The Amazing Spider-Man trailer hit the blogosphere this morning and I have to say my own understanding of the film has tripled. Take a look before we break this puppy down:

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Before even delving into the trailer there’s some interesting points to make about how this trailer was released. First off, Fox didn’t give the trailer a spot in the Superbowl. Dare I say that shows less confidence in their product? Second, the trailer was posted to YouTube on February 4th, but only today people are noticing it. I don’t know what came first, the chicken or the egg, but this is definitely a reaction to the The Avengers.

This trailer is far less hard hitting than The Avengers, with less quick hitting shots and more of a focus on the story. At two and a half minutes, a full minute longer than The Avengers, this trailer feels like it contains so much less, even though there are many more details on the plot. This trailer is more focused on the mood of the series rather than what is contained within it. As far as competing with The Avengers, I’d say this movie is something completely different.

The first first shot of the film is New York City at night. I wonder if this is a message to the audience? Get ready for a dark and angry Spider-Man. We then see Spidey, played by Andrew Garfield, flying through the sky at night and the first close up of Spider-Man is him sitting away from the audience in the dark. This brings new meaning to the Spider-Man play, “Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark.

Okay fine, a darker Spider-Man I can deal with that. But then the trailer delivers this line. Gwen: “How did you get out there?” Spider-Man replies, “Your door man is intimidating.”

What?! Is that supposed to be funny? I don’t understand what I’m supposed to feel. I guess it’s a clue that Spider-Man is angrier this go around. It seems to me that this new Peter Parker is missing all of that apprehensiveness that made him so relateable in the comics and previous films. More on this later.

Gwen, played by Emma Stone, is heard saying Peter lives with his aunt and uncle. Okay, so this is a shout out to the fans saying, “Don’t worry, it’s not changing that much!” Nice warning before we figure out this is a whole new Spider-Man. Straight out of the comics we see Spider-Man creating his web shooters. Interesting shot of Spider-Man holding up a metal disc. I suppose this is where the webs will spray out of.

There is also the visual clue that it’s Christmas time with the wreath on the wall.

We then get a shot of Spider-Man’s spray painting job, and a quick shot of Spider-Man snickering like an evil bastard. I don’t know about you, but I like my Spider-Man less self absorbed and even keeled.

The always great Denis Leary plays Gwen’s father, also the chief of police. He appears to be playing the J. Jonah Jameson role from previous films, the one person who has a vendetta against Spider-Man. Only this time he might have some reason to hate him. I mean he’s ruining public buildings with spray paint people! Plus he’s trying to screw his daughter. Any self respecting Irish cop would hate Spider-Man AND Peter Parker. Rut-row, Spidey has some troubles in the social front.

Next up Spider-Man stops a car thief, by first appearing in the back seat. This is a very odd way of stopping a car thief. Was he waiting for him the whole time? He then gets snippy with the thief saying, “you really think I’m a cop in a red and blue suit?” What a jerk. I assume this line should sound funny, but the delivery isn’t funny at all and instead it sounds like Peter is an annoying brat.

He then webs up the bad guy. Notice whenever he shoots his webs his wrists light up red. Interesting touch. Maybe not the best for a superhero who appears to always be fighting in the dark. Pretty easy way to track someone when their wrists light up like Christmas trees.

Peter gets a flashback basketball surprise, then slams a bully against the lockers. If this bully is named Flash Thompson that’s going to be a huge turnaround as far as story elements go. While I understand a new edgier Peter Parker is going to be attempted, Spider-Man was always supposed to be an “every man’s” super hero. A good kid who was walked all over his entire life; nerdy; someone who can’t connect with people because of his smarts and who had suffered many terrible misfortunes throughout his life. He then is fortunate enough to get super powers and with his life experiences and guidance, takes responsibility, and stands up for the little guy. Maybe this will be the outcome of the film, but to have him be this angry teenager. Not sure I like it.

After finding out Peter’s dad worked at Oscorp with Curt Connors, which is similar to Ultimate Spider-Man I might add, we get some neat shots of Connors.

Love the shot of Connors coveting a second hand in his reflection. Very nice touch. Peter is a genius, sciencey stuff flashes across the screen, and we get some cool shots of Lizard.

If you’re a fan like me, you’ve known about Lizard for months, but this is our first reveal of the bad guy. Very scary looking, although it’s reminiscent of Godzilla.

This image is curious. We’re getting a clue into how the web shooters work. Anyone else see a similarity between this and Apple’s ipod? Also note the gears. I assume it’s not supposed to be reminiscent of steam punk, but it has that look to it. Spidey then swings through the city. I take it from the order of these shots Spider-Man needs to set the web shooter to different types of usage. Earlier he was shooting gobs of web to pin the car thief to the wall. Now he’s shooting thin threads. A neat idea and it grounds Spider-Man’s technology a little bit in the realm of reality. It also is a great way to sell toys!

It’s easy to miss but, the image above shows Spider-Man swinging towards Oscorp. Probably on his way to the big finale battle.

Then we get more shots of Lizard throwing cars off a bridge. Spider-Man explains it shis job to stop…something. Most likely the Lizard. The cops then ramp up their attempts to catch Spider-Man, and we get a cool scene of Spider-Man fighting the cops. Splits guns in half, kicks and punches. Doesn’t look like he’s a trained fighter either.

Spider-Man is then seen getting shot at by a cop, with the car theif from earlier pinned to the wall.

Spider-Man swings, Denis Leary makes jokes, and boom, a flashback shot of young peter looking at a spider in a jar. Looks like his father’s research might be tied to Spider-Man’s origin. Could it be his powers are a symbolic connection to his daddy issues? Give Hollywood credit, they love to belabor simple points with visual queues.

A cool full body shot of Lizard. This about as good as it gets in this trailer. Previous shots are single body parts or the Lizard covered in shadow. Denis Leary then issues an “arrest warrant” on Spider-Man. Does anyone else find this so strikingly similar to Batman it’s annoying? It’s as if they watched The Dark Knight and said, “lets do that with Spider-Man!”

A very cool shot of Spider-Man swinging into Lizard. After a few quick shots of people running in peril, Spider-Man is seen holding Gwen. Now that’s a huge reveal. They won’t be hiding his identity in this one.

And the big climax to the trailer, that will make people go “oo” and “ahh” is revealed to be!? Spider-Man diving for his life as a skyscraper needle falls. That’s an interesting choice. Most likely the most complex special effects shots aren’t complete, but still, this is a lackluster action shot to show.

They want us to know this is an action movie, but by all accounts what this trailer shows is it’s going to be predominantly a film about the characters and their angst. As far as action it looks a little sparse, at least according to this trailer.

Overall, this trailer doesn’t appease my worries. If anything it shows they’re radically changing the beloved character for the worse. Because Batman was remade so well I’m holding out hope this film will work, but as far as what this trailer shows, they aren’t rewriting the Spider-Man mythos, but are changing it just enough to annoy fans. It’s fine to change the story, but this trailer gives me the impression they’re hesitant to really recreate the character. Instead, we might get a mishmash of old and new, which will severely hurt this films identity and the fans reaction.

If it aint broke don’t fix it. Well they seem to be fixing a character that shouldn’t be fixed. Depending on your feelings with the previous Spider-Man films, you have to admit the character itself was perfectly done even if there were some hokey and poorly done elements. Especially in Spider-Man 3. The filmmakers here probably understood that the character was very well done, and needed to go in a different direction. If not why do it at all? We should expect another trailer before this film is released on July 3rd and we might get a better idea of where this is going. Lets hope.