Saw Amazing Spider-man last night and thought it was great - totally
expected it to be mediocre and feel too soon for the reboot.I decided to do a movie-by-movie comparison which will contain spoilers from Amazing Spider-Man.
Credit to Eric Schuster for his thoughts - some of which are included below.
This could really be two categories but Andrew Garfield trumps Tobey Maguire in both
Best Girlfriend
1. Emma Stone in Amazing SM - by far
2. Gwen Stacy in Spider-man 3 (Bryce Dallas Howard) - on screen for like 20 min and still better than Dunst
3. Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) - just not likeable
Best Supporting Character
1. J. Jonah Jameson Spidey 1-3
2. Harry Osborn Spidey 1-3 - James Franco was badly underused
3. Gwen Stacy in Spidey 3 - really appreciate how bad she feels when Peter messes with MJ
4. Uncle Ben in Amazing Spider-man
5. Macho Man Randy Savage in Spidey 1
6. Peter's landlord in Spidey 2-3
7. Aunt May in Spidey 1-3
Most Convincing Bad Guy (as in bad guy you actually believed could hurt Spidey)
1a. Lizard ASM - actually seemed genuinely dangerous
1b. Doctor Octopus SM2 - him too
2. Green Goblin (Norman) SM1
3. Green Goblin (Harry) SM1-3
4. Sandman SM3 - I guess, I mean... he turned into a weird giant sand monster
5. Venom SM3 - could not have been done more terribly
Best Uncle Ben/Aunt May combo
Amazing Spider-man but not by much. Definitely like Martin Sheen more as Uncle Ben but pre-reboot Aunt May is a little better than Sally Field (who is very likeable)
Best Origin Story
Amazing wins again - much better than the overblown wrestling thing. Much more believable that Peter doesn't stop a shoplifter vs a wrestling thief. Radioactive spiders existing made a ton more sense. Parents' thing was interesting and added to it. Only downside - none of Macho Man saying things like "You're going NOWHERE... I've got you for 3 minutes... 3 minutes of PLAYTIME."
Most Convincing Reason why a Bad Guy would become Bad
1. Green Goblin (Harry) SM3- totally believable that he would want to avenge his dad
2. Lizard SM1- actually a legit reason, trying to help people
3. Green Goblin (Norman) SM1 - wants wealth
4. Doc Ock - not believable but whatever (his tentacles are evil and can think??)
5. Venom - so dumb
6. Sandman - um did they not realize a guy was standing in their giant test pit.... also why are they running their test IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT (also already a criminal but somehow supposed to be a tragic figure?)
Dumbest Scene
1. Spider-Man 3 dance down the street scene
2. Spider-Man 3 tells MJ to basically quit whining and then kisses Gwen upside down and then tries to propose to MJ almost immediately after.
no other scenes are close
Best Scene
1. Train scene in Spidey 2, especially where the citizens help Spidey
2. First big battle of Spidey 1 with the balloons and the exploding balcony (just epic when it first came out)
4. Last 20 minutes of Amazing SM (minus the cop chase - seriously can we have a superhero movie where the police don't try to hunt down the GOOD GUYS?)
5. All of Bruce Campbell's cameos
6. Fight between Peter and Harry in Spidey 3 - best part of this movie, very intense
7. William Dafoe dealing with his inner demons in Spidey 1 (seems dated now but was a really good scene at the time)
8. Gwen's reaction to Peter being Spider-man in ASM
9. Scenes that show Curt Connor's internal struggle with his missing limb - just very believable, well-acted, really showed the tragedy it is for him.
Biggest Waste
1. Venom - what a tragedy
2. The black costume taking over Spidey - could have been so much more and actually taken the movies to a place of moral depth and introspection
3. William Defoe's Green Goblin costume - could it have looked cheesier?
Hopes for the rest of the reboot
1. Do Venom right or not at all
2. Actually make Peter deal with the implications of his powers in a mature way - for example, I'd love for Aunt May to actually find out who he is and have real conversations with him about it
3. Shouldn't Peter have more friends than just his gf and Harry (who becomes his mortal enemy)?
4. Don't do the whole Goblin saga - we've been there
5. Don't push Gwen aside quickly - Emma Stone and Garfield have good chemistry, keep them together a while
6. No more mad scientists please
7. For villains - go with Kraven and do it right and it would be awesome. Or since they are going with the conspiracy thing, go with Kingpin and have him employing lots of other bad guys like Rhino, Chameleon, Electro, Mysterio. I like Shocker, Scorpion, etc but they are too similar to guys we've seen already.
8. Keep the right mix of cockiness and insecurity to keep Spidey likeable. In Spider-man 1 and 2, he was too insecure and in 3 he was too cocky. Garfield's version struck a good balance.
Not sure you pumped Emma Stone enough. She needs her own category.
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