Below is a review a friend of mine Justin Cotterell (who is also a fan of the show) wrote about The Amazing Spiderman 2. Thanks to Justin for allowing us to post this! - Nick The Amazing Clusterf*ck Spider-Man 2 by Justin Cotterell There is something very important to take into account when reading this review. I am a comic book fan, and Spider-Man was the first series I gravitated to as a kid. However, I am also a fan of film. My summers are spent routinely in movie theaters, and are easily my favorite times of the year. With all of this being said, I have an ability to differentiate between the two genres and what makes them tick. So... if youre one of those comic fans who feels that every film should religiously follow its source material, stop reading now. Seriously. Just click the X in the corner, because there is not a single thing I can say in this article that is going to sway your opinion. Years of nerd rage have turned you into that guy who 100% would believe that Val Kilmer was not in Top Gun simply because it would mean admitting you were wrong. ... Are they gone? Okay, good. Now for the remaining 5 of you out there who are somewhat willing to entertain my ideas... buckle in. This sh*t is about to get serious. Lets time travel a bit to 1996, shall we? Batman Forever had just come out, with a budget that could easily fund most third world countries. Two brand new villains were featured in it. Two-Face (portrayed by a scenery chewing Tommy Lee Jones), and The Riddler (portrayed by a HOLY F*CK I DIDNT TAKE MY XANAX TODAY Jim Carrey). Now, there are many issues with this movie. Hell, weve all seen it. But perhaps the biggest is the transformation of Edward Nygma. He goes from a highly inept nerd to psychotic madman in 0-30 seconds flat. There is no character arc to truly show how it happened, and that can only be attributed to a script that is to jammed full of activity to allow for it. Lets jump ahead a bit to X-Men 3. A movie with a character list that reads more like a Subway Sandwich board than an IMDB page. Again, too many characters and not enough time to develop even a proper story. They crammed two incredibly well received storylines together from the comics as well as every fan-favorite character under the sun. On paper, it sounds fantastic... but if youve seen the movie you know exactly how it fell apart. Now lets hop in the imaginary Delorean again and go to 2007. Spider-Man 3. I remember seeing the writing on the wall before the script even saw the light of day. Tobey Maguire had gone on record that he wanted Sandman as a part of the next movie Because Hollywood can do a lot of cool things with sand effects. By the way, thats not an interpretation. Those are his exact words from a Wizard interview in 2004. His rationale for wanting that villain was because that sh*t from The Mummy was dope yo. However, Sam Raimi is an exceptionally talented director. To be honest. Those effects were indeed awesome. Not only that, but Sam Raimi added a level of humanity to that character that not even Stan Lee was really able to capture. Had it simply been him, it would have worked into the story quite nicely and been a very strong finale to that trilogy. But then... the ugly studio machine began to rear its head. Kirsten Dunst wanted a bigger role, James Franco wanted a bigger role, and Sony desperately wanted Venom in there because it was their belief that it was what the fans wanted. A studio production is a tough job for a director. And when you are being pulled in 5 different directions from people you need to make your movie, its just bound to fall apart. And again, 3 villains prevented the film from developing any form of coherent story or character arc. The damage from that movie was so severe from the inflated actors salaries (not to mention their desire for creative control) and general critical smashing that Sony decided to reboot a franchise that had generated close to a billion dollars. The Amazing Spider-Man (despite a lot of gripes people seemed to have about it) delivered a coherent story. Not only that, it managed to deliver moments of genuine emotion that were missing from the third installment. One hero, one villain, some decent action setpieces, and fantastic actors in parts that genuinely fit them. All in all, a decent starting point for the franchise to begin again. ... and then The Avengers happened. Probably the hugest film crossover ever conceived, and something comic fans never thought would be possible. A genuine shared universe that gave each character adequate screen time. It made a ton of money, enough to where you can probably buy your own island and hunt people for sport legally. And when something like that happens, studios are bound to try and repeat that formula. Heres the key to their success though... Marvel took close to 5 years to make that crossover happen by releasing consecutive movies featuring each character every summer. Their characters received great arcs that were capped off in The Avengers, and even featured tiny nods to where they may be going in the future. So... this week Sony released Amazing Spider-Man 2. Featuring Three villains, a romantic sub-plot, a plot regarding Peter Parkers parents... is this at all sounding familiar? Its one thing for a company to screw up once, but to not learn your lesson after such a clusterf*ck of a movie as Spider-Man 3 is pure and simple dumbassery. Amazing Spider-Man 2 is such a mess, I dont even know where to honestly begin. You have some truly talented actors in the form of Jamie Foxx, Dane Dehaan, and Paul Giamatti (who really is just minimized to a cameo role) who are trying their best to work with the material they have been given. Unfortunately, when your script is as flimsy as this one... there isnt a tremendous amount to work with. Even a casual watcher can tell that this screenplay was taken, chopped apart, and put back together after some executives saw the potential for tie-ins. And that is really what is so scary about this new breed of super-hero movies we are now seeing. Hollywood is so hellbent on franchises, that a lot of these studios are forgetting to lay groundwork and MAKE MOVIES. Marvel succeeded because they allowed their baby to gestate for 5 years. Sony tried pulling this off in two. Its simply not possible. There are a lot of things to blame here though... As fans, we need to set our expectations a little bit lower. If youre favorite villain/character/storyline isnt represented in a movie, you just have to play the waiting game. This is a movie, not Burger King. Youre not always going to have it your way. The production companies need to simply set a plan with the screenplay and stick with it. I can understand re-writes due to budgetary and location constraints, but changing a script on the fly simply because you have ideas you want represented just messes everything up. Actors: Shut up and do your job. You are not writers. You are not producers. Take your paycheck and read your lines. Fox will be attempting this model going forward too with X-men and Fantastic Four crossovers, and Sony has gone on record that they have a Sinister Six movie in addition to future Spider-Man sequels. If we really want this universe to be realized the right way, we need to be patient. Let it form naturally rather than rushing it, because you as fans deserve better than that.
Posted on: Wed, 07 May 2014 02:12:29 +0000