One of the major criticisms of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 was that there were far too many villains tossed into one movie. I had hoped that Sony would have learned their lesson from that film and would avoid putting all their supervillains into one armored tank. Unfortunately, that seems to be exactly what the studio has done with The Amazing Spider-Man 2, folding in the Green Goblin, Electro and The Rhino into a smorgasbord of evil.
The latest in a long line of trailers for Marc Webb’s upcoming sequel has hit the web today, this time introducing us to pretty much the entire backstory of Electro (Jamie Foxx), his involvement with Oscorp, and an apparent vendetta with Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield). The trailer hits all the usual marks: web-slinging action, Aunt May’s words of wisdom, Gwen Stacey in danger and Harry Osborn looking a bit worn/crazy. And, of course, our hero is there, being sarcastic/dark/protecting those he loves/in too deep…you know the drill. It’s all apocalyptic too, with the future of the city (perhaps the world) at stake as villains unite and police cars are thrown. All in a day’s work for Spider-Man (or Iron Man, or Thor, or Captain America, or Wolverine, or Superman, or Batman).
Sony has been producing a glut of marketing material for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 lately, presumably in a bid to out-box office their superhero counterparts over at Warner Brothers and Paramount. I’m afraid that the effect might be just the opposite of what they intend though, at least so far as those of us who have seen the bulk of the teasers and trailers are concerned. As I’ve mentioned before, I feel like I’ve already seen The Amazing Spider-Man 2, more than two months before it’s set to premiere.
That’s a shame too, because there’s no reason to suspect that the sequel will be any worse than its predecessor, number of villains notwithstanding. Garfield is still likeable, Emma Stone is still a cut above your average damsel in distress, and the rest of the cast (Foxx, Paul Giamatti, Dane DeHaan, Sally Field) are all fine performers. So maybe we should just start ignoring the trailers and start focusing on what’s potentially good about the film.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 swings into theatres on May 2nd.
Check out the latest trailer below and let us know what you think in the comments.
