Now
the basic story of this movie is that Peter was left with Uncle Ben and Aunt
May by his parents, Richard and Mary Parker, played by Campbell Scott and
Embeth Davidtz, when he was 4 (the child actor is Max Charles). He does not
know where his parents are and why they left.
The
things I liked about this movie are that it looked amazing, it had terrific
action, which was a lot better, and the web-slinging is more colorful and
vibrant and it looks much better here than in the Raimi movies. The fight
scenes are amazing, but it doesn’t blow you away like a lot of the other comic
book movies. I was told by my cousin that the 3D looks great, but I didn’t see
it in 3D since I try to avoid watching movies in 3D. I don’t hate 3D, but it
just strains the eyes.
Andrew
Garfield was spot-on. He did a much better Spiderman than Tobey Maguire, in my
opinion. He “is” the Peter Parker audiences have been wanting for a long time.
He gets the nerdy, geeky character down pat, but he isn’t a show off. All the
while he is also humorous and adventurous. These are all done very well.
Garfield embodies Peter to the fullest. He is a relatable character, and
internet reviewer LazerDude99 said that, “he doesn’t feel like a character out
of the 70s, he feels very much like a kid from nowadays, and the High School
scenario feels very much like a nowadays High School, where the past Spiderman
film it didn’t feel like a ‘real’ High School. It felt a little bit cartoonish.
Here it feels like a real High School.” Garfield really does a good job
transitioning from Peter Parker into Spiderman and everything in between.
Emma
Stone as Gwen Stacy sure is purty and eye-candy though! Peter and Gwen have a
lot of chemistry between them, and I believe people are saying Garfield and
Stone are (or were) a couple. Marc Webb went in the direction where Gwen Stacy
is a smart but attractive girl, which I believe worked. Unlike Mary Jane, who
was always your typical damsel in distress, here Gwen actually makes herself
useful by doing something to further the plot and story instead of being held
captive by the villain and holding her while fighting Spiderman. If you
remember, Peter’s first girlfriend was Gwen Stacy before she died and Mary Jane
came into the picture. However, I get the feeling she’ll get killed in “The
Amazing Spiderman 2,” but I have yet to see that.
Don’t
you feel that Peter told Gwen Stacy that he was Spiderman a little too early
into the relationship? Especially since Captain George Stacy, played by one of
the funniest comedians, Denis Leary, wants to arrest Spiderman. What makes you
think that Gwen won’t tell her father? Captain Stacy is handled alright in this
film.
When
Peter gets back at Flash Thompson, played by Chris Zylka, by humiliating him
(he doesn’t beat him up like in the original), Uncle Ben does discipline him by
saying Peter cannot go around doing stuff like that.
However,
I still liked the original better. Uncle Ben's death was straight out of a
Bollywood movie, which made it ridiculous. Both Martin Sheen and Sally Field
were wasted and practically irrelevant. This is where the story lacks. Martin
Sheen and Sally Field were just there in the film and didn't really have much
emphasis put on them. Instead, Gwen Stacey has the more focus. The story is
where the original trilogy really shined, because a lot of it was there. Martin
Sheen and Sally Field cannot be Ben and May because they are Martin Sheen and
Sally Field. The original actors disappeared into the roles, and they were
perfect. Some people may have found Rosemary Harris corny, but she was the
heart of the movie. Sally Field is great, and there was some potential there
when you see how Ben is so protective of May, so you could have shown how she
comes into her own and overcomes her grief to become both father and mother to
Peter and be his inspiration, like she was in the Ultimate Spiderman comics.
But, we got nothing. Even though Aunt May was in the story, she wasn’t
involved. When Peter is going out every night to find the man who shot Uncle
Ben, we don’t see how much it hurt her to know that Uncle Ben was shot and how
she feels. Uncle Ben and Aunt May were a huge part of the Spiderman comics and
Marc Webb just shoved them aside like they had nothing to do with the story.
Besides
a TV clip of the Daily Bugle news channel, we didn’t have any newsroom scenes
of the Bugle at all. What's a Spider-Man story without J. Jonah Jameson? Peter
could have totally been an intern at the Bugle! That's how he was in the
Ultimate universe. He went in to be a photographer, like in the 616 reality,
but instead of playing against type, he instead becomes their web programmer.
That was easy.
Again,
the movie was unnecessary and did two things wrong for everything it improved
on the original. I didn't feel Ben's death or any of the other deaths. Peter
and Gwen spent most of the movie whining about how these things affected their
love life! He even becomes Spider-Man out of pure revenge and thrills, Ben's
death meant almost nothing to him, or at least that's how it felt. I just
didn't feel it. I understand that the makers of this film didn’t have the time
and didn’t want to tell the story of Peter fighting the wrestler in a cage
fight, and instead had Peter storm out of the house mad at Uncle Ben after
having an argument. Peter goes to a Convenience Store to buy a Chocolate Milk,
but the cashier, played by Michael Barra, says that Peter is off by two cents
so he can’t buy the drink. Then the burglar, played by Leif Gantvoort, robs the
Convenience Store, throws the milk to Peter, and runs out of the store. When
the cashier yells at Peter to stop the burglar, Peter says it’s not his
problem. Uncle Ben runs into the burglar, who drops the gun, making Uncle Ben
go out to reach for the gun, but the burglar gets the gun and shoots Uncle Ben.
Peter runs up to Uncle Ben, who dies and then it cuts to him at home with Aunt
May and the police and doctors. I feel as if the filmmakers just brushed it
aside too quickly and didn’t feel it was important to the story, which it was.
It wasn’t like in the original where the criminal ran out with the money, ran
into Uncle Ben and shot him. This was a burglar who shot Uncle Ben when he was
out looking for Peter. This is more realistic, so it should have been followed
up more.
Dr.
Curt Connors, who tests a serum out on himself to get his arm back and instead
turns into the villain known as The Lizard, played by Rhys Ifans, is a lame
villain because he has no personality. How about having a scene where he shows
some dark humor, something, anything, to make him more than a punching bag for
Spider-Man? Also, is this a split personality, has he gone mad with it, is it a
Jekyll and Hyde thing? What is it? I didn’t really understand this villain.
Another YouTube reviewer, JeremyJahns, said that he wouldn’t have cared if the
Lizard had died, which I completely agree with him. I was really confused about
how I should feel for the Lizard because they should have developed him more.
Even though he was a part of the story, they didn’t do a good job with handling
the Lizard.
The
ending is good as well. It leaves things up in the air as you don’t know what
to expect from the sequel. All you see is (spoilers) Dr. Connors in the prison
cell when a shadowy man, played by Michael Massee, comes in and asks Dr.
Connors if he told Peter anything about his parents. Dr. Connors says “No” and
demands the man to leave Peter alone.
In
the end, I think that this film is better than Spiderman 3, but I still prefer
the first two original Sam Raimi movies. They just had a better story structure
and villains compared to this one. However, that doesn’t mean that this film is
bad. I believe that this is above average, but not one of the best superhero
movies I have seen.
Stay
tuned next week when I review “The Amazing Spiderman 2.” Now I have to pick a
day when I can go to the theaters and watch it.
No comments:
Post a Comment