First off, my expectations for this movie were not
high. I’m not some Tobey McGuire nor do
I believe he turned the role of Spiderman into some artistic piece destined for movie history. But let’s face it, until his Spiderman first came
out, we all thought Marvel superhero movies were a joke. Still, it was only five years since the last
film/debacle so I really didn’t see the need for a reboot…except to make money for the studio. Engage your spoiler-shields – though in
fairness, I will keep the reveals to a minimum.
With my blasé attitude to the movie as your backdrop, let me
say, this movie rocked! It starts out
slow. Look, we get it, Peter Parker gets
bitten by a radioactive spider…duh. Can
we get to the fights? This movie focused
on Peter’s back story beyond Aunt May and Uncle Ben and concentrated on what
happened to Peter’s parents. The film
never really explains this – but in the end you don’t care. Stick around until mid-way through the
credits and you’ll get a little hint of where this storyline may go next.
This movie falls back to the original Spiderman comic book themes –
i.e. Parker makes his own web-slinging devices rather than mutating to the point
of spinning webs. His girlfriend is not
Mary Jane Parker but Gwen Stacy, just like in the comics. The actor that plays Parker is Andrew
Garfield and I found myself liking him.
He’s not a dork or geek, he’s just a normal guy. We even get some clashes with Flash Thompson
in the movie. Okay, I’m dating my
inner-geek here, but if you read Spiderman back in the 1960’s and 70’s like me,
this movie actually pays great homage to the original characters.
The actors were great.
First off, Emma Stone, as Gwen Stacy, really was fantastic. Her acting was with her eyes and she really
did a great job. Aunt May was played by
Sally Field, which oddly worked for me.
Even Denis Leary who plays Gwen’s dad was engaging. I could have done without Martin Sheen as
Uncle Ben, but let’s face it, if you know the Spiderman story, you know he dies
anyway.
The villain is The Lizard.
Okay the special effects for this creature weren’t as good as The
Avenger’s Hulk, but they were passable.
The Lizard didn’t wow me. Maybe I’m
getting to the point where I expect a lot more from movies – I wanted to get
blown away. As a villain, he’s a good
match for Spiderman and the fights have an almost Michael Bay feeling about
them, with Spidey bouncing all over the place in the battles.
Other little gems in this movie– the traditional cameo by Stan Lee was
great, but aren’t they all? It was great
to see Parker outshine Flash Thompson in the school. We get a hint at Norman Osborn (Green Goblin –
eventually?) but that’s not a big loss.
To be honest, it was good to see the franchise move away from that villain. Spiderman swinging through NYC – that never
gets old.
The downside to the move?
No J. J. Jameson, editor of the Bugle.
No, “with great power comes great responsibility,” line – though honestly,
it would have been a tad corny in this movie.
No Bruce Campbell cameo. Also the
writers planted a lot of hints about Parker’s parents, but didn’t drive that
point to conclusion. Apparently this is
going to be an ongoing thing with the franchise.
Is the movie worth going to?
Yes! In fact, I find myself
highly recommending this movie. It’s
good, really good, and fun. Get out of the heat and go see this movie!
No comments:
Post a Comment