he served as a sort of science mentor to Peter Parker, helping him to remember that with great power (i.e. Peter's scientific mental capacities) also comes the responsibility not to be lazy. He also provided vital plot information when he got the dubious honour of serving a purely expositionary role explaining away the symbiote and its need to bond with a host to feed off his negative emotions when Peter donned the black suit in the third film. It's obvious his appearances in both films helped pave the way to the rise of Spidey's reptilian nemesis Lizard. The fans have been expecting the poor doctor to transfrom into his green alter-ego for a while now, and it finally happens in this film, so the patience has payed off (if you like Lizard of course). However, this is not the Curt Connors we know: played by Rhys Ifans this time, it's a reimagining of the same character, which means his relationship with Peter will also have to be reimagined, this time via Peter's father Richard instead of just college. In fact, when this movie will establish Spider-Man's origins all over again while retconning the previous films completely, that means Lizard will be Spidey's first super-powered antagonist. I'm not sure Lizard is compelling enough as an introductory bad guy. At least he has the personal connection with Peter to create more emotional impact for his character, but will he be as much of a believable threat as Spider-Man's quintessential arch enemies Dr. Octopus or Green Goblin were in Raimi's films? We'll have to wait and see...

(By the way, like any other Spidey fanboy I can whine about Lizard's look in the film and say this isn't the Lizard I grew up with (which it isn't), but I'm not gonna do that. There's only so many ways you can portray a human/lizard hybrid on the big screen and have him seem realistic and expressive enough to make you feel anything for him. Let's see him in action first before shouting yay or nay.)

-Oscorp Industries: speaking of the Green Goblin, the trailer clearly establishes Oscorp to be present in more than just a cameo role. Connors has a job there, but does this mean one of the Osborns makes an appearance in this film? That would most likely alienate audiences who feel this movie builds on what came before (as Lizard seems to do here). After all, both founder Norman Osborn (the first Green Goblin) and his son Harry Osborn (the second Green Goblin), who also happened to be Peter's best friend, met their demise in Raimi's trilogy. So who's running Oscorp in this film? Either Norman Osborn will be re-introduced, and possibly be set up as a potential main villain for the next Spider-Man film, or the matter will be ignored entirely and the name Oscorp will serve largely as a sort of bonus to the fans without being addressed as a major plot point other than being Connors' employer, as well as Richard Parker's (more on this below). As for who has Peter's back at school when he gets bullied, it won't be Harry. It seems unlikely Norman, or even Harry, in a similar fashion to Connors, would follow up on traits established in the previous films, thus suddenly being alive again, which would be the main reason the writers decided to leave both of them out. Incidentally, we may not find out much about the Osborns' role at Oscorp, since it seems Spider-Man and Lizard do a good job destroying its headquarters while duking it out together there in what will undoubtedly bt the epic conclusion of this film.

-The Stacy family: but let's shy away from the bad guys for a while and focus more on Peter Parker's personal life. Mary Jane is nowhere to be seen. Gwen Stacy has replaced her as Peter's love interest. This too points to the fact this movie will be a complete and utter reboot of the franchise, since MJ and Peter were still very much in love last time we saw them despite all the issues between them in the third film (and boy, were there many!). Gwen already appeared in the third film (played by Bryce Dallas Howard), but only as a date for Peter to annoy MJ with. This time around, Gwen (played by Emma Stone) is the Original Spidey Girlfriend, as ironically she was in the comics, a looooong time ago (she got viciously killed off by the Green Goblin in 1973). This means the relationship between Peter and Gwen will also be re-established.The big question then is: will Gwen be aware of Peter's dual life as Spider-Man, and how will she find out? Judging from the trailer, she knows, given the shots of Peter and Gwen discussing Lizard and Peter's involvement in his existence. At least Gwen is more intelligent than Mary Jane, considering it took her only half a movie to find out about Peter's secret identity, wheras MJ only found out at the end of the second film. Gwen may not be as blond as she seems...

Also revamped will be the relationship between Peter and Gwen's father, police captain George Stacy. It seems the movie will focus a lot on this duo's dynamics; George (played by Denis Leary) feeling Spider-Man is a masked vigilante taking matters into his own hands instead of letting the cops do their jobs, which doesn't sit well with him and eventually makes him issue an arrest warrant for our poor friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man. This is a darker take on Mr. Stacey than we're used to: in the original comics he seemed more of a dear old man, who might not have agreed with Spider-Man, but he didn't openly oppose him in this brutal a fashion. Stacy also appeared in the previous film (played by Zefram Cochrane James Cromwell), where he undoubtedly had less problems with Spidey's approach after he saved his daughter's life. This new version of Stacy as a younger, tougher man seems more in line with the Ultimate Spider-Man comics, in which he was murdered by an impostor wearing a Spider-Man costume, which led Gwen to hate Spider-Man. Could it be the new movie takes this route and sees Captain Stacy killed and Spidey somehow being implicated, leading to tension between Peter and his girl Gwen? Or will Spidey save Gwen's life once more, making Captain Stacy his fan? Or could it even be that Gwen actually dies as she did before, with Peter being unable to save her and Stacy declaring war on him? And what role will Lizard play in all this? Interesting line of questions, and proof that the writers most likely did well shying away from the Mary Jane routine.

-The Parkers: it's obvious that this movie will be a total reboot, which is why it will also see the family dynamics of the Parker family retold. Both the teaser and the trailer have made it very clear that this will involve the fate of Peter's parents. Raimi never felt the need to get them involved in his origin story, and he just ignored them: Peter lived with his aunt and uncle, his parents are gone/dead/whatever, and that's that. So far so good. But not this film, which will tell us more about his parents, though it will deviate completely from the 'secret agent' history in the comics: orginally Richard and Mary were agents involved with SHIELD who were lost on a mission against the Marvel super villain the Red Skull, but that's definitely not gonna happen. After all, the copyright involving both SHIELD and the Red Skull is not in the hands of Sony Pictures who own the Spider-Man movie rights at present. Both names have already been heavily featurd in other recent Marvel movies, and will be again for sure (need I say Avengers here?).

Judging from the trailer, it's likely the movie will turn towards the Ultimate Marvel Universe some more and will feature Peter's parents, or at least his father Richard, as scientists working on sleazy genetic experiments under the employ of Oscorp. What this will mean for Peter and Spidey's origins remains to be seen, but it's possible his father messed with his genes in this movie as well, and Connors could be involved. The trailer establishes Richard and Connors being colleagues, which would also help to set up a personal relationship between Peter and Connors that is completely different from the one in the previous films. Plus, it could mean Richard was partially responsible for the creation of Lizard. The trailer clearly states that Peter himself definitely will be somehow, considering the shots in the trailer of Peter and Connors talking physics together, indicating Peter will provide Connors with the formula that will turn him into that big ol' reptile creature, thus once again making Spidey feel bad and having his excessively strong sense of responsibility leading him on a quest to set things right again before people start dying, given the line 'I gotta stop him because I created him'. As for who's responsible for Spider-Man's existence, it seems Connors knows something: ''If you want the truth, Peter, come and get it', he says in the trailer. What exactly the truth is, we won't know for sure until the movie hits theatres, but judging from the teaser, there at least is a genuine spider involved.

Besides his parents, Peter's aunt and uncle are naturally back, and it seems their role as Peter's moral compass hasn't changed much, though it hasn't yet been established how Uncle Ben will die, which he will of course, since this is basically the event that defined Peter's role as Spider-Man. If Ben lives, 'shenanigans' says I.

So there you have it: a lof of old stuff in a new form, and this is just from the trailer! It seems the director has his job cut out for him making a comprehensive feature film out of a character mess like this without turning people off about what they think they know about who Spider-Man is supposed to be. If we go solely with a 'nomen est omen' attitude, Marc Webb will surely create an action-packed blockbuster funfest of a movie worthy to compete with the celebrated “original trilogy” (though the third movie sadly did little to merit such a description). This first trailer shows that at this point it can go either way: it might be a brooding, character-driven 'Spider-Man Begins' with enough humour to convince audiences Spidey is still that fun webslinging crime fighter with his usual merry attitude, or it might be 'Spider-Man Rising', with too much emphasis placed on the shady parts of the Parker family legacy, re-explaining the already overly familiar origin story by adding extra baggage to it and ultimately failing to find the right mix of fun and drama to capture audience sympathy (which would be Spider-Man 3's problem in a nutshell). Mr. Webb surely must remember that with a great budget also comes great responsibility., and with a great character come great expectations...

And if you haven't yet, you can watch the trailer(s) for the Amazing Spider-Man here:

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/theamazingspiderman/

Spider-Man 3

Rating: **/*****, or 5/10

Overdaad schaadt het webhoofd

Tot zover ging het goed: Sam Raimi regisseerde in 2002 het uitstekende Spider-Man, een film die wereldwijd kassa's kraakte en een drijvende kracht was in de herwonnen populariteit van de superheldenfilm. Vervolgens herhaalde hij het kunstje met het al even sterke Spider-Man 2 die het zo mogelijk nog beter deed en Raimi's status als topregisseur in Hollywood bevestigde. Raimi kan nu dus doen en laten wat hij wil, wat in het geval van het nieuwste deel in de reeks, Spider-Man 3, niet positief uitpakt. Hij besloot zich als schrijver op te stellen, terwijl dat bij de vorige delen aan meer ervaren scriptschrijvers werd uitbesteed. En het script is nou juist het grootste probleem van Spider-Man 3: het laat ernstig te wensen over.

Spider-Man 3 pakt de draad op waar Spider-Man 2 eindigde, en vervolgt de plotlijnen die in de voorganger achtergelaten werden. Peter Parker (als vanouds Tobey Maguire, die uitstekend een nerd kan spelen, maar een minder geslaagde Spidey neerzet) heeft zijn geheime identiteit onthuld aan het meisje van zijn dromen, Mary Jane (de nog steeds vrij irritante Kirsten Dunst). Het gaat hem nu eindelijk voor de wind, omdat hij de balans tussen zijn eigen leven en dat van zijn alter ego heeft weten te vinden en Spider-Man bovendien steeds populairder wordt, ondanks de aanhoudende pesterijen van krantenbaas Jameson (de nog immer schmierende J.K. Simmons die tot komische noot van de eerste orde is gereduceerd). Peter meent dat het tijd wordt Mary Jane ten huwelijk te vragen, maar is zo druk met het voor superheld spelen dat hij niet doorheeft dat zijn vriendin een ernstige dip in haar carrière doormaakt en Spidey's roem met lede ogen aanziet. Bovendien heeft hij het nog niet kunnen uitpraten met zijn beste vriend Harry Osborn (een overtuigend getergde James Franco) die hem verdenkt van de dood van diens vader, zich nu ook bewust van Peters geheime identiteit. Met het wapenarsenaal van zijn papa, superschurk Green Goblin, zint Harry op wraak.

Er speelt dus al genoeg om zowel Peter als Spider-Man twee uur bezig te houden, maar blijkbaar vond Raimi het niet voldoende het hier bij te laten. Daarom komt hij nu op de proppen met maar liefst twee nieuwe superschurken, beide met hun eigen persoonlijke relaties jegens Peter Parker. (Waarom elke booswicht zowel een band met Peter als met Spidey moet hebben is onduidelijk, aangezien dat in de comics nooit nodig was.) Ten eerste is er Sandman (een ruige maar eigenlijk goedhartige en wanhopige Thomas Haden Church), een ontsnapte crimineel die bij een wetenschappelijk experiment per ongeluk getransformeerd wordt in een uit zand bestaand en daardoor ongrijpbaar wezen. Het blijkt dat hij verantwoordelijk was voor de dood van Peters oom, waardoor Spider-Man, gedreven door wraakzucht, geobsedeerd wordt hem uit te schakelen. Ten tweede voert de film een buitenaardse klomp slijm op die een symbiotische relatie met Peter aangaat, wat Spider-Man extra kracht geeft, maar Peter vervreemdt van zijn naasten. In een poging zich van het creatuur te ontdoen bindt het zich aan een fotograaf (een compleet verkeerd gekozen Topher Grace) die vervalste compromitterende foto's van het webhoofd maakte maar door Peter ontmaskerd werd, wat het monster Venom oplevert, dat Spider-Man bruut wil vermoorden.

Zoveel plotlijnen in slechts 133 minuten, dat kon gewoon niet goed gaan... en ondanks Raimi's kundige regie in de voorgaande delen slaat hij hier de plank volledig mis, waardoor het een warboel vanjewelste wordt. Terwijl hij erin slaagt de geschiedenis van de nieuwe superschurken en hun verhoudingen tegenover ons aller favoriete muurkruiper begrijpbaar genoeg uit de doeken te doen, toont de film zijn zwakte vooral in het melodrama tussen Peter en Mary Jane, waarbij Harry en nieuwe meid Gwen (Bryce Dallas Howard) toegevoegd worden om een vierhoeksrelatie te vormen die nooit echt emotioneel meelevend wordt en meer irritatie dan intrigerende karakterontwikkeling oplevert. Bovendien haalt het relationeel gezwets dikwijls flink de vaart uit de film, aangezien de actiescènes, hoe gelikt en visueel prikkelend ook, nogal sporadisch over de film verdeeld zijn.

Nog storender is de humor, of beter gezegd, de poging tot humor. Waar Raimi zowel Spider-Man als Spider-Man 2 overgoot met een liefdevol, dun sausje humor, wordt Spider-Man 3 er bij vlagen in gedoopt, doordrenkt en uitgeperst, wat niet alleen overdadig uitgesponnen flauwe grappen oplevert, maar ook de ernst van de problemen tussen Peter en zijn vrienden bagatelliseert en sterk contrasteert met enkele tragische scènes die de film bevat. Het dieptepunt vormen de scènes waarin Peter, onder invloed van de buitenaardse symbiont tot stereotypische 'emo' verworden, zijn vrienden teistert en tussendoor op straat danst wijzend naar alle leuke meisjes die langslopen. En dat minutenlang. Het had misschien een paar seconden grappig kunnen zijn, nu is het slechts pijnlijk beschamend, maar kennelijk dacht Raimi daar anders over.

Gelukkig weet Raimi nog wel overtuigende actiescènes neer te kunnen zetten. Ze zijn minder voorhanden dan de lengte van de film doet vermoeden, en vooral in het midden van Spider-Man 3 dringt de vraag zich op waar ze toch blijven, maar wanneer ze eenmaal losbarsten doen ze dat ook goed en blijkt Raimi's talent ze dynamisch en enerverend te kunnen leveren. Als één van de duurste films ooit gemaakt is het niet verwonderlijk dat de (digitale) trukendoos hier wagenwijd open is gezet, wat prima spektakel oplevert dat tenminste tijdelijk de vele gebreken van Spider-Man 3 weet te compenseren. De lange eindstrijd, waarin Spidey en Harry op epische wijze de booswichten bevechten, vormt een heerlijke kers op een verder nogal bedorven taart.

Aan alle goede dingen komt een einde, is de eerste gedachte bij het zien van Spider-Man 3. Hoewel de film gemaakt is met grotendeels dezelfde spelers, zowel voor als achter de camera, wordt de kwaliteit van de uitstekende eerste twee delen niet gehaald. Dat is extra jammer als men bedenkt dat regisseur Sam Raimi tot zover een speelse stijl hanteerde die sterk deed denken aan de luchtige stijl die ook de comics kenmerkte, maar die hier steeds te ver wordt doorgevoerd en zodoende geen doel treft. Het resulteert in een overdaad aan romantisch melodrama dat flink de vaart uit de film haalt, flauwe grappen die totaal niet passen in de bij vlagen ernstige toon van het verhaal, en een rommelig geheel van plotlijnen omtrent het trio schurken dat wordt opgevoerd om de webslinger het leven zuur te maken. Er is domweg teveel aan de hand in Spider-Man 3, het zit elkaar maar in de weg waardoor weinig geslaagd uit de verf komt. Meer is in dit geval absoluut minder.