After the most recent trailer blew my expectations sky high for THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, I was left in a bit of a conundrum regarding The Lizard.
At first, I thought that the character redesign didn’t bother me. But, then it did. Then, the character started to feel like a retread of Doc Ock from SPIDER-MAN 2, the best villain portrayed in any of the Spidey films to date. I do like Rhys Ifans as an actor so I am still going into this movie with an open mind.
With these two new videos, I think I have finally gotten that comfort level with The Lizard. First up is a short viral video posted on the Oscorp Industries website regarding a new intern initiative in the herpetology department (that is the study of reptiles, you sick bastards!).
I love the cool and calm demeanor Dr Connors displays. The eventual unraveling of the character will be all the more dramatic this way. Alfred Molina’s performance in SPIDER-MAN 2 was slightly over the top, but it worked. Here, Ifans looks to be playing the villain as serious as one could be outside of a Christopher Nolan superhero movie. He even explains it a bit in this new featurette.
The inclusion of Oscorp Industries certainly feels like they plan on integrating the Green Goblin in the sequel, but for now the newly rebooted origin is not striking me as terrible as it once did.
We will all find out if it works when THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN opens on July 3rd.