This frankly isn't nearly as impressive as the first teaser, mainly because it doesn't add much other than to reveal some pretty big third-act spoilers (including two massive hints about the film's finale). The interplay between Garfield and Stone is still pretty solid, and it's nice that the film A) has them get together pretty early on and B) apparently has her learn his secret at least by act three (again, why spoil that?). Dennis Leary barely gets any dialogue this time around, which is good since he seems to be giving the film's worst performance. The focus this time around is on the official super-villain, The Lizard (Rhys Ifans), with plenty of meaty shots of the green-skinned menace. The web-slinging action still looks pretty terrific and the film looks visually dynamic (it has a richer and crisper picture than the relatively flat The Avengers). At its core, the problem with The Amazing Spider-Man at this point in the game is two-fold. First of all, it still doesn't look different enough from the Sam Raimi trilogy to justify a corporate-mandated reboot. Second of all, it is sandwiched between what is arguably the 'ultimate comic book movie' (The Avengers) and the 'ultimate comic book film' (The Dark Knight Rises). In comparison, the Marc Webb picture just seems like a kids' flick in comparison, a young do-gooder not fit to play with the grown-ups in tights. Anyway, The Amazing Spider-Man opens on July 3rd. As always, we'll see.
Scott Mendelson
Scott Mendelson
