10 Troubling Messages From Superhero Movies

6. Patriotism Saves The Day - The Amazing Spider-Man

The Amazing Spider-Man The Sam Raimi Spider-Man films did their best to make me hate America with their cringe-inducing shots of Spidey landing in front of Old Glory, and I thought that with a young, fresh director like Marc Webb helming the totally needless reboot, perhaps we'd seen the last of it. Such is not the case, though, as this is another film which wears its patriotism on its sleeve and quite loudly suggests that you're not going to get very far without some love of country. Spider-Man spends most of the film as a vigilante this time, being hunted by Gwen Stacy's cop father (Dennis Leary), before Peter's mission becomes one of critical importance, to save New York and indeed, the country, once The Lizard attempts to unleash his toxin. He is helped by a man whose son Spidey saved earlier in the film, and this man is filmed against the American flag as he organises a gang of crane workers to help Spidey bring down The Lizard, at which point Gwen's dad has sort of come around to the idea of the webslinger not being so bad, just as he buys the farm.
 
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Frequently sleep-deprived film addict and video game obsessive who spends more time than is healthy in darkened London screening rooms. Follow his twitter on @ShaunMunroFilm or e-mail him at shaneo632 [at] gmail.com.