At the movies: Spidey #3
Last Friday I went to see Spiderman 3 with fellow comic book fans and friends form the Roleplaying and Wargaming Society of my University. My expectatives were mixed, as you know I'm not a Marvel fan, but on the other hand, I do like Spidey and as general comic book fan I want to see comic book based movies succed because that helps the comic industry.
As with the "300" movie I'm not going to go into a detailed review to don't spoil it for you... waht the heck I do need to revisit some key points to give this opinion so I should warn you that there will be spoilers ahead. I'm going to split in in three parts:
The Good: the music, the FX used in the Sandman and Venon, the fights and the general idea of how Peter got the black costume and how he got rid off it, without the burden that would be explaining the whole "Secret Wars" arc in a two and half hrs movie. I think it was a nicely done plot there. Another thing I liked was the new casting, as usual Sam Raimi got every single character pegged and perfectly matched. Bryce Howard as Gwen is identical (although I still think she could put a super Black Cat too). Topher Grace was a worry at the beggining, since in That 70's show he was so skinny. But I have to tip the proverbial hat to him, he IS Eddie Brock. Thomas Hayden Church really looks like the Sadman. He is usually a very capable actor that can express so much with just a look, well he did that this time to a new level. I really believed that he was regreting his past mistakes and I find easy to think that he can be redemeed.
The music was a nice blend of rock and soft lyrics and that is always welcomed in my book. Finally I enjoyed the twist that shows that the movie is his own realm not related totally to the comic: Spidey is loved by all the city. A frequent reader of Spidey knows that until he joined the Avengers, Spidey was seen by the citizens as a threat not better than the enemies he fought. But here in the movie, even with J.J. Jameson intervention, he is respected and seen as the hero he is, truth it got to his head but well he is not perfect. One fair point Oscar made was the overall theme of choices, to do the right or the wrong thing. Even Jameson showed his decent side by publishing an apology after the whole fake pictures scandal. Life is not only about great responsabilities but also about choices and the movie represents that very well.
As with the "300" movie I'm not going to go into a detailed review to don't spoil it for you... waht the heck I do need to revisit some key points to give this opinion so I should warn you that there will be spoilers ahead. I'm going to split in in three parts:
The Good: the music, the FX used in the Sandman and Venon, the fights and the general idea of how Peter got the black costume and how he got rid off it, without the burden that would be explaining the whole "Secret Wars" arc in a two and half hrs movie. I think it was a nicely done plot there. Another thing I liked was the new casting, as usual Sam Raimi got every single character pegged and perfectly matched. Bryce Howard as Gwen is identical (although I still think she could put a super Black Cat too). Topher Grace was a worry at the beggining, since in That 70's show he was so skinny. But I have to tip the proverbial hat to him, he IS Eddie Brock. Thomas Hayden Church really looks like the Sadman. He is usually a very capable actor that can express so much with just a look, well he did that this time to a new level. I really believed that he was regreting his past mistakes and I find easy to think that he can be redemeed.
The music was a nice blend of rock and soft lyrics and that is always welcomed in my book. Finally I enjoyed the twist that shows that the movie is his own realm not related totally to the comic: Spidey is loved by all the city. A frequent reader of Spidey knows that until he joined the Avengers, Spidey was seen by the citizens as a threat not better than the enemies he fought. But here in the movie, even with J.J. Jameson intervention, he is respected and seen as the hero he is, truth it got to his head but well he is not perfect. One fair point Oscar made was the overall theme of choices, to do the right or the wrong thing. Even Jameson showed his decent side by publishing an apology after the whole fake pictures scandal. Life is not only about great responsabilities but also about choices and the movie represents that very well.
As a last treat I enjoyed how the director offered a recap of the previous two movies by using them as part of the inital credits. It helps to get into the movie without annoying expositions.
The Bad: This movie suffers from the same illness that X3: too many stories to tell withouth depth or resolution. I would prefer to save Sandman story for another sequel, because it felt cramped with three villians, at least three arcs in one movie and you did't get a good character development for Eddie and Flint. Gwen Stacy, who ironically enough survived the movie while Venom no, was just there to be the candy eye (maybe just for me, because I'm not a bog fan of Kirsten Dunst as MJ) and the foil to the redhead that Joe "I hate comics but I make money with them" Quesada loathes. Also the scene at the dinner with emo-Parker and Gwen felt oddly familiar to the Mask. There are some minor plotholes (like the ending or the crane) but well, the movie can't be perfect.
The Fugly (otherwise known as Fucking Ugly): Emo-Parker. What the heck was that? It is bad enough to stand the way writers have treated Peter in the comcis as a massive case of schizo, dealing jokes when fighting the gusy that just screwed him and his family and is hard enough to deal with emos invading internet and the blogsphere, but get them glorified by making Peter one of them? That is plain lame and FUGLY!!! Just the haircut made me puke. But the dance in the streets ripping off John "Grease" Travolta stunt in "Fever on Saturday Night" is just so lame that it didn't make me laugh. Like Oscar told me, it screams D-O-R-K, not badass hero with a darkside. Couldn't they took a hint at SV where the usual goodie two shoes Clark gets really badass when infected by Red-K and unleashes his dark side? I know that Peter Parker was created to represent in some way the geeks that we are in highschool, but an emo? Sorry I can't get my mind around that. Do NOT do that again please, if there is a fourth movie. And I'm not going to mention the fanfic part of "Harry forces MJ to breaks Peter's heart", I'll just say that the writers must stay away from fanfics and the usual crappy teen-agst plot device who didn't even got solved at the end.
Bottomline, aside for the fugly part and the fact I was brief in the good, I liked a lot the movie, maybe just me, but I liked it more that Spidey #2, it felt better without the crappy teen-agst (tm) of the story of the second movie. I would rank this movie in the level of Superman Returns and X-Men 2, much, much better that the trainwreck of Wolvie and his friends and Halley named X3, but still a step below of Batman Begins and Spidey #1.
The Bad: This movie suffers from the same illness that X3: too many stories to tell withouth depth or resolution. I would prefer to save Sandman story for another sequel, because it felt cramped with three villians, at least three arcs in one movie and you did't get a good character development for Eddie and Flint. Gwen Stacy, who ironically enough survived the movie while Venom no, was just there to be the candy eye (maybe just for me, because I'm not a bog fan of Kirsten Dunst as MJ) and the foil to the redhead that Joe "I hate comics but I make money with them" Quesada loathes. Also the scene at the dinner with emo-Parker and Gwen felt oddly familiar to the Mask. There are some minor plotholes (like the ending or the crane) but well, the movie can't be perfect.
The Fugly (otherwise known as Fucking Ugly): Emo-Parker. What the heck was that? It is bad enough to stand the way writers have treated Peter in the comcis as a massive case of schizo, dealing jokes when fighting the gusy that just screwed him and his family and is hard enough to deal with emos invading internet and the blogsphere, but get them glorified by making Peter one of them? That is plain lame and FUGLY!!! Just the haircut made me puke. But the dance in the streets ripping off John "Grease" Travolta stunt in "Fever on Saturday Night" is just so lame that it didn't make me laugh. Like Oscar told me, it screams D-O-R-K, not badass hero with a darkside. Couldn't they took a hint at SV where the usual goodie two shoes Clark gets really badass when infected by Red-K and unleashes his dark side? I know that Peter Parker was created to represent in some way the geeks that we are in highschool, but an emo? Sorry I can't get my mind around that. Do NOT do that again please, if there is a fourth movie. And I'm not going to mention the fanfic part of "Harry forces MJ to breaks Peter's heart", I'll just say that the writers must stay away from fanfics and the usual crappy teen-agst plot device who didn't even got solved at the end.
Bottomline, aside for the fugly part and the fact I was brief in the good, I liked a lot the movie, maybe just me, but I liked it more that Spidey #2, it felt better without the crappy teen-agst (tm) of the story of the second movie. I would rank this movie in the level of Superman Returns and X-Men 2, much, much better that the trainwreck of Wolvie and his friends and Halley named X3, but still a step below of Batman Begins and Spidey #1.
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1 comment:
That was my only gripe too, when Peter became all mod and all the ladies turned to stare as he walked past. That was more unrealistic than any of the computer animation (which was great by the way).
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