Many people were worried when they heard Marvel was rebooting the Spider-man franchise after only five years. The new movie came out this week, and naturally, we went to see it. Find out what we thought, after the break. Beware POTENTIAL SPOILERS.
This reboot worked. Here's why:
1. The actors. From Martin Sheen to Rhys Ifans to Andrew Garfield, every performance was remarkable, enjoyable, and flowed well. Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy in particular had wonderful chemistry that worked in every scene. Even the supporting roles like Flash and Aunt May were well done.
2. The script was phenomenal, and what the director did with it was great. There was a great pace, with logical progression for the protagonist, and a wild ride to the finish. It was also quite hilarious at every turn, reminiscent of Marvel's latest uber-success, The Avengers.
3. It was a wonderful origin story, although I'm no comic book expert on Spider-Man, or his original story, so I'll just talk about the movie. The character was developed quite well over the course of the movie, and the end wasn't the perfect image that it sometimes is. (SPOILERS) By the end, we still don't know what happened to the parents, and although it's hinted that they might reunite, Peter and Gwen are separated.
4. Rhys Ifans as the Lizard. It was a good choice for the villain because he had a connection with Peter's past, and his character was also very well developed. I was very pleased with his character arc. And the scene after the main credits gave a hint as to the villain in the (now inevitable) follow-up.
5. Stan Lee's cameo.
Things that weren't so good?
Perhaps the CGI for the Lizard looked a little glitzy. More for his smoke bombs - those looked very fake. His transformation was better.
The webbing that Parker used kind of magically disappeared after he let it go. I always imagined that after Spider-man swung by, there'd be strings left all over the buildings, but here they just sort of fade out of existence. Clumsy, I suppose.
There were a few other minor details that weren't perfect, but I'm nitpicking because it was so good.
Overall, it was highly enjoyable, and I would add it to the streak of recent Marvel movie success.
- JV out.
Stan Lee's cameo was the best scene in the movie. Besides the one where Andrew Garfield had his shirt off.
ReplyDeleteI know that I thought this movie was excellent, much to MaristPlayBoy's chagrin. It just was a lot more interesting than the last three, which all had central conflict that felt kind of...whiny, I guess. This was a better setup for the basic drives and emotions of this Spiderman, which will give a great platform to develop a character that comes to grips with the concept of aging. We already kind of had that sort of conflict with RDJr's Iron Man, but that was more of a midlife crisis. This gives us a little something new to look forward to.
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