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Amazing Spider-Man #2
This is a review from a student of comics, mostly, 1961- 1977, who will not discuss spoilers, but will try to place this within the frame of the Marvel Movie Universe. For a regular review you can go to Rotten Tomatoes
Amazing Spider-Man #2 is not the worst superhero movie of this modern era. The Spirit was. This doesn't really even come close to being that bad, but it does rival Superman Returns, and in my opinion, Man of Steel. And like Man of Steel they have changed the title character so much I don’t recognize him. This is just not a good movie. If you haven't seen it in the theater and you're compelled to see it wait till it comes on cable.
I realize that continuity, after 50 years, is a very difficult and unfair burden for writers to have to endure. I bought Amazing Fantasy #15 on the stands all those years ago. And I bought the next 175 issues of Spider-Man. I certainly don’t expect the character to be quit the same. But while the first Spider-Man series got things basically right, the rebooted Amazing Spiderman completely eradicated all the things that I had enjoyed about Spider-Man.
Steve Ditko, the co-creator of Spiderman, always got it right. He developed, or re-developed, Iron Man and the Hulk when they were not very successful. He was able to see, keep and build on the essence of the character. He recognized the essential things about their personality that we felt were compelling, and develop a fresh new world around them. He introduced new supporting characters and emphasized their motivations. And he created situation where the characters would conflict or bond and sometimes both! Somehow you felt he kept intact their inner qualities that had made the characters interesting and compelling.
Not so here. The first thing that strikes me here is that we have people 30 years old playing 18 year olds. Their look, actions and dialogue don’t fit. Instead of being shy and aloof, he is an overconfident show off who has none of the reserve or the doubts of the original Peter. He has none of the qualities that I related to… change the environment, add new characters, but keep the original person! Here, in high school he already has a permanent great relationship with a gorgeous woman. In any age, 1964 or 2014, Parker should be having trouble dealing with woman.
Electro is the major villain (one of three) in the piece. But they dehumanize him so much that you cannot relate to him whatsoever.. Speaking of being overdone they bring back the Green Goblin. The original Goblin was not a super-villain, but a gangster who had incredible gadgets. Not so here.
So the movie was completely empty. Sally Field playing Aunt May is completely miss-cast or underused. The director in his commentary says that he wanted her to be Peter’s mentor but they don't give her the opportunity to do that.
The movie is two hours and 20 minutes; they have added an additional five minutes to the DVDs. They used very quick editing to add to the tension, but it destroyed any chance of characterization, zipping around so fast. I was actually bored after 10 minutes.
The special effects were wonderful and almost always look great. There were times when Spider-Man did look animated. The Blu-ray disc has great images and a powerful soundtrack. There is a 100 minute behind the scenes feature which divided into seven chapters. There is nothing really new here; you’ve seen this sort of thing before. There are 25 minutes of outtakes. There’s e a scene with Peter Parker meeting his now dead father which is an alternative ending to the movie. Here the father gets to say… “With great power comes great responsibility.” The rest of the deleted scenes are narrated by the director who tells why they were not used.
Those who buy the DVD will be a little bit shortchanged. The Behind the Scenes is not on the disk and instead of having 25 minutes of outtakes there are only nine minutes. While the visuals on the DVD are excellent the Dolby Digital soundtrack is not very good, the DTS soundtrack on the Blu-ray is so much better
This is a review from a student of comics, mostly, 1961- 1977, who will not discuss spoilers, but will try to place this within the frame of the Marvel Movie Universe. For a regular review you can go to Rotten Tomatoes
Amazing Spider-Man #2 is not the worst superhero movie of this modern era. The Spirit was. This doesn't really even come close to being that bad, but it does rival Superman Returns, and in my opinion, Man of Steel. And like Man of Steel they have changed the title character so much I don’t recognize him. This is just not a good movie. If you haven't seen it in the theater and you're compelled to see it wait till it comes on cable.
I realize that continuity, after 50 years, is a very difficult and unfair burden for writers to have to endure. I bought Amazing Fantasy #15 on the stands all those years ago. And I bought the next 175 issues of Spider-Man. I certainly don’t expect the character to be quit the same. But while the first Spider-Man series got things basically right, the rebooted Amazing Spiderman completely eradicated all the things that I had enjoyed about Spider-Man.
Steve Ditko, the co-creator of Spiderman, always got it right. He developed, or re-developed, Iron Man and the Hulk when they were not very successful. He was able to see, keep and build on the essence of the character. He recognized the essential things about their personality that we felt were compelling, and develop a fresh new world around them. He introduced new supporting characters and emphasized their motivations. And he created situation where the characters would conflict or bond and sometimes both! Somehow you felt he kept intact their inner qualities that had made the characters interesting and compelling.
Not so here. The first thing that strikes me here is that we have people 30 years old playing 18 year olds. Their look, actions and dialogue don’t fit. Instead of being shy and aloof, he is an overconfident show off who has none of the reserve or the doubts of the original Peter. He has none of the qualities that I related to… change the environment, add new characters, but keep the original person! Here, in high school he already has a permanent great relationship with a gorgeous woman. In any age, 1964 or 2014, Parker should be having trouble dealing with woman.
Electro is the major villain (one of three) in the piece. But they dehumanize him so much that you cannot relate to him whatsoever.. Speaking of being overdone they bring back the Green Goblin. The original Goblin was not a super-villain, but a gangster who had incredible gadgets. Not so here.
So the movie was completely empty. Sally Field playing Aunt May is completely miss-cast or underused. The director in his commentary says that he wanted her to be Peter’s mentor but they don't give her the opportunity to do that.
The movie is two hours and 20 minutes; they have added an additional five minutes to the DVDs. They used very quick editing to add to the tension, but it destroyed any chance of characterization, zipping around so fast. I was actually bored after 10 minutes.
The special effects were wonderful and almost always look great. There were times when Spider-Man did look animated. The Blu-ray disc has great images and a powerful soundtrack. There is a 100 minute behind the scenes feature which divided into seven chapters. There is nothing really new here; you’ve seen this sort of thing before. There are 25 minutes of outtakes. There’s e a scene with Peter Parker meeting his now dead father which is an alternative ending to the movie. Here the father gets to say… “With great power comes great responsibility.” The rest of the deleted scenes are narrated by the director who tells why they were not used.
Those who buy the DVD will be a little bit shortchanged. The Behind the Scenes is not on the disk and instead of having 25 minutes of outtakes there are only nine minutes. While the visuals on the DVD are excellent the Dolby Digital soundtrack is not very good, the DTS soundtrack on the Blu-ray is so much better
