The Amazing Spider-Man

[Cowdisease]

Saw this earlier today. It wasn't bad. New Parker did a good job. My main issues were the lizard rat looked out-of place, the mid-credits ending wasn't that great, and Peter Parker using Bing was completely unbelievable.

[Chux]

I loved it, HOWEVER.

The mall I was seeing it at got evacuated. I'm positive we were near the end. Somebody tell me what I missed.

Gwen talked to Peter about missing the funeral, figured out her dad said stay away, May asked about her, and said that if nothing else, Peter was good, then the film stopped.

[Cowdisease]

Showed additional high school scenes. Flash complemented Peter, and Peter asked about Flash's spider-man shirt. Flash responds enthusiastically that the dude is crazy (good-way crazy). Some more odd stares with Peter and Gwen. Movie ends with Peter showing up late to class. Teacher admonishes him and Peter promises not to do it again. Teacher tells him don't make promises he can't keep, and Peter responds quietly within Gwen's earshot (I'm already forgetting the exact words, someone chime in so that this last scene I'm describing makes sense), "Those are the most fun to have." Gwen slowly smiles.

Mid-credits ending, Conners is in jail and a shadowy figure appears in his cell. Conners recognizes who it is and tells him to "leave the boy alone." The figure asks, "did you tell him about his parents?" Conners looks on in anguish before the figure disappears. Not a good reveal at all, since you have no idea who the figure is (probably Norman, but it was so open-ended that it could have been anybody). The fact that the figure appeared and disappeared in Connor's cell was also lame.

Didn't stick around to see if there was an after-credits ending.

[Dolemite]

I thought it was a great movie...it did enough to separate itself from Rami's films that I didn't feel like I was watching the same exact shit again. Good stuff.

[Will]

Prometheus will shit on this movie. I'm even more excited about GI Joe 2 than Spider-Man.

I'm curious as to which you thought was the better movie in retrospect.

[Dolemite]

I'm curious as to which you thought was the better movie in retrospect.

Hmm...good question. I mean, neither of these films turned out like how I expected.

Spidey was much better than I ever thought it would be...however, it is a superhero movie, whereas I felt that Prometheus had somewhat loftier aspirations which it, for the most part, failed to meet. But lets not compare what each film strived to achieve within their own genre, and instead just compare how much enjoyment each movie gave me.

In that respect, I have to say Spider-Man is the winner. I walked out of Spider-Man feeling that it was a good, fun movie with great acting, action scenes and effects that made for an excellent springboard for a new series. However, while Prometheus had a fantastic premise, casting, and a great first half, I felt the second half just plain fell on its face in the wake of plot holes, unanswered questions, and just plain lazy storytelling. Prometheus had MASSIVE potential that it didn't live up to.

Meanwhile, The Amazing Spider-Man had two great movies to live up to (not counting Spider-Man 3), and I feel that, while NOT perfect, it certainly held it's own against them very well. And it did so while managing to forge its own identity with some minor differences from Rami's flicks (mechanical web-shooters, Gwen and Captain Stacey, the parents story line, talkative Spidey, etc). Yes, you could bitch that some things weren't resolved by the end of the movie such as Peter's parents, the mugger who killed Uncle Ben, and Norman Osborn, but these are things that are clearly meant to be part of a bigger story that will tie the sequels together; sequels you KNOW will get made. Meanwhile, who knows if all the unanswered questions Prometheus left behind will ever get answered, especially since most of them are a result of a spotty second-act script. Plus, we don't know if Prometheus will ever get a sequel.

When it comes down to it, I just enjoyed Spider-Man more. I'm pretty surprised by that, but it's true.

If I had one major bitch about Spider-Man, it would be the way they killed Uncle Ben was really, really stupid. Why the fuck would Uncle Ben jump for that dude's gun after he tripped when he didn't even had any idea who he was or what he had done wrong? The guy only stole maybe $50, tops. Really dumb way to die...Ben getting done in by a carjacker in the first movie was a better way to go, or by a burglar like in the comics. This was gay and just made Ben look like a retard.

[Anthony]

Would you say this was better than SM 1 or 2 dole?

I really liked SM 3 when I got past the mess




?

[James]

I like this better then the previous 3, easily. Then again, I didn't actually like the last 3 Spider-Man movies all that much, so it wasn't exactly a triumph. I did have a fun summer afternoon at the theater, though, which was pretty much what I expected.

I like that this Spider-Man knows how to wisecrack during a fight, but there were a couple bits that just fell flat. Using Bing was obviously product placement, and felt stupid. Also, that first crane that magically appears to prevent him from falling was laughable as well. Overall there was more good than bad, though, which is all I was hoping for. You don't get two Avengers-quality superhero movies in a year.

James

[Dolemite]

The Bing thing didn't either me. Fuck, I didn't even notice it.

Would you say this was better than SM 1 or 2 dole?

Hmm...I think it was better than SM 1, but not as good as SM 2. Although the ending of SM 2 still annoys me (Pete FINALLY hooks up with MJ, splits to chase police sirens, MJ has a sad).

Overall, however, I think I liked The Amazing Spider-Man so much because I'm not a huge fan of Rami's particular brand of cheese. It certainly works sometimes, but other times it's a little grating. But the story of SM 2 was so good, Doc Ock so well done (wasn't a fan of the comic version, but he was great in the movie), and the action scenes so kick-ass, that it really has to take the #1 spot.

I really liked SM 3 when I got past the mess

Yeah, there's plenty to like about 3...again, once you get past the mess.

[MechDeus]

I think what bugs me the most about Spiderman 3 is that there's only a couple scenes with Sandman but each one had a similar feeling to Doc Ock in SM2, which was then robbed of all the character development time that was supposed to happen. I'll bet they could've pulled off something that would've been a lot closer to SM2 if all that other stuff hadn't been shoved in there.