Sony was due to lose the license and let it revert back to Marvel if they didn't do SOMETHING soon, and they waited a good, long while after the third film, as far as I'm concerned.

They only get to do a few more before Marvel gets Spidey back anyway, so whatever...let 'em have their fun and make their money, it certainly looks like a different enough and kick-ass approach, so it's a WIN/WIN, really.

And Connors looks like a quiet old guy who takes his missing lab partner's son under his wing, as it were, after he gets tracked down. How is that "an asshole from the beginning," exactly?

Likewise, just like any other trailer, the effects work is rushed and incomplete. Give 'em some time for the Lizard, he seems to be coming along fine. At the worst, he appears to be almost identical to the classic design...so no real problems there, ultimately.

:)