Amph Spider-Man & SSU Films (Madame Web, Venom 3, Kraven, Beyond the Spider-Verse)

I'll just address this part of your post since others here have addressed the balance.

Au contraire, good sir, I love "the idea of Peter Parker". I also love the flesh-and-blood reality. I love his quick wit, his struggle to maintain a positive outlook despite failure after crushing defeat, his nerd-cool aesthetic with that slicked-back hair and brown leather jacket. And no actor or animated version -- from Ralph Bakshi's to Nicholas Hammond to NBC's Amazing Friends to Maguire and beyond -- has ever actualized THE Peter Parker that I grew up reading about from 1976 - 1993 (the years I collected Spidey comics) until Andrew Garfield. His personality, speech mannerisms, physical look and emotional tone are all note-perfectly in-line with the character I grew to know and love in that fertile, 17-year heyday of the character.

You seem to know and love Peter (almost?) exclusively from the Raimi films. And that's great, I like those movies a lot. They're thrilling and for the most part beautifully and lovingly crafted. But that isn't the Peter Parker from the comics in those three films; it's someone else named Peter Parker you fell in love with. Garfield's version is "the real deal". Love him or leave him.

 

Sorry, double post.

 

I liked his accent. I never thought of Spidey having a Brooklyn accent, but it makes sense.

 

I finally saw this new one. I'm gonna have to organize my thoughts, but there will be a fairly big post coming. Suffice it to say, I've got a lot of problems that need airing.

 

Merlin, if you haven't caught Spectacular Spider-Man they do a wonderful job of capturing Peter in all his forms.

 

I've noticed it on Netflix, I think. If you say it's worth my time investment, I'll certainly check it out.

 

Are they Man of Steel problems bad?

 

Just make her MJ. She's a redhead anyway right?

That would be so creepy.

 

Nowhere near. Spider-Man had some issues this time, but the film was entertaining and it wasn't particularly pretentious or condescending as Man of Steel was. I think the two films are about the same length, but I was never bored by Spider-Man, as I was for long, long stretches of Man of Steel.

 

Better yet, if they don't want to hire an actress, they could always get Andy Serkis to do a mocap performance of MJ.

 

K that beats the Kim Novak idea

 

So how badly is this movie going to fall this weekend with Godzilla coming out?

 

Emma should've been MJ in the first place. She would've been perfect, IMO.

 

Gwen will probably be cloned by the Jackal in ASM 3.

 

I just cam back from seeing this and loved it. Disappointed by the score (as I loved the score of the first one) and lack of a post-credits scene (knew about the X-Men thing though). Andrew Garfield is definitely the best Spider-Man, but his Peter Parker is...different.

I was afraid Gwen wasn't going to get a trilogy of films, not because I didn't want her to well...have that defining moment in Spidey history but I wanted Emma Stone to be in at least three films...I wuv her.

 

She'll probably be in flashbacks if that counts

 

Okay, so . . . here we go. My many problems with The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

I have to say that the script is not much good. It's given to really annoying infodumps of exposition. A perfect example is when Harry returns home and goes in to see Norman. Harry and Norman instantly start speaking in the most bald-faced "let's fill in the audience" speeches imaginable. Harry's all "You shuffled me off to boarding school" (he knows, Harry) and Norman's all just explicitly calling his disease by it's full name and filling us in on it's history: "Retroviral hyperplasia! It's genetic!" Harry probably knows what you're dying of, Norman, and he probably looked it up on the Internet at some point. You know, infodumps like that.

This also plays into some really horrible looping, where lines were clearly looped in later in order to make things clearer for the more dunderheaded audience members. This is particularly egregious when the looping involves characters talking to themselves. The one that leaps immediately to mind is after Spider-Man has refused to give Harry his blood. After Spider-Man leaves, Harry screams out the window. He then turns and knocks over a table and it is very obvious that they have looped in the line, "You're a fraud, Spider-Man." Because that's totally what you'd say in that moment, right?

Shall we get to more failures of the script? What about Spider-Man's horrible propensity to see George Stacy scowling at him at all the worst moments, leading to him breaking up with Gwen, except then they get back together and since the only reason he was seeing George Stacy was so he could break up and we could have some personal drama, he just . . . never sees him again. Until the climax, when we need a reason for Spidey to be distracted so Electro can get the upper hand and leap at the screen in a 3D shot. What about the fact that Gwen Stacy, for God knows what reason, just happens to know all about the power plant? Why, how and for what possible purpose did she learn all this?

Garfield does his absolute best and even when the script lets him down, he still manages to wring some laughs out of it. His anguished "Whhhhhaaaaaaatttttt" at the end of the chimney scene was probably my biggest laugh in the film, even though it's kind of a horrible punchline. But Garfield kills it. He's still got charisma. And the same for Dane DeHaan; he got on my radar with two wonderful performances last year: as Ryan Gosling's troubled, anti-social son in The Place Beyond the Pines and as the unlucky roadie traversing a war torn, apocalyptic landscape in Metallica: Through the Never. I'm really excited about his career; he's a wonderful young actor and he sinks his teeth into this like it's the big-time shot it actually is. It's kind of sad that this is his best performance to date; or rather that such a wonderful performance would be stuck in this wasteland of a movie. He's really got the goods, folks; watch this kid - he's on the way up. At least, I hope so.

But what the hell was up with that stupid ass Green Goblin get up? And I mean, we all knew Gwen Stacy was gonna die? We all knew that, right? But forgive me for thinking that it might have had more emotional resonance if the Green Goblin had existed for more than five minutes before he killed her. I mean, is that how the comic was? All of a sudden, he's the Green Goblin and the first damn thing he does is drop Gwen Stacy off a cliff? Surely not. Oh and while I'm on that . . . I really cannot tell you how hard I was laughing during that whole idiotic scene of Harry figuring out that Peter is Spider-Man. *looks at Spider-Man; looks at Gwen; looks at Spider-Man; looks at Gwen; looks at Spider-Man* All with the stupidest look on his face possible. That's DeHaan's one really awful scene, the scene of him as the Goblin. And this is the script's fault, not DeHaan's, but did he really just say, "Harry's dead?" No cliche unturned.

Oh, man, though . . . Aunt May. What. The. **** was even up with Aunt May? She's going to college in order to put Peter through college? I don't even know how that works. I mean, that's going to get her more money with a better job later, but Peter's in college now. Also, this is just a cheap excuse to have her present at a hospital during a blackout so that we can see the *gasp* human cost of the game Electro is playing with the city! I just about died when the lights came back on and Aunt May started yelling, "Okay, okay, we're back, everybody back to work, everybody back to . . ." like she was the boss or something. Were we supposed to have forgotten that she was just a student? Jesus, that was funny. And that horrible scene where Peter "convinces" her to tell him about when the government accused Richard of being a traitor? That's some awful writing there, guys. She literally says "I'm not going to tell you" and the actual phrase, "I'm going to tell you everything" in the space of forty-five seconds. Really? She literally says the words, "I'm going to tell you everything." Oh, brother. And speaking of Aunt May, was Martin Sheen really too good to show up to film thirty seconds of flashback footage? Was it not totally distracting that during those flashbacks, there was just a guy with a flannel shirt and a strategically placed blur over his face next to Sally Field?

Oh, God, though, this is bringing up the whole Richard Parker plotline! You know, with Roosevelt? And I haven't even talked about Electro at all yet. Or the whole Richard Parker thing. I have to talk about those two things.

Well, man, I gotta do that tomorrow. For now, here's the tl;dr version: awful script, awful dialogue, awful exposition, awful structuring; stupid Aunt May from start to finish; Andrew Garfield is still funny and Dane DeHaan is awesome despite the butchering of the Green Goblin character. Tomorrow (maybe) Electro, Richard Parker, Roosevelt and the strange fact that average New Yorkers apparently carry police barricades with them everywhere, just in case Spider-Man should appear.

Oh, yeah, one more thing. Paul Giamatti. ******* Paul Giamatti. Oh. My. God. You guys.

 

This review is several of the things I could have hoped for. Eagerly awaiting the sequel.

 

I honestly meant to tag you but I forgot.

 

Even more reason for you to have a second chance at it tomorrow.

 

Thanks Rogue 1.5. I was mildly curious to go see this and see why some people were wowed by it. But this is the kind of review that reminds me why I have decided to avoid it in the first place. I can see why it dropped so quickly after its first week: word of mouth must have had a considerable effect in that regard.

Now Godzilla was a dud as far as I'm concerned. I truly hope that DOFP (the only other must see movie for me this summer) doesn't follow suit.

 

It shouldn't be Brooklyn. It should be Queens since he grew up in Forest Hills.

Nope, it was a full 100 plus issues between Norman's debut as the Goblin to when Gwen died.

 

Which is exactly why Harry should have been in the first movie. Or at least more of Norman