9 Movies That Were Really Just Feature-Length Adverts In Disguise
2. The Amazing Spider-Man
Hold on a second. Why is Marc Webbs questionable reboot, rather than Sam Raimis original getting a mention on this list? Isnt Spider-Man swinging in front of a truck emblazoned with Carlsberg Beer or the camera lingering on a can of Dr Pepper during the key transformation scene worse than anything Garfield brought to the table? Well, if were talking simple product placement then yes. But The Amazing Spider-Man does something much worse. This $200 million film exists solely to advertise one thing; The Amazing Spider-Man 2. The Amazing Spider-Man was promoted as The Untold Story (a tagline conceived to justify the premature reboot) and we all entered the cinema expecting to see an engaging mystery that shed some light on Peters absent parents. His father had a direct influence on the films big bad and, potentially, on his sons transformation into a superhero from spider bite (rather than the more common outcome of death). As we all now know, that wasnt quite what we got. Late-in-the-day changes (key mystery scenes that were cut remained in the trailer) neutered the film, leaving only a generic plot behind and way too much open for a sequel that wasn't even confirmed at the time. It's like the earlier Part 1 Of 2, only much worse because this was intended as a standalone movie. This is an increasingly common trait in blockbuster movies, but few dare to be as blatant as this.
