I will admit upfront that Spiderman has never been my favourite super hero. He’s kind of in the middle. I like him far more than Batman (SO sick of gritty angry antiheroes and Spidey is FUN damn it!), but not quite as much as Superman (my absolute fave).
That said, the previous Spiderman films were never huge draws for me. I respect Tobey McGuire as an actor and love a lot of what he has done, but his Spiderman films were (to me) just too cheesy. Don’t get me wrong, there can be good cheesy – that’s the kind that KNOWS it is cheesy and works with that, but the problem was those films seemed to take themselves too seriously.
This has not been a problem with the reboot, however. That’s not to say they don’t have serious storylines in them (like many superheroes, Spidey is “orphaned” and has to deal with issues of guilt over the loss of his Uncle), but there is also a high degree of unabashed cheese. They KNOW they are campy and they have no problem embracing that camp.
At its heart, Spiderman is the story of a kid leaving adolescence and entering into adulthood. That is the real story here. Not the villains and the webslinging, but the pains and difficulties in leaving childhood and entering into adulthood. It is there that makes Spiderman different from his other two main counterparts. Batman and Superman are by and large stories about grown-ups. They might have the odd flashback or two, but there adolescence has made them the men they are. Peter Parker has yet to become the man he is meant to be and yet he is having to deal with a lot of very adult problems.
These installments have managed to keep that teenaged sense of fun about them, while at the same time weaving into the film some very real stories with very real consequences. The cast is fantastic and the villains first rate. However, despite the brilliance of it, it suffers a bit in the third act.
My usual break down (complete with Spiderman 2 drinking game!)
The Good:
Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone: Not only is the chemistry off the charts here, but these two actors are truly at the top of their game. Garfield has a perfect mixture of ‘aww shucks Aunt May’ boyishness and teenage angst. He is conflicted without being melodramatic. He is angry without being whiny. He is funny without appearing cruel. While Tobey McGuire came off as goofy more often than not, Garfield is more believable as a teenager (even though neither actor was in their teens). Stone as well does a fantastic job as Gwen Stacey. She has FAR more to do here than fawn over Spiderman or let herself be rescued constantly. In fact, in many ways she is facing the same demons as Peter (through the loss of her father in the first film). Both are dealing with it in different ways, however she does not exist solely to dote over Peter or bug him about being Spiderman. She insists on coming with him at the end of the film as only she has the knowledge of how to reset the power grid. She tells Peter how to keep Electro from destroying his web shooters. In short, she is integral to the plot – not just there to kiss him upside down in the rain. This is something most superhero movies fail to do well – specifically DC whose female cast members tend to exist only to be moved around as the plot dictates.
The Supporting Cast: Particularly Sally Field as Aunt May. We are almost 100% certain that she KNOWS what Peter is up to and Field plays it beautifully. The scene where she breaks down and tells Peter that she has been keeping information about his father from him because he is HER son is too brilliant and heartbreaking for words. It is probably the most moving scene in the film. She is so genuine and his reaction is perfect. She raised him from boyhood and as such considers him her son. It is a perfect adoption metaphor – often times children of adopted parents want to learn about their birth parents and the pain the adopted parent might experience letting go is very real.
Jamie Fox as Electro: Just done really really well. He manages to show us a character who is isolated and mentally unstable. A man who truly longs for someone to notice him and when that someone happens to be Siderman, develops an obsession that takes over his life. It’s a metaphor on the obsession society has with celebrity and how some vulnerable individuals can end up becoming dangerous stalkers when that object of fixation disappoints them in some way.
The Humour: This movie is FUNNY. It is sad, and exciting as well, but at the heart of it, it is FUNNY. It really encapsulates the exuberance of youth. Even though the premise is entirely unrealistic (a teenage kid being bitten by a radioactive Spider and becoming a Superhero), how Peter responds to it is very true to how I think most teenage kids would respond. Let’s face it, most of them would think that it was just SO COOL. They would have fun with it. They would revel in it. They would show off. They would mock their foes. They would be cocky and assured – convinced of their own immortality. All of that is here. And it makes it a hell of a lot of fun.
The Bad:
The 3D: It’s no secret that I am not a fan of 3D at the best of times. Occasionally it is used well, but most times it is there as a money maker and this film is no exception. I could see no practical use for it and the constant slow-mo shots of him swinging through the streets of New York got real old, real fast. (More on that later with the bonus drinking game!)
The Length: This isn’t so much a complaint about the length as it is about the third act itself. The film’s pacing was absolutely perfect up until the defeat of Electro. If the film had ended there with Peter supposedly agreeing to go to England with Gwen (and the possibility of Harry Osborn out for revenge as a cliff-hanger) it would have been a perfect film. As it was, the film had already hit the 2 hour mark so ending it would have felt right. Instead, there is a second climactic battle in which Gwen is killed and Peter is left mourning the loss. So much is made in the film of his fear of losing her (as well as the guilt he feels for not being able to save her father) that this could have been a really interesting storyline if it were its own film. How does Peter cope with the loss of the first woman he ever loved? How does that guilt weigh against all the others he failed to save (Gwen’s father, Uncle Ben, etc.) How can he ever be Spiderman again? I know they tread that same ground in the McGuire films, but I feel that the Garfield franchise would have done it far better justice. Besides which, instead we get a poorly paced final 20 minutes in which he angsts about her death for a little bit until some moron kid puts himself in the path of some random villain forcing him to come to his rescue. And just like that, Spidey’s back in business. To me, that was not only a bit of a cop-out, but not a very good send off for Gwen who I feel deserved a bit better. That said, the first two thirds of the film more than make up for it for me.
Bottom line: The film was FUN. It was sad, it was exciting, it was just fun. You came out of the theatre HAPPY, which is something it seems like DC is afraid to do for its audience. Despite my enjoyment however there are a few other little mini nitpicks that I had that didn’t exactly detract from my enjoyment, but certainly are something I could affectionately mock. With that in mind I present to you, my own bonus:
The Spiderman 2 Drinking Game:
Instructions: Take one shot every time the following occurs on screen –
- There is a slow-motion 3D shot of Spidey flying through New York City.
- Someone says the word ‘amazing’ (referencing the title ‘The Amazing Spiderman’).
- The Spiderman theme can be heard (either on Peter’s cellphone, being whistled, etc.).
- The SONY logo appears SOMEWHERE on the screen (you would be drunk probably after the scene in Times Square, but hey….)
- Peter breaks up with Gwen “for her own good”, then gets back together, then breaks up…
- Aunt May makes a sly reference to knowing that Peter is Spiderman
- Someone discovers his true identity
- Down your drink when Stan Lee appears.
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