The Spider-Man Movies (part 1)
The Buildup:
After
Spider-Man 3 was panned by fans and critics, the Webslinger gets rebooted less
than 5 years later so that Sony can maintain the rights. It promised to right
the wrongs of the past trilogy and give our hero a fresh start.
The Plot:
After
being abandoned at his aunt and uncle’s house as a young child, Peter Parker
has always wondered about the mysterious circumstances of his parents’ disappearance.
He sneaks into Oscorp to find answers and is bitten by a genetically modified
spider, giving him powers. He later witnesses his uncle get killed by a thief.
He uses his powers to try and track the thief down but is ultimately
unsuccessful, and decides to turn his skills to preventing other crime.
Meanwhile, Kurt Connors is developing a limb regeneration technology and is
given the missing algorithm by Peter using his father’s notes. Dr. Connors
turns into the Lizard, and seeks to implement his evolutionary cure to the
entirety of New York City.
Mostly
all the stuff that the Raimi movies got wrong, like using mechanical web
shooters instead of organic webbing. Spider-Man was a lot more lively and funny
when in the costume and seemed more similar to his comic book version. Updated
elements like Spider-Man playing on his phone while sitting on the web in the
sewer were nice. Starting his love life with Gwen Stacy (who is played
fantastically by Emma Stone), and seeing a new villain (also well-acted by Rhys
Ifans). I also like how they stuck to Peter being in high school and didn’t
jump ahead to adulthood. The costume was pretty good, and because they didn’t
use the raised rubber it didn’t look silver colored, but the webbing pattern
looked more like a wire-frame model and didn’t have the traditional “scoop”
shape to it.
What went wrong:
Peter
was a little too angsty and focused on the mystery of his parents’ death, which
was never emphasized in the original source materials. On the other hand, he
wasn’t as nerdy or unpopular as he should have been (specifically the scenes
with Flash being a bully and the basketball practice). Aunt May and Uncle Ben
were okay but not as good as they were in the Raimi movies, and they tried
to say Uncle Ben’s famous line without actually saying it. There was also a distinct
lack of J. Jonah Jameson, but to be fair, it would be hard to follow up J.K. Simmons' amazing performance, which is why the MCU version is also played by Simmons.
What I would have
changed:
While it was intentionally different from the first trilogy
(to avoid as many retread comparisons as possible), about the only things I
could think of is to do some stuff more like the Raimi movies. I honestly liked
this movie only just a little bit less than the first Spider-Man movie, despite
having the various plot elements changed (like the focus on his parents). Though it was a reboot (which felt really early since not a lot of time had passed
between Spider-Man 3 and this) and all the effort going into making this movie
distinct from the Raimi trilogy, all things considered it was pretty good. I do
feel like if we could have chosen about 80% from the Raimi movies and 20% from
this movie and frankensteined it together, we would have made the perfect
Spider-Man movie.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
The Buildup:
After
keeping the rights alive by releasing a new Spider-Man movie reboot, Sony is
looking to keep the momentum and build something similar to what Marvel was
starting to pull off with the MCU. A few new cast additions like Paul Giamotti
and Jamie Foxx, as well as characters like Harry Osborn making an appearance
had fans excited.
The Plot:
Peter
continues the case concerning his parents’ disappearance while dealing with
being a high school student and juggling his responsibilities as Spider-Man.
Harry Osborn starts to fall ill with a genetic disease, and it’s determined
that Spider-Man’s blood may save him. Peter’s refusal angers Harry, who uses
his father’s research and equipment to become the Green Goblin. Meanwhile, an
Oscorp employee falls into a tank of electric eels being used for research and
acquires electricity-based powers. Both villains team up to take out
Spider-Man, but after Electro is stopped, Harry drops Gwen from a tower and
Peter is unable to save her.
What went right:
The
suit was improved with the big white eyes, and the blue was a bit brighter. Seeing
Gwen’s death done right was both exciting and unexpected.
Sony
was competing with the MCU and tried to set up their own little Spider-verse
here, and there was waaaay too much focus on that and not enough on the main
plot concerning Spider-Man. Some of the plot elements, like Spider-Man’s blood
being the cure for Harry, were not well thought out. Electro’s portrayal seemed
on par with Riddler’s from Batman Forever. The way they turned Rhino into
(essentially) an Iron Man suit tank was just silly. It seems like this movie
fell into the same trap that Iron Man 3, X-Men 3, Spider-Man 3, and Blade 3 all fell into with trying to do too much in a movie by combining two disparate
stories together into one narrative.
What I would have changed:
Mainly focused only on one villain, so I would have gone with
Electro since we’d already seen two versions of the Goblin in the Raimi films,
and save him for the third movie (assuming one got made). And with only one
villain, there is now adequate screen time to fully develop the character and
make the origin less silly and more believable. That said, if Gwen’s death was
still in the movie, I would have had Captain Stacy’s subtle ghost behind Peter
as he is mourning over Gwen’s grave to hammer in the guilt just a bit harder. I
also would have taken out Paul Giamotti’s role entirely.
