Spider-Man is back to doing what he ought to be doing: Blowing me away.
As much as the first trailer, with its super-slo-mo car crashing and hero posing Doc Ock under whelmed, the latest ad for the summer’s most anticipated flick cruises comfortably into super-pursuit mode.
Granted, it’s just a mish-mash of images and occasionally Spider-Man looks a lot like a super-bendable, super-poseable rubber figure. But the thing has an emotional resonance, a giddiness factor I’ve not grooved to since the ads for the original Spider-Man.
Get ready for
Spider-Man 2 to make another Jesus billion. Pass the plate; I’m ready to make a contribution.
FIRST TEASER
I have all the hope in the world for
Spider-Man 2. I have every
confidence that Raimi can bring in a sequel every bit as good as the
amazing first. That having been said, I'm a little disappointed in the first
teaser trailer.
Remember the first teaser for
Spider-Man, way back in 2001? It
premiered in front of
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. I
remember that because I went out of my way to see that god awful flick
just so I'd be one of the first to see the
Spidey teaser. THAT
was a creative bit of advertising, a fake bank heist filmed specifically
for the ad and a copter stuck in a gigantic spider-web. I wet my
pants. Subsequent looks at the actual film were beautiful and
breathtaking. The old web head never looked so good. Then the movie
itself was only better.
But
Spider-Man 2 is off on a much shakier foot. The trailer
(which you've hopefully seen) features Doc Ock flinging cars through a
coffee shop window, where Mary Jane and Peter Parker sit rehashing the
same do you love me don't you love me mumbo jumbo that never quite got
wrapped up in the first film.
Alfred Molina looks like he's really going to nail Doc Ock, giving us an
even better villain than Willem DaFoe's Goblin. Spidey himself looks
better than ever. It appears as though they may have fixed some of the
little cgi fubar's that plagued film one. But for some reason this just
isn't as exciting as I'd hoped. There's some cool footage of the junior
Osborne hovering over the wall crawler with a knife. That and all the
other dramatic elements look fine. Still, I don't feel the same level
of energy from this one. That car flying through the window... just
didn't feel as exciting as it ought to be. No sense of danger, none of
that OUT OF CONTROL feeling that was so successful in conveying the real
rush of swinging through the air on little strands of web in the
original. Not yet anyway.
It is just a teaser. It is a good teaser... it just isn't as good as
the stuff we had a couple of years ago for our first look at
Spider-Man. I don't think that means this won't be as wonderful,
it just means that there's more to come. A talented returning cast,
director, and crew from a film as great as the original has to equal
success.
