Spider-Man, Spider-Man, Does Whatever a Reboot Can

Spider-Man, Spider-Man, Does Whatever a Reboot Can
By Darrin Jones / May10

4. Sam Rami Handles Deaths Better.
Here is going to be a spoiler for Amazing Spider-Man 2 so fair warning before reading on.

Like many others out there who saw the trailer, I had a suspicion of what was going to happen in this film as it is the most famous defining moment in the Spider-Man mythos: Gwen Stacy’s death. It was a moment that shocked the comicbook world as killing a superhero’s love interest back then was something that never happened. And the shock was well earned. The books had years to build up the relationship between Peter and Gwen and the rivalry between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin. 

The Amazing Spider-Man movie on the other hand, did not earn this moment. But this is only a symptom of a problem in this new series. In Rami’s first Spider-Man movie, Parker has to deal with the death of his Uncle Ben and the accidental murder of his arch-villain/friend of the family, Norman Osborn. In one movie, Peter lost two important people in his life and you knew it. He showed it. It was part of his character now and it carried on to the other movies. Peter tried to avoid getting close to anyone again as he was afraid of the consequences but in the end couldn’t resist going back to Mary Jane.

In the Amazing Spider-Man, Peter loses his Uncle Ben -- guy just can’t catch a break -- and Gwen’s disapproving father dies related to a mistake Peter made; the last words of her father being that he doesn’t want Peter Parkers superheroics getting Gwen killed. And in the next movie, well Peter’s dating Gwen, of course! Oh, but he’s haunted by the disapproving father figure, right? So he at least feels guilty for knowingly putting Gwen in harms way! Peter’s conflict over this is only ever verbal; his actions completely betray this idea. And what’s worse, after Gwen’s death -- which should have been the end of the freaking movie -- he puts on the Spider-Man costume again to save the day one more time before the credits roll. 

This is not emotionally impactful. This is not respectful to the character that the movie made. This is a hastily thrown together story shooting for a big payoff that it didn’t earn it. Too much was introduced and rushed through in an attempt to compact several difficult relationships into one film. Which is also the same thing that happened in Rami’s Spider-Man 3. Which leads me to one conclusion...

5. Sony is Destroying the Franchise’s Potential..
For whatever short-sighted, profit driven reason, Sony’s control over the Spider-Man franchise has become poisonous. It’s well-known that Spider-Man 3 was forced to stuff one of Spider-Man’s greatest foes, Venom, into a film that he just didn’t belong in. Compounded with a rushed conclusion to Harry Osborn’s vendetta against his old friend, Peter Parker, to avenge his father’s much deserved death. I mean, this is the movie that had to resort to Harry getting amnesia so he would forget he was evil for a while just to give Sandman -- a character that had potential -- and freaking Venom screen time.

"We can be friends again Peter! My butler told me my dad killed himself so we're cool now."

And if Amazing Spider-Man 2 is any indicator, any hope I had for this series is going to be washed out. Like a spider. Climbing a water spout. When the rain comes. You know what I’m getting at! Maybe if we’re lucky, the next time Sony has to reboot the franchise to keep the license they will finally keep their hands off of the creative side of it. But until then, expect more disappoint. At least we still have Disney and Marvel showing us how to do superheroes right.

Jump to: Part 1 / Part 2