With all of the attention people have been showering on the Dark Knight Rises lately, Sony managed to sneak in a new teaser poster for The Amazing Spider-Man movie. Promising to give us “The Untold Story” and using some shadow blending in Photoshop, the image hasn’t seemed to make many waves, but there is some cause for concern.
Aside from the slight hints of color on the figure towards the top, the picture might as well be black and white, which is oddly reminiscent of another teaser poster that was released for The Dark Knight Rises. Our hero is cornered, pressed between two brick walls and surrounded by absolute darkness. Now, the promise of hearing the supposedly untold story takes on a new meaning, as the poster seems to imply that it stayed untold because it’s so dark and dismal.
Spider-Man is usually depicted as a jovial character, a trickster. He cracks jokes and uses humor to infuriate his more dangerous enemies, causing them to make rash decisions and ultimately defeat themselves.
Over the years, Spider-Man has become known as a down-on-his-luck, Charlie Brown-esque loser who copes with terrible odds and the responsibilities of having superpowers with his own unique brand of comedy. In the Ultimate Comics line that Marvel releases, which tells stories in the separate continuity of an alternate universe, Spider-Man is depicted as a runt with super strength who bounces all over the place and never shuts up.
The Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies were great (well the first two anyway, but events that occured in the third didn’t make it unsalvageable) but Spidey must have cracked about one joke per film. I’m aware that everyone wants these action movies to be suspenseful and serious, but it would have been a tremendous service to the character to get someone with more comedic talent and experience.
Yes, the character has had his darker moments and storylines, but that’s not what the character is known for and it’s not what makes him iconic. It would have been nice to finally see the wise-ass Spider-Man that we never got from Raimi, but it doesn’t seem like we’ll be seeing him in the new movie either. I love Nolan’s Dark Knight movies, but if the cost of their success is every other superhero becoming grim, gritty and serious then I have to wonder if it’s all been worth it.
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7 Comments
The story has already been told in the first two “Spiderman” movies. I’ll pass you should too! :/
Wrong. If you’d done your research then you would know that this Spider-man IS going to be the wise-cracking one from the comics. It was evident from the footage shown at Comic-con.
Word from the footage shown at Comic Com seems to point at Andrew Garfield bringing a good bit of humour to his scenes in the suit, the bit with the thug and the knife being the standout, but agree that the poster points at a dark tone. The grim and grittiness is getting frustrating, seems studios add it to all comic book properties cause ‘if it worked for the dark knight’. Love Nolan’s films, but theyve created a belief that audiences want dark superhereo tales, no matter if a light tone is what made the book and character so popular.
“Love Nolan’s films, but theyve created a belief that audiences want dark superhereo tales, no matter if a light tone is what made the book and character so popular.”
Not true, Nolan and his production team did not create a belief that audiences want dark superhero tales. Nolan simply took inspiration from Batman: Year One, which in itself is already a dark and gritty take on Batman’s early years of crime fighting and preparation. It’s not as if Nolan decided to just make Batman dark and gritty, Batman has been dark and gritty since 1987. The audience responded well to Batman Begins for two reasons: one, Batman Begins is a redemption from Joel Schumachers’ disastrous films and two, Batman: Year One is a well received comic amongst Batman fans and is masterfully portrayed by Nolan. It is INACCURATE to say Nolan has created the dark superhero trend, since we all know Uncle Ben’s murder is the influence for Batman: Year One, right? :)
In any case, I at least agree that the new Spider-man poster does not match the tone with the movie they are making. I would not necessarily compare this poster to that of the newly released poster of The Dark Knight Rises. Maybe it’s meant to be a viral picture like Bane’s when it was first released to create hype.
Here’s something you should understand. Spider-man is the wise-cracking “jovial” character, Peter Parker’s life is dark and depressing. Obviously, Peter Parker is on the poster, not Spider-man. If you also haven’t yet noticed, every official image of Spider-man released so far (3 new promotional banners) has been very colorful. If anything, whoever is doing the marketing for this film has a better understanding of these duo personas than you do. And please, Nolan receives way too much credit, what other film has been gritty and dark that didn’t call for it? Iron Man? Captain America? Thor? They didn’t seem dark and gritty to me at all!
The footage shown at comic-con and Empire’s Big Screen in the UK shows Spidey webbing up baddies and making quips on the fly. This is just a poster, marketing material. It is designed to grab new audiences to see the film (in this case, people who like a darker story and who are sceptical of the new reboot). The film does not have to adhere to the message given by the marketing. I am not worried about the tone of the film, nor the way it is being marketed. Why does a poster, 7 months before the film’s release, have to fully represent the film or be picked apart?
J0eR0gansbeard, he said they’ve created a belief for others to copy, not Nolan taking a belief from the comics.
Anyway, haven’t you lot seen Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Green Lantern and The Avengers trailer? Not very dark and gritty, really.