TRAILER OF THE DAY! Peter Parker, Sad Sack.

Remember yesterday, when I urged patience in the face of shaky-cam trailer leaks?  Well lo and behold, here we have the first official trailer for Marc Webb's take on The Amazing Spider-Man, in glorious HD:

The internet seems quick to compare the dour tone here to Nolan's Bat-films, and I think the point is well taken.  Aside from (unnecessarily) rehashing the origin story, the dark, gritty palate here is both undeniable and unfortunate.  Spidey is a daytime hero, a character who begs for bright skies and open air.  He's clever and sarcastic, but he's also upbeat, someone who finds liberation in his powers.  Yes he's a nerd, but he's the kind of nerd that you know will grow into himself and find personal and/or professional success.  This Peter Parker looks like he might blow up the school at any moment.

I'm also somewhat uneasy at how much his parents seem to be playing into things here.  While I always like to see Campbell Scott getting work, between that opening bit and the last line of the trailer, I get the feeling that there's some sort of larger story arc surrounding the circumstances of his parents death and I already find myself not giving a shit.  Either that or they just want to keep Martin Sheen around for more than one movie, in which case I can hardly blame them.

As for that final sequence, I give Webb credit for at least trying to do something we haven't really seen in a Spider-Man movie yet, literally putting us in Parker's shoes.  I particularly like the way the orientation changes as he goes sideways or upside down across buildings.  That being said, the sequence would have been infinitely more effective if I thought for one second that I was looking at brick and mortar buildings and not just pixels ripped out of some upcoming Playstation game.  Seriously, is it too much to ask to put a camera on a minicopter and fly it around?  It's clearly the money shot in your trailer and I have to imagine it'll be a prominently displayed in the movie itself.  Hopefully it looks better next summer.