Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic Just saw Amazing Spiderman (SPOILERS!)

Just returned from seeing the Amazing Spiderman.

I think this movie stayed closer to the original characters than the previous movies. As in the Amazing Spiderman comic, this movie stays with Peter in High School. (The other comic, Peter Parker the Spectacular Spiderman has Peter in his 20's so there were two storylines going at the same time.)

I enjoyed it overall but Sally Field isn't Aunt May and I thought the movie had some pacing problems. I don't want to say too much and give anything away, but I wanted to see if anyone else has seen it. Opinions?

I saw it yesterday afternoon with my husband. We both hated it. They should have squashed this bug with a rolled up newspaper.

I'll be the first to admit that I am a huge, huge, huge Sam Raimi fan. I worship the ground the man sweats on. I played hookey from college to watch him film the exterior shots of the burning building sequence for the first Spiderman film...and was lucky enough to spend a few minutes talking to him.

That being said, I went into the new Spidey as open minded as I could.

But, Sam's movies were about a billion times better.

I was decently impressed with the CGI, but that was about as far as my favor went with it. There were pacing issues, yes, but there were bigger crimes being committed. I found the characters to be flat and wooden, and when Peter *did* show some personality, I found him to be pretty much a rude jerk. I wasn't buying Sally Field as Aunt May either. And Gwen was just limp, kinda like overcooked pasta. A lot of the plot points felt forced - especially the last time we see Uncle Ben. And since when is NYC over-run by lizards? I am a born and bred NYer with the city as my playground. Never once have I seen a lizard there.

Another huge problem I had was the blatant theft of some of Sam Raimi's work. I stopped counting after a while of how many things were lifted straight from Sam's movie.

And, to me, the story just really wasn't all that interesting. I didn't really care for the Lizard/Dr. Connors personal issues. There was just pretty much nothing compelling about his character.

They should have just kept the same cast and crew and made a Spiderman 4, not this piece of cinematic failure.

I'm going to think twice about seeing it now.

I don't know about that. Going into it, I was majorly skeptical, but I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, I do wish they'd made a fourth Raimi film instead of rebooting the entire thing in less than five years after the third's release date... but I enjoyed how closely it stuck to comic canon. I did *not* like Sally Field as Aunt May by any means, and I think they could have fixed (several) plot points and the like... but on a whole, it was all right.

I saw it on opening day, but my brother saw it twice (midnight showing and then again later with me in a group of friends). And I noticed (to my horror, as a major Raimi-Spidey lover) that there's a line for this. The younger kids (probably about 16 or younger) actually *prefer* the new Spiderman!! I'm going to call this the Raimi Line (tips hat to HIMYM). They were too young to see the Raimi movies in theaters (or too young to remember or care) and are more excited about the newer stuff. One boy (he's nine) actually told me that he hated the old Spidey movies because they were so stupid!



I just about died.

But other than the fact that I still prefer the originals (and come on, they had Dr. Connors set up perfectly to become the lizard next :rolleyes: ), I still was able to enjoy it. If you like the comics, then you should understand it at least. Besides, if all goes par for the course with canon, we won't have Gwen Stacy to fear for long.

*dies inside reading Mouse's post*

Aw, sorry DC. But did you not see my Stacy-splat? Doesn't that make you feel a little bit better? :p

But yeah. I was horrified. Stupid little Cole... how on earth could you hate the Raimi ones?

I will admit, I did enjoy your for Gwen!

How does anyone dislike anything that Sam Raimi touches? (I'll admit to not being a big fan of A Simple Plan and For Love Of The Game - but only because he was trying too hard to make an A-list movie and didn't go with his usual kinetic filmmaking style.)

Oh and I forgot to mention. I absolutely *died* during Stan Lee's cameo! That was about the only thing the movie got right!

I will admit, I did enjoy your True! I did love that they kept his cameo. I was extremely concerned that they wouldn't, so I guess that was a high point of the film. It was hilarious!

(I will also admit to loving the fact that Parker made his own web shooters-- just like the comics. But other than that... meh...)

Meh. Hubby and I like the organic ones in Sam's better. I kept hoping Peter would run out of webbing and go

I really, really liked the Sam Raimi movies, too. I thought the organic webshooters cheated the character, though. In the comic, Peter finds he has everything but the webs. Because he's also genius level he becomes a world-class expert on spider web chemistry and production in order to create the webshooters. Science is applied intelligence, intense curiosity and relelentless determination--pick at least two. It isn't too hard to believe, given we have real life(!!) high school students building fusion reactors and publishing scientific papers. (Look it up.) Peter wasn't just a photography geek, he was a geek's geek.

Of course, I didn't see too much of the comic Peter in this movie, either. I agree, he's a jerk through a lot of it. Several times I was sitting there asking why he wouldn't open his stupid mouth to make life better for himself. I have a big problem that he (apparently) stole the web cartridges from Oscorp rather than creating them on his own and (maybe) lying about it. The possibility of running out of web fluid was a good plot driver in the books but they didn't do much with it--maybe introduced for the inevitable sequel?

I think Flash was done very well and there were even parts of Martin Sheen's Ben that I liked. (Unforgivable that he didn't give THE line, though.) On the whole I'd prefer to have rented it.

Thanks for all of the reviews. Between having a tight schedule and tight expenses (autism-related therapies are a financial black hole), I only get to go see a movie perhaps once a year. I had been toying with the idea of this being the one for this year, but after reading these reviews, I have decided to wait until it's available for online viewing.

(I already know what next year's movie will be; I'll be watching Henry Cavill some time next summer.)

Joy,
Lynn

I didn't mind that Peter was smart enough to build the web shooters. I just perfer the organic - it felt more natural in his ability to control how much webbing came out. We never did see exactly how Peter controls the mechanical ones - does he press a button to start/stop shooting? Seems like it would be clunky, at best, to me.

I was also a bit indecisive if we were supposed to think that he stole the web fluid or if he somehow (don't ask me how) recreated it at home. What does he do when he runs out? Make more? Steal more?

Another huge disappointment was the cops who got sprayed with the lizard juice. They just sort of sat around until the cure came. Not one of them went psychotic and decided to go terrorize Brooklyn or something?

I got the sense that Peter was really nobody before his powers (true enough) but all of a sudden got rather cocky and high-and-mighty once he got his powers. It was a huge turn-off. I liked Raimi's version better where Peter retained a lot of his old insecurities (like around Mary Jane) after his infusion of spider powers.

And I HATED, HATED, HATED that by the end, Flash is all chummy with Peter. I was verbally bullied from 6th-8th grade, even somewhat my freshman year of high school. I fought back (okay, I never gave them a physical smack-down). No one ever became chummy with me after I stood up to them. That's simply NOT how bullies operate. So that last scene Flash is in made me want to smack director Marc Webb upside the head.

They didn't go into it in the movie, but there is supposed to be a palm-mounted pressure sensitive button that controls how the web is deployed. There would also have to be an interlock in the wrist to sense whether it is Peter pressing the button or something else. By the way, they're doing similar things with prosthetics now. The hand grasp is controlled by pressure sensors in the shoes (i.e. toes) that is disabled by pressure on the heel when walking.

Flash at the end...it is different with guys than girls. Guys will bully physically because they can get away with it on through to absolute hatred. It isn't necessarily the level of visciousness girls display verbally. I was bullied in elementary school and did do the smack down. In my case we didn't end up buddies but there was a level of respect established and it didn't happen again. (I have to admit I'm not snowy white here, either...I punched my best friend because it would be funny. It was so out of character for me that he cracked up, too.)

I don't think Amazing-Flash was realistic either but I really didn't like thug-Flash from Spiderman. Maybe it was my school or my generation or something else, but no one I know would have put up with thug-Flash. Overall, the Sam Raimi high school scenes reminded me more of my elementary school or maybe early junior high than they did of high school. For example--"Let's talk about how we listen," was straight from the third grade, not a H.S. field trip to a university.

OH Dear! Clears throat and tiptoes into the minefield. (BTW, not my first minefield). We saw Rami's Spidey 1 and 2 and skipped 3.

We really enjoyed this movie and I thought Andrew Garfield was awesome as Spidey. He had more of a Spiderman look. I enjoyed the plot and the cameo. I also got the irony of Martin Sheen giving fatherly advice to Peter Parker. (The irony is that Charlie Sheen is Martin's son. Maybe he got to say what he didn't to Charlie in real life.) They made Sally Field look old but I bought her acting. I rather liked the plot. And sorry, but I liked Gwen Stacy.

Of course the other bonus was the air conditioning in the theater since it was 118 degrees outside. (I'm not kidding.)
--tiptoes out--
Oh, BTW, we saw "Brave" too and it is cute.

Artemis

*Tiptoes onto minefield, coming out of a deep, deep, DEEP lurking hidey-hole*

It's amazing that it took this topic to bring me out of lurking to comment, but it did.

I'm so sorry to disagree with so many others on this topic, but I'm so happy to agree with Artemis:

I'm right there with you! I've seen all 3 of Raimi's Spiderman movies and I never was just in awe or blown away by them but that's probably because I grew up watching the Spiderman animated series in the early 90's on Fox. Tobey McGuire isn't one of my fav actors and while he did a decent Spiderman, I didn't care for his Peter Parker, too weak and dorky and mealy-mouthed for me. Andrew Garfield's Spiderman is witty and amusing, but it was his Peter Parker that I fell in love with. He is geeky in an adoring way to me and more in line with computer-geeky, smart geekiness.

And while I'll admit to loving Mary Jane Watson in the animated series, I didn't care for Kirsten Dunst's portrayal of her. I don't know a lot about Gwen Stacy's character but I loved Emma Stone's portrayal of her and to me, the chemistry between the two lead actors was palpable and left me wanting to see them together more, whereas with Tobey's Peter and Kirsten's MJ, I wasn't just dying to see them together. (Yeah, it's all about the romance for me - so sue me!)

Particularly enjoyable was the fact that they had Peter Parker "out" himself to Gwen. And what better way to do that when you are a geeky teenager and can't get the words out than to web her in the butt, 360 her, and plant a *ahem* nice kiss on her. *giggles like a high school fan girl*

And I liked the web cartridges, but again that's probably because in the animated series, he used the cartridges and that's what I liked and was used to. The soundtrack was enjoyable, as well, especially the romance track. And I liked the plot, the Lizard was the first villain that Spidey fought in the animated series that I watched when I was younger.

I think one of the main things I really "appreciated" about the new Spiderman was that they took more time to make his webslinging "believable". Sometimes when Tobey was webslinging, I was thinking in the back of my mind "um, what exactly is he attaching that webbing to, to achieve that particular angle or swing". Sometimes there just really wasn't anything nearby that physically would have actually worked for the telemetry of one of his swings. I thought they handled that part of the movie more accurately.

Anyway, I'm not alone. My husband and a bunch of my friends and his friends (ranging in age from teens to late 30's) all liked it really well (some of them seeing it multiple times, myself included).

Okay, and now I'll slink back into my hidey-hole. Please don't tar and feather me!!!

Later,

DJ

Hi DJ:
Thanks for de-lurking. Yeah, I agree with your assessments of the new Spidey. The swinging between the buildings was great as was the cars hanging off the bridge held by spider webs.
The other thing I like about this movie was that there was nothing about the newspaper coverage. It was the scientific conglomerate vs. the lone spiderman. I really disliked J.K.Simmons take on J.Jonah Jameson, the newspaper editor, in the Rami movies. It was so over the top. I cringed when I first saw him in "The Closer", but I like him in that and the Farmer's Insurance ads now. So I don't know why he gave the performance he did in the Spiderman movies.
To each their own take.
r/
Artemis

Hi Artemis!

Jameson was pretty over the top but he didn't bother me too awfully bad. I was kind of glad to see him absent from this movie though. I enjoyed seeing Gwen's dad after Peter and helping him discover who he was by the end of the movie - although my heart broke for Peter when he asked him to leave Gwen out of it.

Can't wait to see where they go with it. I'm just sorry that I have to wait 2 years. Ugh.

Oh well, at least I have Man of Steel to look forward to in a year. *waffy sigh*

C-ya later!

-- DJ

My optimism ramped up on the quality of the "Man of Steel" Superman movie when I found out Christopher Nolan is a producer on it.
regards
Artemis

Really? You're kidding! I didn't know that. Well that certainly puts an even more enticing spin on it.

Hubby and I went to see Batman over the weekend and they showed a clip of Man of Steel. It was so short as to hardly be considered a clip, but it was still nice and left me wanting more.

I decided that since I failed to stick around during the credits to see the "extra" scene for Spiderman, that I needed to go give it another viewing (not that I needed a reason but I decided it was a plausible excuse - lol - not really). So tomorrow I'll be going to see it again.

Hope you had a nice weekend!