Category Fandom Friday

The Amazing Spider-Man

thegeekregistry 1 Comment

Hey guys! Thanks for coming back for this week’s Fandom Friday! Like I promised last week, I’ll be discussing The Amazing Spider-Man.

We’ve already discussed what Peter Parker and Spider-Man are like in the comic books, so I won’t go over that again.

I find that Andrew Garfield’s interpretation of Peter Parker blows Tobey Maquire’s out of the water. I can relate to him ten times better than I can Maquire, and that is a big part about Spider-Man. I mean, especially for younger audiences, what’s more relatable than a teenager with work problems, relationship problems, social anxiety, sarcasm, and just all around teenage angst? I feel like Andrew Garfield’s interpretation really nails that.

I like how they started off with Gwen Stacy. I’m really pleased with that. I love how Emma Stone plays her, too. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone really click, and you can see that, which makes their characters’ relationship seem much more real. I haven’t seen the second movie, but from what I’ve read and also accidentally seen, it seems like they did a good job on her death too.

I adore the fact that they got more into Peter Parker’s parent’s, Richard and Mary Parker, backstory. Their backstory is crazy, but it’s really interesting too. They’re agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I feel like that says enough about them.

I really enjoy Flash Thompson in the first Spider-man movie. I like how Chris Zylka played him, and I like how he is three dimensional, how he has a backstory even if we aren’t told about it. Bullies are bullies for a reason, they hurt people for a reason, and I enjoy that in the movie they acknowledge that. I love how they allude to his love of Spider-Man at the end of the film, too.

I like how Peter is seriously smart, too. He made his suit all by himself, he made his webshooters all by himself, how he became Spider-Man almost completely by himself. While yes, the super-spider-bite does give him wall-crawling ability, the infamous Spidey-Sense, and some strength and agility he didn’t already have, he doesn’t just suddenly have wits, he isn’t just suddenly smart, he isn’t just suddenly Spider-Man too. What he first did with his powers was hunting down his uncle’s killer. He didn’t realize he had a responsibility by putting on that suit.

The scene where Peter Parker saves the kid on the bridge was amazing. How Peter has Jack, the boy, wear his mask, acknowledges the fact that it’s really not about who’s inside the suit, it’s about what the suit means, who you truly are inside. That was also the moment Peter realized he didn’t have to kill someone else to avenge his uncle. That moment was when he realized he could protect his city and its people to avenge his uncle.

Spider-Man is all about the choices you make and how they effect you and the people you love.. The Amazing Spider-Man shows that so much better than the original trilogy.

I love how Denis Leary plays Captain George Stacy. It’s surprising just how well he plays it.  I also love the argument between Peter and Captain Stacy. It shows that Peter has courage, another thing he has with and without his powers.

The fondness that Doctor Connors has for Peter, and the curiosity that Peter has for Connors is really intriguing and is quite real. And while it was only in a deleted scene, they did show that Connors wasn’t just a scientist gone mad from pressure, he had a family, he was a father. And the CGI with his arm was great.

I really enjoy how they designed the Lizard. It goes back to the original comic book designs, and I appreciate that, along with the scene after he escapes the sewers with the ripped lab coat. His mouth, during some parts, could have done with a bit more movement and fluidity.

Uncle Ben’s and Captain Stacy’s death scenes were devastating, but in the best way.

I really like the acknowledgement of his wrestling career, I think the fight scenes are just long enough, I love how Andrew produces Spider-Man’s quips and one-liners so naturally, and, as always, I love Stan Lee’s cameo.

I haven’t seen the Amazing Spider-Man 2 yet, so when I do I will review that too.

I really hope they give us information on that after credits scene as well.

It’s a change of pace, but next week I’ll be reviewing the Fault in our Stars.

Have a Marvelous weekend!

Original artwork by Gabriele Dell’Otto

Spider-Man

thegeekregistry Leave a comment

Hey there, guys! So, as you know from my father’s previous post, I’ll be doing Fandom Fridays from now on! I’ll be making my debut here with a review of the original Spider-Man trilogy.

Okay, let’s get started!

The original comic book character is a young adult, with a struggling freelance job, and a romantic life. Peter Parker works at the Daily Bugle, a fictitious New York newspaper industry, and sells J. Jonah Jameson, the head of the industry, his photographs of Spider-Man.  Peter Parker is a genius, he is witty even without the mask of Spider-Man, and he is obviously like a young adult- still learning, still growing, but mature enough to know the difference between right and wrong in controlled situations. Peter Parker’s first love is Gwen Stacy, but then she tragically dies and his new love interest becomes Mary Jane Watson.

Now, starting off with Mary Jane is overall a bad idea, since Gwen’s death is an extreme learning experience for him. Especially with how she dies. So having Gwen, one of the most important people in his life, join in the third movie just to be a plot device really wasted her character. And I disliked how Mary Jane had no character development through the entire trilogy.

I like how they started off the trilogy. I enjoy how they put in the wrestling career Peter had, and I love Bruce Campbell’s cameo. I don’t like Toby Maquire as Spider-Man, but I feel like he was good anyways. I feel like it was a good idea to start off with the Green Goblin, and even though he’s introduced in the fourteenth issue of Amazing Spider-Man, he is still one of the first villains for Spider-Man. I like how Willem Defoe played him, how you can see the insanity in him when he takes the serum. I enjoy how they wrote him too, how he had motive, but it wasn’t something that made you pity him.

I think it was a good move to go with Doctor Octavius next. I love how Alfred Molina played him, and I don’t know who else could play him like Alfred Molina did. I don’t feel like they handled the arms very well, though. In a real life situation, I could hardly believe that a crowd of people would just brush off four gigantic robot arms that happen to be attachable. And I really like Rosalie Octavius. I really dislike the whole I’m-Losing-My-Powers-Because-Of-Relationship-Problems thing in it. I do understand how they were trying to tell how much Mary Jane meant to Peter, but I feel like they could have handled it a bit differently.

I really didn’t like the third Spider-Man movie. I didn’t like Topher Grace as Eddie Brock, and as Venom it was worse. The entire movie has a big problem; there are way too many subplots and conflict. With Sandman, Green Goblin, Venom/Eddie Brock, the Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson love triangle, Harry Osborne, and the emo Peter Parker, there are way too many subplots. And Topher Grace as Eddie Brock was an odd decision.

I really like Harry Osborn and Flint Marko, but I don’t have much to say about them. I like how they had Harry not be vengeful against Peter by getting a concussion, and his death scene was very touching. I enjoy sympathetic villains, I like how Flint Marko has an actual backstory and serious motives. When he’s forming back into himself after his DNA is changed, the CGI on that part is amazing. It’s so touching, how he tries to grab his locket with his daughter’s picture in it. It has so much life to it, you can see the struggle as he forms. It was incredible.

I did not enjoy how they made Venom. I like the textures, and I do like the overall idea, but the thing about Venom is that, to me, the symbiote was using him as just a sort of base to create itself from. He has a very alien look to him. His tongue is unnaturally long, same with his teeth. But with the movie, it wasn’t very impressive. It just didn’t feel like it was enough. Having his face peel away so that Eddie can talk just makes Venom so much less like the actual Venom. The symbiote controls him, but gives Eddie the illusion of being a part of him. I do enjoy how Topher Grace performed with what they gave him, he truly is a good actor, this just wasn’t the role for him.

I think the first Spider-Man movie is the best of the trilogy, but it does go into a decline after that.

I’ll be reviewing Amazing Spider-Man next week, so do come back! Have a Marvelous weekend!

Original artwork by Gabriele Dell’Otto.