Trailer Tracking: ‘The Amazing Spider-Man,’ ‘The Dark Knight Rises,’ ‘Dream House,’ ‘John Carter’

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly versionE-mail page to friendE-mail page to friendPDF versionPDF version
No votes yet

CHICAGO – It’s Comic-Con week, so you know what that means – a whole lot of sweaty cosplayers questing to hook up with the Sailor Moon of their dreams and a whole lot of new movie trailers. Comic Con is movie trailer nirvana.

All around the Con – both before and during the big event – movie studios LOVE to tease out little bits of new footage of upcoming movies to work the fanboy legions into an anticipatory frenzy. This is one of the few times of the year where people are less interested in pirating whole movies and are more interested in somehow making it out of the convention hall with a few snippets of trailers for this year’s “Iron Man”, “Tron”, or “Scott Pilgrim” on their iPhone, destined for YouTube a few hours later.

This year is no exception – pirated trailers for “The Amazing Spider-Man” and “The Avengers” already hit the web this week. The Spidey team countered the piracy by releasing a nice HD trailer before the Con (which we review below), while Marvel Studios is still trying to slam down hard on the few remaining copies of the “Avengers” preview out there. (Out of fairness, we won’t review that one here, but, fair warning, the copy on the web is terrible. Don’t expect to make out too much detail.)

So, in honor of the legendary San Diego Con, where movie trailers enter the Thunderdome and come out either dead or victorious, here’s our take on some of the most high-profile coming attractions currently out there.

Movie: “The Amazing Spider-Man”

Best Parts of the Trailer: That the goofiness of “Spidey 3” has left the building; Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone; seeing Peter Parker’s parents; mechanical web-shooters

Worst Parts of the Trailer: Very undecided on the quality of the POV shot; origins… again?

Our Take: You’ve got to say this for Marc Webb. Even though he’s only got one other theatrical movie credit under his belt – “(500) Days of Summer” – the first look at his “Amazing Spider-Man” doesn’t show any immediate signs of sophomore slump. In fact, the two directorial comparisons that most online pundits are making after seeing the trailer are David Fincher and Christopher Nolan, which, to be frank, is presumptuous as HELL. Webb hasn’t shown anything to make us think he’s on that level yet, but we can see where the comparisons are coming from. There’s a cool, detached, almost conspiracy thriller tone to the “Amazing Spider-Man” trailer, which is markedly different from the cheeseball, sad-sack tone that Sam Raimi adopted for his tales of Peter Parker.

On the surface, it seems like a good fit. Sure, the trailer is darker – and the opening music cue is almost a parody of past Christopher Nolan cues – but it’s not quite as bleak as the Nolan Batman movies have become. Which is probably a good choice. Finding the right tone for a superhero movie is a delicate balancing act. Most either skew too far into the realm of living cartoons, all bluster and silliness (looking at you, “Green Lantern”), OR they skew too moody and bleak, which tends to either suck away all the fun or just accentuate their inherent ridiculousness. But there is a sweet spot in that middle ground, and, as a trailer, we think “Amazing Spider-Man” does a nice job of getting their pitch right down the middle.

Getting into more specifics, while we HATE the idea of YET another origin tale, we have to give the screenwriters credit for pulling in the one element of the Spider-Man origin that most people ignore – namely, what the hell happened to his parents? The quick scenes with Campbell Scott as Parker’s dad and the ending narration that emphasizes secrets, specifically “the [secrets] that are kept from us”, really makes us think that Parker’s transformation into Spider-Man might have much more to do with the secret lives of his parents than we’d previously known… which sounds very cool. It adds a conspiracy, mystery aspect to the storytelling and, at this point, we’re pleased with ANYTHING that can vary up the “been there, done that” origin plot.

The key to Webb’s “Spider-Man” working is going to be the director delivering a mixture of that which we expect and want and that which we have never seen before. The notorious point-of-view shot from the trailer – a Spider-Man’s eye view of the hero slinging around New York – is a perfect example of this. Yes, we never saw that shot in any of the Raimi movies, so you can see why the filmmakers went after a shot like that. However, the execution… leaves something to be desired. We’re not totally anti-POV shot, but the trailer shot isn’t quite there yet. Much like the movie itself, we’re intrigued by the concept and what we’ve seen of the execution, but we need to see more before we pass judgment.

TRAILER OUTLOOK: Optimistic (but we want to see more) - Lots of potential, some new story ideas, and a helluva cast.

User Login

Free Giveaway Mailing

TV, DVD, BLU-RAY & THEATER REVIEWS

  • Manhunt

    CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Dan Baker on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on March 21st, 2024, reviewing the new streaming series “Manhunt” – based on the bestseller by James L. Swanson – currently streaming on Apple TV+.

  • Topdog/Underdog, Invictus Theatre

    CHICAGO – When two brothers confront the sins of each other and it expands into a psychology of an entire race, it’s at a stage play found in Chicago’s Invictus Theatre Company production of “Topdog/Underdog,” now at their new home at the Windy City Playhouse through March 31st, 2024. Click TD/UD for tickets/info.

Advertisement



HollywoodChicago.com on Twitter

archive

HollywoodChicago.com Top Ten Discussions
tracker