MUCH better. The thing that stands out more than almost anything else is the expanded color palette. That image of Spidey attacking The Rhino with a manhole cover pops in a way that was woefully absent from Webb’s first entry. And Electro’s display of power (less of that than I would have expected, given his front-and-center presence in all of the marketing leading up to this) looks great. His ability to travel through currents of electricity should make for some unique and beautiful action scenes if these small glimpses are any indication. Hopefully that brightness and visual dynamism translates to the overall tone of the film.

Also, Dane DeHaan is definitely The Green Goblin and seems to know Spider-Man’s secret identity from the start. That puts a very different spin on the Peter/Harry relationship (for the film series, at least) so we’ll see how that goes.

I’m curious to know how many of you out there are looking forward to the resolution to Peter’s mysterious past. Campbell Scott was, believe it or not, a big draw for me when his casting was announced on  the first film, and I’m happy to see him popping up again. Like I mentioned in my post from earlier this week, the genetic mystery seemed lost in the editing room, which felt so strange at the time, given that the marketing was positioning The Amazing Spider-Man as “The Untold Story”. What kind of payoff are we looking for here? The six-armed Spider-Man? Man-Spider? What’s the best case scenario?

The movie opens on May 2, 2014.