Apologising in advance - I have a feeling this is going to be long...
I saw the film last night and was so horribly disappointed that I can home and did
physics homework to
cheer me up. (Now that's desperate!)
I couldn't decide if this was Spiderman the Musical or Spiderman meets The Mask.
While emo!Spiderman annoyed me and the scene on the street/in the Jazz Club was just plain painful to sit through, that wasn't what really, really bothered me. (And that's saying a lot - the emo!haircut and threads were ridiculous!) I didn't even mind Topher Grace as Venom - yeah, he's skinny, but he's a good enough actor that I'm willing to put that aside. No, the things that really, really bothered me were the scattered plot and characterisation.
They tried to tell five stories at once and it just didn't work. It was... scattered. Each element felt rushed and underdeveloped. They'd have done better, I think, if they had focused on one or two of the story lines - like Venom and Harry or dark!Spidey and Flint - rather than trying to incorporate them all at once. It would have been excellent had they set up the Venom storyline to culminate in the next movie, rather than rush through it in this one. It might even have left a cliff-hanger worth coming back for.
As for the characterisation... well, this is the first adaptation I've seen where I really didn't
like Spiderman. I know that Spiderman is supposed to be more of an average guy, and I've never had a problem with that in the past, but in this film... Gah. He's not somebody I want my 4 year old cousin to look up to and I'm debating even letting him see it.
I won't even touch on what they did to poor Harry.
Disappointed doesn't even sum it up. But... that said, I'll still be lining up with a hopeful heart to see Spiderman 4 when/if it comes out.
[/end whinge]
Dave
