You win Hollywood… you win. Production has started on The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and I couldn’t be less thrilled. Why? Because the first one was such a rehash of the first Spider-Man from 2002 that Marc Webb was only missing a shot of Sam Raimi’s Oldsmobile to make it officially canon.
Don’t get me wrong, Andrew Garfield was a good replacement for Tobey Maguire, Emma Stone out classes Kirsten Dunst, and Denis Leary made me wish it was an R-rated film so he could fully go off on Spidey. But this doesn’t replace the fact that the film only made some character/casting changes, threw in a couple of new toys, and hired James Horner to rip off one of his own scores (yet again) in an attempt to make a “new movie.”
So why am I taking up the banner for a better, more Amazing Spider-Man 2? Because I’m a geek, and I demand only the finest comic book films. I believe that this could actually turn out to be a better film, should we move in the right direction.
I give Marc Webb credit, because I loved the man’s work on (500) Days of Summer. He brought some of that character developing talent to the table with this movie, and it showed. On top of that, he finally gave the world The Lizard as a movie baddie, though it still kinda sucked that we didn’t get the Dylan Baker version we were promised all those years back.
Ultimately, I chalk up the problems with The Amazing Spider-Man to one single fact: it was made in a hurry once Spider-Man 4 fell apart. At least it seemed like it when they announced they were rebooting not too far after the previous franchise shot itself in the foot.
Now we have some lead time, we have a film in production, and we have some fresh villains and the origin story out of the way. You’ve used up your free pass, Marc Webb… now you’re going to be properly judged for your Spidey senses. If you want to make it through unscathed, here’s 10 mistakes I’m seriously hoping you’ll avoid.
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16 Comments
Before anyone gets on your case, by uber-nerd law I have to inform angry readers with pointed comments (and terrible research skills) that YES multiple studios can cooperate when it comes to superhero flicks, and if you don’t believe me, look up the fact that OsCorp tower was supposed to be in the NYC skyline in “The Avengers’ but it wasn’t properly rendered in time for post-production, so it wasn’t included. This is a hint that even if not a full fledged cameo, proves that studios are willing to TRY and Mike is 100% correct in that scenario.
Sidebar, dude we’ve been so indoctrinated by the Raimi Spiderman films (which are admittedly awesomesauce) that Peter Parker+ Mary Jane = the ONLY romance for Spidey that this site keeps accidentally slipping up and calling Gwen Stacy ‘MJW’. Oh Sam Raimi you sly genius.
Thanks for backing me up on that! I remember mentioning the Skyline scenario in the story, and I’m kind of sad they didn’t think of a DVD easter egg involving it. Though they could always throw some lines in Spidey 2/Avengers 2 and acknowledge each other that way.
And yeah, Mary Jane was totally ingrained on our minds by Sam Raimi. When he works, he works. :D
The reason why Peter is Sour about continuing being Spider-Man in SPM2 is that by being the superhero, he still have to sacrifice any potential relationship he could have had with MJ, and he is questioning himself whether he is to continue, or is this really what he wants. And this struggle have to be one among the High notes that SPM2 brought to us, accepting to give up on MJ to continue his work as Spider-Man.
While I agree with the rationale, imagine if they pushed that back to the end of Spider-Man 2. Peter quits being Spider-Man and the film ends with him throwing away the suit. You could easily prolong Doc Ock for the next film, and use Venom in the meantime. (Especially seeing as John Jameson could have easily “accidentally” brought the suit back from space. Come to think of it, I think they were talking about the idea at the time.)
Spider-Man 2 is my favorite one of the films so far, but I don’t want a carbon copy attempt like they tried with Amazing Spider-Man. I want an actual, ground up attempt at something awesome, and I know all involved can do it.
I really like the idea of multiple studios cooperating for the common MCU rather than competing against each other. It would solve a lot of problems and headaches for everyone involved, being freed up to use/mention/feature events, buildings and characters from the Marvel roster in their movie.
I totally agree that ASM2 has to be careful with how many villains they introduce/use. I think everyone agrees that the main problem with Spiderman 3 was too many villains; not enough time was spent developing either of them, leading to an ultimately unsatisfying half-cooked feeling. I kept thinking back to something Bryan Singer said when he was making X2; just because something works in the comics and they fans want to see it, don’t put it into the movie for the sake of putting it in. Have a reason (such as Nightcrawler’s introduction in X2).
On the whole, I hope they make a great movie that happens to contain comic book characters, rather than try and make a comic book movie.
Warner Brothers would CRAP itself if this happened. It would just strengthen the Marvel brand even further, and make them struggle to bring us that Justice League film they’ve been blundering about for the past couple years or so. It’s such a lost cause that Superman vs. Batman looks like a viable option again!
If they choose to bring in JJ then good luck finding a proper replacement for J.k. Simmons. He did JJ very well
I agree totally, though they were rumoring Sam Elliot the first time around. He’d fit the bill for a good talking head type Jameson.
The original films sort of put me off Mary Jane so I’m kinda hoping, however unlikely, that they keep Gwen Stacy as the main love interest. Plus scientist Gwen sort of makes a better match for Peter Parker than failed actress MJ.
I agree with #7, don’t like how superhero movie sequels up the ante by giving us multiple villains. This wastes valuable movie time by having to introduce each villain, how they came to be that way, etc. etc.
But not as annoying as the uber cliche of super heroes battling villains in a downtown metropolis city.
Umm….Harry isn’t Hob Goblin in the first place, He is Green Goblin 2. Ned was Hob Goblin.
You say ASM “was such a rehash of the first Spider-Man from 2002″, but I felt it was an amalgamation of SM1 and 2 – and also better than either.
I have a feeling that several of these mistakes WON’T be avoided! :(
Now I don’t fully agree with you on somethings about the first movie, I really did like it but kind of wish we got to see a huge fight with the lizard solders which never happened. I was ok with the ending just was not too happy about the ending battle but I do how ever agree with you on the amazing spider man 2 about having more villians. Having 3 possible villians scares me man, the 3rd on the Sam series would had been better with just Venom as the Villian, Spiderman 3 was so dissapointing and we do not want a repeat of that again. The amazing spideman I would give a 3.5/5 because it was good just not perfect! I’m with you on the many villian part, that worries me too!
ASM was awesome, it handled the origin well, and told a new story. People call it a rehash because they’re morons. The Lizard was the second best villain so far after Doc Ock, The romance plot was good, there was no dancing or overload of crying. Captain Stacy and Curt Connors provided good father figure tyoes for Peter. The costume reained all the classic elements while modernizing and looked awesome.
And last but certainly not least, Spidey doesn’t belong in the ACU. As that’s just the “Avengers Cinematic Universe” spidey has enought supporting characters and villains for his own universe and is tens times better than the Avengers. Last thing we need is him being reduced to a bit player in the background of an avenger film. What possible use would Spidey serve against global threats. spidey is a street level hero and belongs best in a team of other street level heroes like iron fist, moon knigh, daredevil, luke cae ect…
I HATE the “MCU’ as it’s nothing but Avenger characters, they’re even turing GotG into an aVenger film buy inclding iron man. Marvel Studios has got the rights back to Punisher and Daredevil and haven’t done a thing with them nor are they planning anything, if Fox still had DD us fans would be getting a film, but now were not. So X-Men and Spider-Man and FF are much better off elsewhere as that means we’ll actually get movies of them.
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