I see a lot of Mcguire Spider bashing, but I remember 1 and 2 being quite enjoyable.

 

Just got back from seeing it, and it was (appropriately) amazing.

Garfield and Stone sold the relationship and their characters really well, the action was seriously cool, it was funny, and they actually seem to have set up a plot thread for the series, which I like.

The plot was a bit predictable, partly because of the insane amount of previews (I believe there's a compilation on youtube, with all the individual scenes from each trailer, no repetitions, lasting some twenty minutes or so), but also partly because it's more or less a retelling of the first episodes of the 90's cartoon. Still, it serves its purpose, and it's not a bad plot exactly, just one I've seen before. That's really my only complaint.

 

Maguire's face was okay at certain angles and as long as he wasn't displaying any emotion. When neither of those requirements are met... well.



You'd think a mask that fully covers the face would mitigate that, but no, they also insist on the mask coming off in any dramatic scene.

I personally think Topher Grace would have made a better Spider-Man than Eddie Brock.

 

That was another good thing; the mask came off a few times, sure, but they managed to justify it each time (or everyone there knew who he was anyway).

 

Just watched an online version. Couple of scenes weren't there but they were a part of the trailer so it was fine, and the audio was static at times, but I still got it. It was a good movie, better than the Raimi ones in my opinion, but not great or excellent.

Thoughts:
The development of Peter's attitude as Spiderman kinda was off to me. He was too playful post-Uncle Ben's death with the car thief, IMO, and from there it never really settled right with me. I think if he had been curious (train scene and forward), then arrogant (with Flash, maybe picking a fight instead of destroying a basketball hoop for no reason), then vengeful (Ben dies, he shakes off Flash's olive branch, goes psycho on various blonde car thieves), then kinder and maybe more playful as a result of Gwen's influence + Captain Stacey's words about his hurting police operations.

So... was Peter's mom a Hooter's waitress or something? Because really, not a single bit of info on her the entire film. Not like it would have been that hard, just lump her in with Peter's dad and say they were both scientists who worked with Curt Connors. The complete lack of information on her just irked me. Also, them just dying in a plane crash was stupid.

Fight scenes were awesome. Peter continued to develop and learn from each fight.

Crane worker being the dad of the kid he saved was too cheesy, though not as bad as the New Yorker one in the Raimi films. Didn't feel that needed to be there.

Indian evil assistant to Norman Osborn could have been dealt with a bit better I think. Never really got his ending, did we?

The Lizard's face looked wierd as shit. Wish they'd gone with a snout or made him a bit more like Killer Croc.

 

His parents in this were based on their Ultimate version. From what I remember she got like, a paragraph of throwaway lines in her combined appearances, and no information what she actually did. The focus was always on Peter's father.

Well, that's also taken from Ultimate Spider-Man, and if it's anything like in there then the plane crash was caused by people who wanted them dead (Trask Industries in the comic, and likely OsCorp in this). That might be touched on more in the sequel.

I read that he had another scene where he found Connors in the sewer and got killed, but they cut it. Maybe it'll be on the DVD release.

I didn't think it was as bad as people initially feared when I saw it in motion, but yeah, I think I'd prefer a snout. I guess they just wanted the face to emote, which is kind of hard when you look like a Hulked-out velociraptor.

An issue I found with this movie after watching an online version myself (the quality of which was terrible, by the way) is that Peter didn't make his own web fluid. Apparently OsCorp makes it and Peter just buys the stuff. Though he says he made it himself to the carjacker, so... I dunno. I think they could've showed the webshooters/web fluid creation better.

 

The Web-shooters are an iffy subject for me. On one hand, creating them shows Peter's intelligence and his improvisational skills that he's notorious for in the comics. Plus they can have moments of tension or drama when he runs out. On the other hand, having biological webshooters makes some sense considering his spider-based powers, and doesn't stretch the incredulity too much in a movie like an 18 year old createing a revolutionary web-fluid that can be used in a number of situations ranging from riot control to building material would.

 

Some of the script in this film was horrible.
Spiderman is awkward as hell in school and is a smart-ass when he's fighting crime?
That really pissed me off.
He's so bad at social interactions that he can't hold a conversation with a girl?
And yet he can spew one-liners and quips when he's wearing tights?
Ridiculous.

 

You're obviously new to Spider-Man.

 

To be far that's pretty much ripped from the comic books.

 

The interpretation I got was that Peter built his webshooters, bought/stole/whatever (I'm assuming it's not exactly cheap) the web fluid, but then refined it for his needs. So he's mostly making it for himself, if you think of the Oscorp product as simply a component in the process.

 

http://i.imgur.com/hJtwX.jpg

 

I'm convinced they based the Lizard's character design off the live-action Super Mario Goombas.



Gooooooooooooooooooooommmmbaaaaaaaa

 

I think there was a throwaway line in the movie where she worked some retail job (at least when she met Peter's father, anyways. Who knows what happened to her career after that.)

 

Right you are sir, he bought his custom briefcase from her, that's how they met.

 

I know that's how it is in the comics.
I still find the contradiction stupid and nonsensical.
I'm not asking for a scientific explanation of superhero physics or villain stupidity. I give those a free pass in terms of not making sense. But character interactions in superhero films should still make sense.
YMMV, obviously.

 

You've never heard of GIFT have you? The idea that a teenage boy granted anonymity and superpowers can become an asshole is that surprising to you?

 

Its not that he's an asshole. Its that he's now not incapable of speaking.
Its this contradiction:
'awkward as fuck, border-line socially retarded'>->->'spewing lines like a pro'.

 

Oh I get your point. I'm saying that taking on a persona and not having to worry about people laughing at Peter Parker + superpowers= confidence. And he is rarely unable to speak, he only does that with Gwen for obvious reasons, most of the time he's fine talking. He's just not as chatty.

 

Welp, I've seen it twice now and did like it much more than The Avengers. More than the 2002 Spiderman, for sure. It would have edged out Spider-Man 2 if not for the really, really weak villain. Some minor gripes with some scenes, some annoying lazy writing (Captain Stacy saying "I get it, your boyfriend is a man of many masks HURR DERPADURR" made me cringe like I was having a seizure).

I can't help but feel (and I fucking hate it) the fact that they really foreshadowed Gwen dying. Particularly Stacy getting Peter to promise him to stay away, and that "but those are the best kind" line in the last scene about promises. Spider-Man is basically a character that makes mistakes quite a bit, and gets slapped in the face by hand-of-god or whatever to pay for it. This one had MISTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE written all over it.

Minor thing: Does anyone know how Gwen knew to (well, try) hide the Ganali cloud-launcher thing from The Lizard? She doesn't know that he plans to disperse the serum over the city, because Parker finds out about it in the sewers from his video, immediately calls her and does not mention it at all. He just tells her to make a antidote, nothing about him about to throw the shit over the city.

So its either an annoying plothole or they expect us to believe Gwen figured it out somehow, which is beyond ridiculous a notion to entertain, so I guess it's just a plothole.