Reviewing - Sony's Spider-Men
The first teaser trailer for the next Spider-Man film is finally here.
There've been rumours of the multiversal nature of the plot for a long time now, and this teaser definitely confirms that at least SOME of those rumours are true. Will Spider-Man meet other Spider-Men? The trailer doesn't answer that specifically, but it's clear that there will be some familiar faces when we sit down in theatres this December.
If that's the case, we should probably refresh our memories on the Spider-Men that have come before. Tobey Maguire will always be my Spider-Man, but here are the other notable iterations that have swung across the big screen.
The Amazing Spider-Man (***)
In which Uncle Ben dies for the second time
While unnecessary and too familiar, it's the performances of Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone that justify the existence of this film.
Five years after the infamous mess of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3, Sony released their next theatrical web-slinging feature. Marketed as “the untold story” of Spider-Man, this film was clearly a reboot but promised to keep things fresh and exciting. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much about this film that had been “untold”. Just ten years ago, we had all watched Peter Parker get bit by a spider, test out his newfound powers, watch his uncle die, and do battle with a mad scientist he had a personal relationship with. Now we did it all over again.
It’s hard not to compare this film with the original 2002 Spider-Man because of all the territory they both cover. But if you compare most characters from Raimi’s film with this one, Raimi’s film comes out on top nearly every time.
Aunt May: Sally Field works hard, but she can’t compete with the pure grandma charm of Rosemary Harris. Raimi wins by a landslide. Uncle Ben: There’s no question that Raimi’s Cliff Robertson gave an inimitable performance as Peter’s uncle. He’s warmer, wiser, and actually says ‘the line’ – with great power comes great responsibility. Another point for Raimi. Green Goblin / Lizard: Even though both Norman Osborn and Curt Connors exist in both films, it makes sense to compare these two characters because of the narrative role they play. The Lizard is passable as a villain, but he’s not quite as ‘mad’ as Willem Dafoe. There are a number of Green Goblin lines that are still quotable – I just watched TASM a few days ago and can’t remember any notable dialogue from the Lizard. And the Goblin’s glider and suit are way cooler than the Lizard’s CGI design – probably because they’re practical effects. J. Jonah Jameson: He’s not in TASM – and that is a crime in and of itself.
Where the comparisons get a little tougher is in Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy. The chemistry between Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone is the heart of this film, and the main thing that keeps the narrative afloat. Every second they’re together, you can really feel the teenage romantic tension between them. Even separately, they’re both competent actors who command our attention whenever they’re onscreen. As much as Mary Jane is the girl Peter’s ‘supposed’ to be with and even though we’ve certainly spent more time with Kirsten Dunst than Emma Stone in the Spider-verse, I think I have to give the edge to Gwen Stacy. She’s a more involved and engaging character. Mary Jane was (mostly) a damsel in distress for the Raimi trilogy, but Stacy plays a pivotal role in resolving the plot for both films we see her in.
As for Peter Parker, I’ve said before that Tobey Maguire will always be my Spider-Man. He’s an awkward dork, and that’s what I love about him. Andrew Garfield comes across as a lot more charismatic, smooth, and competent. He rides a skateboard in school, makes funny remarks at the expense of class bullies, and just generally tries to get the teenage girls in the audience to fall in love with him. None of those are necessarily bad things – it’s just that Andrew Garfield’s performance is too cool for me. They’ve made Peter a really suave guy, but what’s perfect about Maguire is that he’s a loser who becomes a hero. Garfield is already standing up to bullies and getting the attention of girls in his class before he gets bitten by the spider. That doesn’t make him a bad character – it just means he’s not the Spider-Man I prefer.
If it weren’t for Garfield and Stone, I’d probably have to give this film a lower rating because of all the cheesy and/or stupid stuff in it. First of all, the product placement is a tad annoying. Every device in the film is a Sony product, and a teenager in 2012 was using Bing instead of Google. Seriously – who on earth uses Bing? Are they Bing employees who are obligated to use it while on the job? Then there’s the matter of Peter having a yearbook photo of Gwen on his desktop. We get it – you like her and want to look at her. You’re telling me you couldn’t take a profile picture from her social media profile? Heck – you’re a photographer. You don’t have any pictures of her that aren’t surrounded by other students? Is this really the best you could do?
And I know that the mechanized lock on Peter’s door is there to show us that he’s a bit of a tinkerer, but we already learned that when he came to the flooded basement with Uncle Ben. This lock moves way too slowly to be practical. Peter could’ve reached over and done it himself in the time it took to unlock the lock with the machine. That thing was literally a waste of time. And the whole Coldplay musical montage just didn’t work for me either. It was another example of the filmmakers trying to make Peter as cool and relatable as possible. Maybe this worked for some people, but it really fell flat for me.
There’s also the cliché scene where Peter’s snuck into a science exhibit. The brilliant doctor is asking a question to a class, and no one knows the answer. All of a sudden, Peter blurts out the answer from the back. Everyone turns to look at him. The doctor is profoundly moved by the genius of this teenager. Like, barf. We get it. Peter’s smart. You don’t have to rub it in.
Okay I’m almost done I promise. I wasn’t a fan of Spider-Man’s costume. It’s a bit on the glossy side, and his eyes are too dark. But for all the missteps of this film, I can’t deny the fun it was to watch Peter and Gwen interact. I also can’t pretend that Garfield’s Spider-Man doesn’t have way more quips and snark than Maguire ever did – and that’s an essential part of the Spider-Man character. But most of all, I love the direction the filmmakers took with Peter’s responsibility to Gwen’s father. It really sets the stage for the sequel, as well as taking a step in a very different direction from the original trilogy. At the end of the first Spider-Man, Peter walked away from Mary Jane in order to protect her. Here, Peter decides that he’d rather be with the woman he loves – but there’s an air of foreboding over his decision. That’s exciting. So for that, I give you three stars and you’re lucky to get that.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (***1/2)
In which an Osborn on a glider threatens our hero for the third time in this franchise
It’s just as bloated as Spider-Man 3 was seven years prior, but The Amazing Spider-Man 2 manages to stick its landing by leaning on its star performers.
Look, I know that there’s a lot of stupid stuff in this movie. Electro has basically become a god by the end of the film, but he still manages to get killed by – what, exactly? More electricity? There’s an attempt to set up the Sinister Six that fails because Sony cancelled this iteration of the character. There’s another musical montage to a song by Phillip Phillips that doesn’t add anything to the movie apart from a cliché wall-of-mystery-notes. Harry Osborn yells “You’re a fraud, Spider-Man” but I don’t think they meant for us to laugh at him over it. There’s an evil German scientist in here for no reason at all. There’s no hiding the dumb parts of this movie.
That said, the crux of what makes a good superhero film is still in here. We have thrilling action sequences and gripping emotional stakes. Every web-slinging moment rocks, from the very first car chase to the final battle against Rhino. The fight against Electro in Times Square was a lot of fun not only because of the visuals but because of the soundtrack underneath it. Hearing Electro’s thoughts expressed in a pseudo-musical way was really neat and unusual for the genre. Spider-Man continues to delight with his snippy remarks mid-combat, and his improved, more vibrant costume makes everything feel more energetic compared to the darkness of his previous suit.
Gwen and Peter are just as lovable as ever, which is what makes the ghostly apparitions of Gwen’s father so unsettling. We know the power and responsibility that Peter is burdened with, and as much as he longs for Gwen, we know that staying with Gwen is dangerous. To that end, the filmmakers’ decision to stick to the source material and conclude Gwen and Peter’s relationship the way they did was a great call. That battle with the Green Goblin was pulse pounding – and not because of the villain. We’ve seen a better Green Goblin before. Nobody cares about him. What we cared about was Gwen. And seeing her fall again – and again – as a giant clock ticked on and on – it was just such a satisfying and heart-wrenching way to finish the story arc opened up by the previous film. Peter lost the woman he loved because he loved her. He failed not only her but her father, to whom he’d once made a promise that he had now broken. There was real grief in that scene, and it’s propelled by the one piece of good writing in the film. There’s a lot about these two films that was poorly written, but this part was great.
Maybe this film doesn’t deserve three and a half stars because of all the hyper-cheesy or extra-stupid stuff that weighs it down. But Garfield and Stone kill it again, and the Spider-Man action is a big step up from the last film. Garfield may not be my Spider-Man, but his execution of an iconic comic book moment was excellent – and this whole project has been injected with a big dose of fun.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (***1/2)
In which Spider-Man dies permanently
Wildly creative and insanely fun, Into the Spider-Verse takes the franchise in an exciting new direction.
My attachment to Tobey Maguire mixed with the frustration of Sony keeping Spider-Man out of the MCU for so long led to me making the decision to avoid Into the Spider-Verse when it was in theatres. I didn’t want to support any Spider-Man that wasn’t allowed to play with the other superheroes I’d come to know and love. In hindsight, perhaps I judged Miles Morales too harshly. I’ve watched this film twice now, and I’ve got to admit that it’s really fun. Miles is a compelling character and a good fit for the Spider-Man alter ego. The nods and tributes to so many aspects of the Spider-Man character over the decades were really fun, and the relationship between Miles and alternate-universe Peter was particularly intriguing because of how both characters learned from each other. Both knew that they weren’t the Spider-Men they were supposed to be, and both of them learned how to be that person because of their interactions with each other. That’s pretty cool.
Both villains in this movie were intriguing to follow. Kingpin was neat because his goal wasn’t world domination or anything – it was just to regain the family that he’d lost. His arc was really a footnote in the tale this film sets out to tell, but seeing how he was a prisoner to his own hatred was surprisingly grounded for a film as wild as this one. Then there was Prowler, who turned out to be the essential villain who has a surprise connection to the hero. The twist was effective, as was the way it propelled our character forward.
That said, the stars of this film are the Spider-People. Each one of them brings something to the table, and when they’re all together, it’s impossible not to smile. Spider-Ham in particular is pure gold. Every word that escapes his lips and/or snout is quality comedy. I’m so glad I got to watch a movie like this.
This film is dazzling in its visual design – the whole thing feels like a comic book. The Lego Movie was the first film I’d seen in a long time that presented a truly innovative computer animation style, but Sony Animation has shown their artistic talent with films like this and “The Mitchells vs. the Machines”. It’s totally different from the films put out by Disney or Dreamworks, but it’s a refreshing kind of different. The way different comic book styles and characters were mashed together made for a positively cacophonous experience – except it was delightful. In short, this was great.
Although I watched this movie a year ago, I admit that I only sat down to re-watch and review it here because of the impending release of Spider-Man: No Way Home. As far as the news and the fans are concerned, we’re just a few short months away from witnessing a Spider-Verse in live action, and that would be absolutely mind-boggling. I’m dying for the trailer to come out – so rewatching this and TASM was the best I could get.
Please give me Tobey Maguire back I’ll do anything
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