A New Amazing Spider-Man 2 Trailer Swings Your Way

Today is a day I've been looking forward to for quite some time; a new trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was released just this morning. I really enjoyed The Amazing Spider-Man and have been following the news on the sequel as closely as I could, without looking at anything that would spoil the movie for me. If you haven't gotten the chance to see the new trailer, or just want to watch it again, here it is!

One of the most notable things about the trailer is the appearance of the Rhino. It's been no secret that the character would be in the film, played greasily by Paul Giamatti, but now we finally get to see him up close. They don't show much of him, though; we just see enough to get the idea that the Rhino suit would be more mechanical than natural.

Another obvious part of the trailer is Harry Osborn's (Dane DeHaan) transformation into the Green Goblin. Late last week, the news broke that Green Goblin would be showing up in the film (doing his best Tombstone impression). To emphasize this, the trailer offers a bit more of the character in action. Not much more, mind you, but he does show up for almost 2 whole seconds. I'll admit, I'm really nervous about the inclusion of Green Goblin in this movie for two reasons. Firstly, I don't like the idea of the character starting with Harry; in the comics, the mantle of Green Goblin was a concept of legacy, with Norman (who is in this movie, played by Chris Cooper) creating the villain which would later be adopted by Harry. It also was used as a way to establish Norman's insanity and dual personalities, a trait that was also passed to Harry. But by having Harry begin as the Green Goblin, it negates the idea of the evil within Norman, an idea that I'm not really crazy with.

The second reason I'm not digging it is just because it means the movie will feature three villains. We all remember what happened the last time Spider-Man faced off against three bad guys and I'm sure none of us want to revisit that.

The highlight of the trailer, though, is definitely Electro, who seems to be the main antagonist of the film judging by how much screen time he gets. It's all pretty amazing because he makes for some awesome visuals. The final battle looks epic, surpassing the action of the first film's showdown with the Lizard, and even the Raimi films. From what I can tell, the special effects team really knocked it out of the park with Electro, bring great life to a being made of pure electricity. But more than that, Jamie Foxx looks amazing in the role. Granted, he is mostly CG, but he still manages to make Electro seem real.

But without a doubt, my favorite part of the trailer is Spider-Man, and why shouldn't it be considering it's his movie. Andrew Garfield played a great Peter Parker in the first Amazing film and I'm looking forward to seeing more of him in this one. I also love the way they have Spider-Man flipping around, jumping all over the place, taking advantage of his "spider-agility". One of my favorite shots from the trailer is Spider-Man sliding down the hood of a moving police car before leaping to the next one. It's a quick shot but it really caught my eye. I also love where Paul Giamatti's pre-Rhino character, Aleksei Sytsevich, is firing a machine gun as Spider-Man twists in the air to avoid the bullets. All of these are small things that make the movie look spectacularly dynamic, proving to me that director Marc Webb really understands the character.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 opens in theaters on May 2, 2014, just in time for Free Comic Book Day. Despite the onslaught of movies based on comic properties we will be getting in 2014, I am totally looking forward to Spider-Man. Like I said, I loved the first one and based on this trailer, I can expect to fall in love with the sequel as well.