Amazing Spider-Man
Jul. 7th, 2012 07:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
daibhidcThat was, well, amazing.
First off, to get the bad stuff out of the way, Garfield's Peter Parker is even worse at hiding his secret identity than Maguire's, and I don't just mean leaving cameras with his name on them lying about, or even just telling people. Tobey-Spidey had a scene where he used his powers to make Flash look a bit of a twit, but which was still more-or-less explicable; this version has an extended sequence where he is openly superhuman on the basketball court. There is no way that nobody at Midtown has noticed Peter has powers.
The streamlined origin is clever; taking the idea from Ultimate Spider-Man that Peter's dad was a scientist whose research was adapted by Peter into webshooters and by Trask Industries into Venom and taking it further: now Richard Parker is responsible for genetically-transferrable superspiders, and worked alongside Curt Connors doing something similar with reptiles. And it's all under the umbrella of Oscorp's search of a serum that will cure their founder's illness, which might possibly play some sort of part in the sequel. (Who is the shadowy figure [actually listed in the credits as Man In Shadows] who knows something about the Parkers' deaths? Could his name possibly rhyme with Lorman Fosborne?)
The only thing they don't tie in is Uncle Ben's death, which is as it should be: this is a random tragic event, and making it part of the metaplot would be missing the point. An interesting twist is that Peter doesn't find the right crook straight away and learn an important lesson; he spends a good chunk of his early career focusing on crims who look like the one who killed his uncle in the hope of getting the right one, which as Captain Stacy points out, makes him more about vengence than justice.
Captain Stacy was a nicely-played character: sort of the JJJ role, except his distrust for Spidey isn't irrational, and he eventually aknowledges he's wrong. Interestingly, while I was worried for Gwen's life once or twice, since we all know the title of the only important Gwen Stacy story, it wasn't until the final confrontation that I suddenly thought "Hang on, in the comics Captain Stacy died before Gwen, didn't he?"
And Rhys Ifans is a great villain; well-meaning but conflicted as Curt, totally insane as the Lizard, and yet still recognisably the same character. In fact, the cast were all brilliant, except for that guy playing the librarian. Honestly, who let him in? (I think I saw him in another Marvel movie, does he know someone at the company or something?)
And of course, we got the requisite The Good People Of New York Do Their Bit To Help Spidey scene, with the crane operators; a nice touch being that this was directly connected to him acting like a hero and saving a kid.
Looking forward to the next one.
First off, to get the bad stuff out of the way, Garfield's Peter Parker is even worse at hiding his secret identity than Maguire's, and I don't just mean leaving cameras with his name on them lying about, or even just telling people. Tobey-Spidey had a scene where he used his powers to make Flash look a bit of a twit, but which was still more-or-less explicable; this version has an extended sequence where he is openly superhuman on the basketball court. There is no way that nobody at Midtown has noticed Peter has powers.
The streamlined origin is clever; taking the idea from Ultimate Spider-Man that Peter's dad was a scientist whose research was adapted by Peter into webshooters and by Trask Industries into Venom and taking it further: now Richard Parker is responsible for genetically-transferrable superspiders, and worked alongside Curt Connors doing something similar with reptiles. And it's all under the umbrella of Oscorp's search of a serum that will cure their founder's illness, which might possibly play some sort of part in the sequel. (Who is the shadowy figure [actually listed in the credits as Man In Shadows] who knows something about the Parkers' deaths? Could his name possibly rhyme with Lorman Fosborne?)
The only thing they don't tie in is Uncle Ben's death, which is as it should be: this is a random tragic event, and making it part of the metaplot would be missing the point. An interesting twist is that Peter doesn't find the right crook straight away and learn an important lesson; he spends a good chunk of his early career focusing on crims who look like the one who killed his uncle in the hope of getting the right one, which as Captain Stacy points out, makes him more about vengence than justice.
Captain Stacy was a nicely-played character: sort of the JJJ role, except his distrust for Spidey isn't irrational, and he eventually aknowledges he's wrong. Interestingly, while I was worried for Gwen's life once or twice, since we all know the title of the only important Gwen Stacy story, it wasn't until the final confrontation that I suddenly thought "Hang on, in the comics Captain Stacy died before Gwen, didn't he?"
And Rhys Ifans is a great villain; well-meaning but conflicted as Curt, totally insane as the Lizard, and yet still recognisably the same character. In fact, the cast were all brilliant, except for that guy playing the librarian. Honestly, who let him in? (I think I saw him in another Marvel movie, does he know someone at the company or something?)
And of course, we got the requisite The Good People Of New York Do Their Bit To Help Spidey scene, with the crane operators; a nice touch being that this was directly connected to him acting like a hero and saving a kid.
Looking forward to the next one.
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no subject
Date: 2012-07-07 07:40 pm (UTC)Ifans says that's not who it is. I've seen the suggestion online that it's Otto Octavius since they (Octavius and Connors, that is) worked together at Oscorp in Ultimate Spider-Man. (At least, that's what I'm told. I've never read an issue of USM.)
In fact, the cast were all brilliant, except for that guy playing the librarian. Honestly, who let him in? (I think I saw him in another Marvel movie, does he know someone at the company or something?)
Actually, I loved that Stan Lee cameo. I thought it was hilarious. (And I'd love to see Stan cameo in a DC Comics movie, just to screw with the heads of Marvel fanboys.)
Doubling back...
First off, to get the bad stuff out of the way, Garfield's Peter Parker is even worse at hiding his secret identity than Maguire's, and I don't just mean leaving cameras with his name on them lying about, or even just telling people.
I think it was Peter David who said that there's no way that Peter's identity isn't public at the end of the film, and I had the feeling that Aunt May knows exactly who Spider-Man is at the end. Everyone's just being polite and looking the other way.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-07 10:08 pm (UTC)Yeah, I like the Stan Lee cameos really; I love the idea of him unexpectedly popping up in Dark Knight Rises or Man of Steel.
Yeah, May knows for definite. And Flash, I think, suspects, but has "Puny Parker" so firmly set in his mind that he can't quite accept it.
I'm reminded of a Superman story where he had a nightmare in which the supporting cast said something along the lines of "You're just wearing glasses. But you seemed so convinced it was an impenetrable disguise, we didn't like to say anything..."
no subject
Date: 2012-07-12 07:08 am (UTC)Is that the one that ends with him discovering that his glasses enhances the "super hypnosis" hes subconsciously doing all the time?
First off, to get the bad stuff out of the way, Garfield's Peter Parker is even worse at hiding his secret identity than Maguire's, and I don't just mean leaving cameras with his name on them lying about, or even just telling people.
I actually liked that. I'm so tired of angsty oh-no-noone-can-know-my-secret-lets-be-a-jerk-to-everyone plotlines....
no subject
Date: 2012-07-12 07:12 am (UTC)