Sony Pictures is unleashing on the filmgoing public a reboot of Spiderman. A reboot you say, why would they do that? More on that in a minute. But before they can release the movie, they have to sell it to the masses with trailers, the latest of which was released this week.
Now back to the "why a reboot" question. The answer to which involves alot of legal language, contracts, and clauses. The short version is this: You see many, many years ago Sony Pictures secured the rights to make films based on Marvel's Spiderman character. They paid Marvel alot of money to do so and in turn Marvel allowed Sony to take a greater share of any profits made by any Spiderman film or films. However, there was a stipulation in the contract that stated that Sony had to have a Spiderman film in production every few years (the exact number may be three, but I am unsure) or the rights to Spiderman on film would revert back to Marvel.
You see Sony didn't want to lose the rights, particularly once Marvel was bought by Disney. So, when talks broke down with Sam Raimi, the director of the previous three Spidey films, Sony had to move fast. The result is the film you will see in July.
I would caution you not to conclude that the quality of this Spiderman reboot will be subpar based on the fact that Sony was under the gun, so to speak, to get it made. In truth, we don't know what the quality of the film will be. It could be good, it could be terrible. I personally am hoping for good and this latest trailer has me feeling that might just be the case.
What I liked about the trailer:
- I really do like the return to the mechanical webshooters. In the comics, Peter invents the webshooters and the webbing himself. This demonstrated Peter's amazing intelligence and scientific acumen. Sam Raimi went away from this idea and retained the organic shooters from a treatment James Cameron wrote many years before Raimi became involved. But again, I am glad they are back.
-Gwen Stacy is back! Back? Ok, I know Gwen made an appearance in Spiderman 3 and was played by the lovely Bryce Dallas Howard. But the way she was portrayed and utilized in that story did not ring true to her character in the comics. In this trailer and hopefully the final film, it seems like they got Gwen right and particularly correctly portrayed her relationship to Peter. Gwen was Pete's first love, not MJ. I am glad to see they have corrected that here. Plus I think Emma Stone is great in the role from what I have seen so far.
- I think the webslinging and gliding looks more natural in this trailer and more kinetic. This could be due to the fact that director Marc Webb tried to have some of the swinging be real instead of through the use of CG.
- Andrew Garfield seems strong here and I think he will be a good Peter. But Rhys Ifans is the one to watch I think in this film. From what the trailer shows, his Dr. Connors is going to be a very troubled, though brilliant man who possess equal parts compassion and menace.
What I don't like:
- I just don't think I am ever going to like the look of the new suit. I understand why they did it, but still feel it just doesn't work.
- Speaking of appearances, I kinda really dislike the way they decided to go with The Lizard. In Raimi's films they did such a good job realizing the villains in a real way that remain fairly accurate when compared to their comic book counterparts. Of course I will readily admit that Green Goblin was a misfire and was more Power Rangers than Marvel comics.
But here, they have gotten rid of the prominent snout and the white lab coat. I suppose I could see the filmmakers wanting to make The Lizard look more realistic and going with a more naturalistic approach. Perhaps their goal was to make him more of a true mix between man and reptile instead of a walking crocodile. With that said, what they have done just doesn't work for me at all.
- The untold story. I understand the filmmakers and Sony's need to convince John and Jane Q Public that they should plunk down their $10 to see this film. I get them wanting to sell this film as some secret story of Spiderman that has never been presented before. However, I think the story they may end up telling in the final film will be rather lame. There has been much speculation online about what that untold story involves. I will allow you to seek that out.
My take: Peter's father was a scientist who worked with Connors at Oscorp. He conducted experiments on Peter either as a child or as some have speculated as a fetus. These experiments allowed Peter to be able to withstand the bite from the radioactive spider and gain his powers as a result. This seems a bit too "chosen one" for my taste. Hence, my apprehension over the quality of this aspect of the film.
In summation, this was a strong trailer overall and it does sell the film for what it is: a reboot of Spiderman. I think the cast looks strong and the overall look of the film is solid. I just have some issues with some of the design elements and one of the major potential plot threads of the film.
I would rate the trailer a 4 webheads on a 5 webhead scale. What say you of this latest attempt by Sony to sell you on a new Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman?
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