Tagged with: Spider-Man
First appearance of Spider-Man in Amazing Fantasy #15
Publishing date for Amazing Fantasy #15, the first appearance of Spider-Man. One of the most popular comic book superheroes, Spider-Man's unique appeal was his every day struggles as a teenager despite having super powers.
http://marvel.com/comics/issue/16926/amazing_fantasy_1962_15
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-man
I really wanted to love this movie. The second installment in the recently rebooted series has a fantastic cast, great chemistry between the leads, and (some) amazing effects, but it just couldn't pull together into a great experience. By the end, I enjoyed it well enough (although the more I think about it, the less I like it), but I have no interest in seeing it again. And I was depressed at the end.
Look, any comic geek worth his or her salt knows the fate of Gwen Stacey, so it's no surprise. But one of the few things really going for this rebooted franchise is the amazing chemistry between the main actors - Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacey. They both have a great presence on screen individually, and they really clicked together. So, to have that end leaves me even less interested in further stories.
Some of the other things I like in the movie are: the amazing shots of Spider-Man web-slinging through the city, Spidey's banter during fights, the interaction between Peter Parker and Aunt May (played by Sally Fields). And, I enjoyed the sappy ending scene with the kid who was willing to take Spider-Mans's place, especially the way Spider-Man handled the situation.
However, the bad stacks up pretty high. The Green Goblin look is amateurish. The development of that character is even worse. The Harry Osborne alter ego is played like a bad Keaneu Reeves surfer dude having a temper tantrum. Jamie Fox is poorly abused with the badly written Electro character, especially the confusing alter ego character Max Dillon and his "motivation" to become a supervillain. The Electro effects were uninspiring. Although it was fun to see Paul Giamatti as a supervillian, his character wasn't developed at all, and I felt like he was give short-shrift as a set of bookends to the film. I assume we saw Rhino as is a setup for the third movie, where we're going to see a supervillain team-up.
And what was up with the weird, effeminate, German, mad-scientist who tortured Electro? That wasn't just bad - it was offensive and took me completely out of the movie. WTF!
I guess it just felt like the movie let me down. So much potential on paper, but just poorly developed and portrayed. I guess I blame the director Mark Webb? I know every geek is going to have to see this movie, but once is enough. And if you can wait until you can stream it, or see it as part of some subscription service, or even on an airplane, then wait.
