Spidey Deserves Better

There’s a lot to be said for expectation management.

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

Years ago, while working at a job where there were “clients,” I fell in love with that phrase and all it represented. If you get so excited about a project that you let your imagination run away with you and start expecting it to be a mind-blowing, life-changing, pants-filling experience, you are all but guaranteed to be disappointed. On the other hand, if you go in expecting a 6 and you get an 8, it’s much more satisfying than saying, “Where’s my 10?” with your arms crossed throughout your life.

This may be pessimism. This may be realism. This is definitely why I ended up liking The Amazing Spider-Man as much as I did. Before it came out, America said, “Why are they doing this, again?” After it came out, America said, largely, nothing. I don’t think I’ve seen people flock to a movie on opening weekend and then act like it never happened this thoroughly since Iron Man 2. My expectations were so managed, I didn’t even bother to see it until yesterday. And then it was great.

People are not giving this movie its due. Spidey does not deserve to come in second to Ice Age 4: The Child Gouging in its second weekend. (Man, Ice Age was a fun idea for a movie. For a single movie. Talk about retelling the same story over and over; Marvel’s got nothin’ on those highway robbers. Has it become evident yet that I have small children?)

We often say that your favorite version of a character is the one that was on the racks when you were a kid. Sam Raimi’s childhood Spider-Man was the Stan Lee version, the mostly humorless Charlie Brown in a unitard. In three movies, I think Raimi allowed Spidey a single quip, while the Angst truck was backing up for another delivery.

The Spider-Man of my childhood, and probably yours, was a different breed of bug. He still couldn’t catch a break, but he was used to it by now, and was much more happy-go-lucky and likely to use humor as a defense mechanism. (I maintain that the quippy chatterbox we all know and love today is single-handedly the result of Peter David writing the character in the mid-eighties, but I can’t prove it until one of you provides me with that grant I’m always asking for.) In other words, “my” Spider-Man is a lot more like the one in the latest movie.

I like watching him build his costume instead of having it fall out of the sky into his lap at some point offscreen. I like seeing him fiddling with his web doohickeys. Oh, and the part where he builds a web and then finds his prey by feeling vibrations on the web like a real spider? How have I lived almost forty years and never seen anyone use that before now?

This was the first time seeing Uncle Ben die (and I feel like I have seen that happen roughly 7,000 times) actually made me start to cry. Then, when Gwen sees Peter at school the next day and hugs him, I started to cry again. At a Spider-Man movie.

So, why is this one not having the impact of its predecessors culturally? Is it just because it had predecessors in the first place? Is Joe Moviegoer actually befuddled by the reboot? I doubt it, personally, judging by how readily everyone moved on from Neon & Nipples Batman to Christopher Nolan’s version.

Is it that Marvel’s The Avengers by Marvel scratched this itch for everybody already? Does The Dark Knight Rises have anything to worry about? Again, I doubt it: people seem to regard Nolan’s Batman movies as something set apart from your Marvel fare and your Green Lanterns. People seemed to treat the last one like it was its own genre.

Is it just a case of people saying, “Who’s the Lizard? Who’s Rhys Ifans? Who’s Andrew Garfield? Who cares about any of this?” It’s not like Chris Evans or Chris Hemsworth were big superstars. The character is the star of a movie like this.

I don’t know. I cannot solve this Rubik’s Cube. Although I guess the fact that I don’t understand how many of my fellow Americans think is not a surprise.

I don’t think The People are burnt out on superhero movies, but between you and me I think I might be. I feel like I used to see interesting movies about realistic people in the real world, but now it doesn’t even seem like those movies are getting made. I’m sitting here trying to think of the last time I saw a movie where nobody had magic powers or came from another planet, and I think it may have been Bridesmaids. Before that…?

As long as superheroes are saturating the marketplace, at least they’re in the hands of talented people who are taking them seriously rather than people who put a skull on Dolph Lundgren’s knife and call him the Punisher. If you can remember a time when your favorite comics were not represented anywhere in the culture at large, what’s amazing about the times we’re living in isn’t that so many of these movies have been made, it’s how many of these movies have been good. I can remember reading a magazine article in the eighties about how a Spider-Man movie was never going to happen because of all the rights issues and technical challenges. Now we’re on our second set. My expectations have been blown out of the water.


Jim Mroczkowski would dearly love to unravel the mystery of what Uncle Ben’s job is.

Comments

  1. Sorry I disagree, Although a good movie, It really lacked a lot of characterization. Why bother pputting Peter back in highschool setting when he has apparently absolutely no friends. It was nice seeing the background Parents scenes but Aunt May and Ben are not well developed. why waste so much of the movie tracking a killer and then just dropping the whole plot Peter making a promise and just as quickly dismissing it very un-like my spidey. And seems like couldnt care less about money issues or helping poor aunt may. Def not the best Spidey movie

    • Peter had no friends in the original books in high school either, but all the major villains were introduced during that time. High school spider-Man has always been the best.

    • Harry Osborne

    • Harry didn’t appear until issue 31, long after all the major villains. He and Peter didn’t become friends until college.

    • AND to disagree with you LATINVOLT, Flash Thompson in this movie started down that oh so complicated bully-to-friend road that he did in the comics as well. He actually WAS an original complicated friend/foe supporting character in the books, and they managed to make that happen here with the death of Peter’s uncle being the catalyst. They managed to believably make that dynamic switch and Harry Osborn, as RoiVampire said, was NOT a high school friend of Peter’s. Yeah, there was a lot of editing and cutting of stuff in the film, leaving dangling plot threads, but I am okay with them pushing it back to a sequel. I also think Uncle Ben got MORE character development here than he did in the original Raimi film, a lot more actually. I agree with JIMSKI 100% here. This movie was great like Frosted Flakes. I loved the first Spider-Man movies, but after seeing this, I realized they were SO not great at portraying the character from the comics I knew. In fact, the iFANBOYS said as much in their review while also giving the movie a 3.5….which made no sense as they pointed out it was much better than the Raimi films but gave the Raimi films like 4.5s at the time they were released…SO you know…not sure how they managed that fuzzy math.

    • I liked this take on the story where the hunt for Uncle Ben’s killer is the motivation for becoming Spider-man. I think a pivotal scene was the dinner argument where Captain Stacey nails it when he says that he thinks Spider-man is out on a personal vandetta and not to help people. The next fight scene on the bridge is the first time Peter is truly heroic. At this point in this movie the Hunt for the killer is no longer important. He will probably pop up in a future movie but I do not think this plot thread had to be finished to make this one complete.

  2. I enjoyed it quite a bit, even if I’m not sure why the Lizard’s plan was so bad. Oh no, we’ll all be indestructible and all disease will be cured! Also, it was totally ripped off from the old ’90s Spider-Man series. But I think it did pretty much everything better than the previous ones.

    I, too, am puzzled by the general lack of buzz. I think people are generally confused why it exists when they just put out several Spidey movies just a few years ago.

  3. Agreed. This movie was the Spidey I grew up with in the 80s and 90s. Love the way he moved, Love the Lizard fight in the school and the web coccoon. Garfield was just so much more charming as Peter than any other actor in the original trilogy.

    I just want to know what that post credits scene meant. I’ve been reading Spider-Man comics for 25 and I don’t know what that scene was about.

  4. amazing Spiderman has made 521 million worldwide in 1 weeks and on pase for over 800 million. by comparison Batman begins only made 373 million worldwide in its entire run and xmen first class only 352 worldwide people care. i enjoyed it i really think it was a good film. maybe im in the minority. but its sandwich between avengers and Batman. but to say people don’t care isn’t true.

    • i agree

    • Compared to the explosion and immediate cultural impact the originals had, people don’t care about this version. That’s the point Jim was making and he is absolutely correct. It’s not all about numbers.

    • when the film makes tons of money like it is people do care.

    • I still think you’re missing the point so we’ll just have to agree to disagree. Maybe you’re too young to remember what it was like when Rami’s first two Spider-Man films came out but they were THE movies those summers. ASM is just another superhero movie this summer. The feeling of excitement around the two is completely different. Yes ASM has made a ton of money, but compared to Rami’s films, people care a whole lot less.

    • The first Spider-Man came out right after 9/11 so there were a lot of people who were looking for an escape.

    • I’m not sure of the exact date but I think the first Spider-Man came out in the summer of 2002, almost a year after 9/11.

    • @USPUNX: Green Lantern was “just another superhero movie”. Do you really think Spidey is living on the same street as that S#$%%Y excuse of a film?

      Following up on nastysnow’s earlier stats, in two weeks the ASM movie has grossed just less than a third of what the Avengers did in eleven.

      Not convinced? Take a look at user reviews on Rotten Tomato … Again, in just two weeks, Spidey has garnered ~>290k user reviews (84%) compared to the Avengers’ ~>450k (96%) … Granted, viewers seem to enjoy the Avengers a bit more than ASM, but the Avengers had the benefit of being released first (not to mention some brilliant script-writing by Joss Whedon).

      It’s the media reviews that suck … on Rotten Tomato, 279 reviewers averaged a 92% positive rating for The Avengers, but only 251 reviewers (roughly the same amount in scale) have garnered Spidey a lackluster 74%.

      Counting reviews is subjective, of course, but it looks to me like FANS are paying attention and giving the film its due, while the media reception has been a bit less enthused.

    • Okay, you guys just aren’t getting it. I’m not talking about reviews or amount of money made or any of statistic of numerical success you can muster. I am talking about popular interest. When the 2002 Spider-Man came out it was a massive cultural phenomenon. It spawned a freaking broadway musical. Yes the musical didn’t debut until last year but production began in 2002, just thee months after the release of the movie. I was nineteen when Rami’s Spider-Man cam out so I remember it very well. Toby McGuire and Kirsten Dunst were everywhere. They were on every morning talk show and late night show. They hosted SNL, Spider-Man was on the cover of every entertainment magazine. This film has just not generated that level of excitement and buzz.

      Also in regard to @cahubble09’s point about two weeks vs. eleven weeks. I’m sure Avengers generated most of that money and reviews in its first few weeks and then tapered off, just like every movie. Spider-Man will do the same. Now that it has been out for two weeks both ticket sales and reviews of Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes will start to roll in at a much slower pace. One of the theaters in my town is still showing Avengers five times a day, three months after its release. I highly doubt I’ll be saying the same for Spider-Man.

    • @USPUNX: I think we can agree to disagree. It simply is not the case that we’re “just not getting it”. I would suggest that you’ve simply refused to acknowledge that others might view Spidey’s impact differently than you. We understand your point (at least I do), but just don’t agree with you. Stats representing ticket sales, reviews, etc. etc. are INDICATORS OF POPULAR INTEREST (for that matter, I’d love to take a look at secondary merchandising … with Disney selling Marvel products now, the numbers might be telling). One theater in one town isn’t representative. Any kind of “cultural phenomenon” assessments simply can’t be offered for several years after a particular event has occurred.

  5. Why did the movie made soley to retain copyright, that most people already think they saw, not receive the fanfare it deserves?

    The marketing was fucking terrible also, they didn’t show the biggest star in the movie in ANY of the advertisements. It made about the same impact culturally as Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions.

  6. ASM was a fine movie, but sadly it was only the fourth-best Spider-Man movie to come out in the last ten years. It was pretty obvious that huge parts of the movie were chopped out in post-production with characters that disappeared for huge swaths of the film (Gwen) and ones that just disappeared all-together (Osborn’s henchman). It just lacked a lot of the fun that Raimi’s first film had and more than anything, Webb’s direction lacked any amount of style. While I realize that Marvel has made serious bank off of using directors who fit into their house style, Raimi’s Spider-Man movies were the best-looking Marvel movies we’ve gotten and there’s just nothing special looking about this new one. The one good thing about DC’s movies has that they’ve largely, for good or ill, been auteur-based. Allowing Burton, Schumacher, Donner and Nolan to adopt their own style and create their own worlds was what made a lot of those movies truly special.

  7. I think people become less awe struck after the second movie of a comic character. Other than Iron Man, most people see the sequel of a movie as the best one yet. The Dark Knight, Spider-Man 2, maybe the second TMNT live action movie, X2. After their second movie people say, “They can’t top that.” and then when the 3rd movie is released usually it doesn’t or people are underwhelmed. So when The Amazing Spider-Man came out people may have thought, “It was good, but I’ve seen Spider-Man four times.”

    • No you were going good there. But Secret of the Ooze is not better than the original TMNT (movie). TMNT took place in present time (for when it came out). TMNT 2: the Secret of the ooze takes place 4 years int he past (from when it came out). That was always very strange to me.

      Oh yeah but Super Shredder, it does get a bunch of bonus points for Super Shredder.

    • Super Shredder was so awesome, he had to immediately kill himself.

  8. I keep hearing how great this movie is, but I still can’t muster up any desire to see it. I don’t know when it happened, but somewhere along the road my love for this character just fell flat. Maybe it’s because I don’t feel like there are any new stories to be told with him. I really don’t know… He’s constantly young and cracking jokes, and at some point that just became more annoying than entertaining to me.

  9. i talked to my 14yr old Nephew this weekend. He’s a HUGE spiderman fan. His entire life is Spiderman everything and has been watching the movies and cartoons since he was practically a baby. He didn’t like this movie much at all…he said it wasn’t anything like “the originals” that he loved “back when i was a kid”

    junior fanboy in training. Had to share that story.

  10. I recall an interview with Stan Lee from the 90s where he envisioned a Spider-Man movie franchise akin to 007’s. Yes, different people would play Peter Parker but the stories would be evolve.

    The general public saw this movie as something they had seen already. They asked, “Why are we getting another Spider-Man (#1) movie?” And the studio failed to answer the question both in terms in how it was marketed and within the movie itself.

    Had this been a continuation, people would have gone to Amazing Spider-Man just to see what happens next. Instead they said, “Been There, Done That” and skipped it.

    • The problem with not doing a reboot is Rami blew all the classic Spider-Man villains and NONE of them were memorable. I agree that this has an “already seen it” feel but I also think they had to do a reboot otherwise Spidy would be fighting Hobgoblin and Kangaroo in the sequel.

    • By that logic none of Spider-Man’s villains could be reused in the comic book.

    • Spidey has a huge rouge’s gallery and Raimi used four of them (5 if you included Harry)- Green Goblin, Doc Ock, Sandman, and Venom.

      Which leaves you with: Kraven, Vulture, Electro, Mysterio, Chameleon, Molten Man, Beetle, Rhino, Shocker, Hydro-Man,etc.

      I believe Doc Ock is probably the most realized villain in any comic book movie. He has the sibilance of a character arc and probably the most well-executed battle scenes.

    • @smasher: I don’t think you can really compare reusing a villain in a comic book to reusing one on film. It is well established that after enough time villains always come back in comics. However, people don’t expect to go to the movies and see the same villain in every film of a franchise, especially after he has already been defeated. They are two totally different situations and not comparable at all.

      @mutielover: I wasn’t trying to imply Spidey was out of villains, I was only saying the best known had already been used in Rami’s films. Aside from Kraven and Mysterio, I’d consider most of the villains you mentioned to be B-level compared to the likes of Vemon, Doc Ock, and the Green Goblin.

      I also totally disagree with Doc Ock being the most realized villain in any comic movie. I found his character to be very stock and pretty much comic villain 101. If you’re looking for villains with a real arc I’d point to either Stane from the first Iron Man or particularly Loki from Thor.

    • @USPUNX Just because it hasn’t been done on film doesn’t mean it wouldn’t work.

      And no one suggested using “the same villain in every film of a franchise” – that’d be silly.

      If, for example, at the end of Spider-Man 6 there was a prison break I think audiences would be excited by the possibility of seeing the villains return.

      Maybe the villains would team up with each other. Maybe this time they’ll discover Spider-Man’s secret identity. Maybe they’d turn a claim to be reformed and be good guys (or will they?).

      Plenty of possibilities.

  11. With ticket prices rising every year, I don’t think wrapping up the same origin story in shiny new paper is going to get movie goers (forget comicbook fans) excited or into the theater.

    It was a good movie, but nothing that I would recommend. In fact my response has been, take your money and go see an excellent film like Moonrise Kingdom, or save it for Dark Knight in a couple weeks.

    Hopefully, DC will learn from this when rebooting Batman and Green Lantern if that’s the road they are going. At this point we’ve seen the origin before. Forget that and just give us a fresh idea that will get people excited.

  12. Although there was good stuff in it, this film is pretty boring. I don’t know the Peter Parker in this film because I felt he was a bit of a jerk. Plus there’s story threads in the movie that they completely forget about. I’m glad this film seems to be fading away cause I don’t think it deserves anymore buzz than it got. I hope they do better with this property next time but I’m not holding much hope.

  13. It was a “pretty good” movie. We have had two excellent Spider-man movies, and two decent Spider-man movies IN ELEVEN YEARS. If you’re going to milk a character that hard for movies you need to make sure they come out great. People have seen Spider-man be nerdy and nervous, they’ve seen him swing around on webs, they’ve seen him deal with his uncle’s death. If you’re going to ‘remake’ something you should attempt to do it better. Unfortunately Amazing Spider-Man did not do it better.

  14. From an advertising perspective, they have done very little to position this as a a “new” movie. It looks and feels like a continuation of the Spiderman franchise and the key art and trailers make it look like another superhero genre movie. I think for something like this, some attention could be given to actually creating original advertising that stands out. Show a poster thats 90% red…do something that stops people in their tracks. We scoff at how important that stuff is, but on a subconscious level, nothing tells people something is new, than showing them something they haven’t seen before. I see all this advertising with different logos and names several times a year.

    Take that background from the Spiderman poster here. It could very well work as a background for Dark Knight Rises. If you keep playing with the same 4 or 5 ingredients, you eventually start to repeat yourself.

  15. I think it ALL came down to marketing. The trailers for this were made like they were catering to the “Twilight” crowd. Mostly “Personal” scenes. Dark. Too serious. And most of all, outside of the first person web slinging shots, no fun. The Avengers trailer BOMBARDED us with every hero in costume, explosions, action, and humor. I think it was as simple as that. I do a comic podcast and website (Alt3redEgos.com), and even I begged off of the review on this movie. I just have no desire to see this. And I LOVE Spidey. I will get it on DVD eventually.

    Additionally – THE ORIGIN!?!? AGAIN!?!! This was a HUGE mistake as well I believe. Combined with the trailer, average movie goers are probably thinking “Been there. done that” as well.

  16. I went to see AMS for a second time so I could see it in 3D, but also because I liked it enough to pay twice. As much as I liked the Avengers, I only saw it once in the theater. This Spider-Man movie has an emotional heart that the previous Raimi films lacked even though I liked those, too. Other commenters have rightly mentioned the strong portrayals of Uncle Ben, Peter, and Gwen. The acting, writing, and directing finally hit the right emotional notes that a lot of us wanted in the characters. I felt a relationship to those characters that made me want to spend more time with them and see the film again. I felt the same about Steve Rogers in Captain America and it’s why I liked it so much more than Thor last year. Avengers was a TON of fun, but for me it was spectacle even though it had great character moments. I may not be as attached to those heroes as other fans, but for me AMS had a personal story interlaced with the action which is why it meant more to me.

    And I’m not claiming it was a perfect movie.

  17. I think people are forgetting that the original Spider-Movie was full of problems, too. Mary Jane was clearly originally supposed to be Gwen Stacey, hastily re-written when they decided they didn’t want to kill her at the end, which was obviously massively re-written for a happier ending. There Goblin mask is ridiculous. Maguire looks old. James Franco is mediocre at best. etc, etc.

    I think that one is probably old enough for nostalgia to blur the perception, but recent enough that people don’t need another dose of it.

    • I agree. I think people remember the Rami Spider-man movies so fondly because they haven’t watched them recently. I don’t think any of them hold up, and they are only ten years old.

  18. i dont get how a film thats on its way for 800 million. cant be overlooked its likely to be one of the three big summer fims

  19. I know its been said a million times, and its been said here in the comments already, but ENOUGH with the origins.

    My trepidation with 2013’s Superman is that, once again, we get ORIGINS all over again.

    I can’t say this enough: James 007 Bond. One movie after another, switching through different ‘creative’ teams and actors, and nearly all of them WORKED. Yeah, some of the films carry a style indicative to the time period and its not always consistent from Thunderball to Quantum of Solace, but that’s what made the franchise so awesome. Everyeone goes into knowing only 3 important things: Bond is a badass spy, he’s got some nifty gadgets, and its shaken, not stirred.

    Superhero movies CAN follow that same formula. Not every single ‘sequel’ has to be in the same ‘universe’ as the previous one. You don’t need to go back and re-tell the beginning all over again just because the face of the person playing them changed. People do get it and they do understand. You know, you look at Schumacher’s awful Bat-films and of all the complaints and criticisms, I have never, ever, heard a fan, casual fan, or non-fan average movie goer say, “What I don’t get is how it fits in with the first 2 movies”. Technically they do fit, but really watch them again and see that there’s nothing there really that requires knowledge from Burton’s Batman or Batman 2. The only real connection was having the same actors play Gordon and Alfred.

    Ed Norton’s Hulk is another great example of how it can work.

    I would have FLOCKED to see this Spider-man flick had they skipped the origins and just jumped right in with Parker already established as Spider-man.

    • casino royal rebooted james bond

    • Agreed.

    • I’m with you, Custer.

      @tornado: That’s true, but the fact that it reset him back to pre-00 had very little to do with the plot. One could argue that his time with Vesper is the cause behind his future treatment of women, but other than that nothing drips with origin. JesseCuster’s example and point are still valid.

    • They’d never done an “origin” story for Bond, either. Also, it didn’t reboot Bond; all of the Craig Bonds take place before the others. Not that it matters in the slightest.

    • yes but now bond is no longer a widower from on her majesty secret service. they kept that going trough roger moores films . it was brought up in the spy who loved me. and he was at her grave in for your eyes,only. felix even brought it up in license to kill daltons last bond.

    • There hasn’t been a Superman origin on film since the original 1978 film. If 35 years isn’t long enough between origins what is?

    • @USPUNX

      Agreed. With Superman I think they should do a re-make with plot points peppered in to suggest sequels.

  20. This movie was fantastic and I enjoyed it very much. I got the exact same experience you did, I think I cried a couple times during the film too. I had zero expectations for this too. I think that fans who complain about it really need to sit down and watch the Raimi films again. As much as I love Spider-Man 2, that film and its predessor have really suffered the test of time. (although the fight with Doc Ock on the clocktower remains probably the best Super-Hero fight ever put to screen)

  21. I can honestly say I never got the “buzz” around the first three films, I didn’t connect to Peter Parker, I didn’t get excited about it and I generally didn’t root for Spiderman to win.

    The Amazing Spiderman, just, woah! Completely different. I walked out of that cinema thinking “I finally think Spiderman is cool now.” Yes there was some slight things that bugged me in the film, but that happens in most films. This film really got me rooting for Spiderman/Peter Parker.

    I really enjoyed it and I’m also surprised that the general media hasn’t been praising it as much as I believe it should be.

  22. Green Lantern deserves better. Superman deserves better. Spider-Man has had four movies released in the last ten years, three of them were good, and they all made money. What more do you want? Spider-Man fans have nothing valid to complain about in terms of the character getting the attention he deserves.

    As far as the reaction to the film, I can only speak from personal experience. With the exception of Wolverine Origins, I haven’t missed a superhero midnight show in years. I have yet to see this one, and I think I know why. In the past year, when everyone I knew was asking me “Why are they rebooting Spider-Man?”, I would defend the choice, say that it was probably the best move they could make, and encourage them to see it when it comes out because of everything it had going for it. Many of those folks took my advice, saw it, and enjoyed it. Now they’re asking me if I’m ill, because they can’t understand why I haven’t seen it yet.

    I am interested. I love Spider-Man. I’m a fan of everyone involved. I’m just not moitvated to sit through another 45 minute origin story before I see him in action. I just don’t care that much. This lack of interest surprised even me, but I have yet to say anything but a lazy “I’ll get around to it.” And with DKR coming out this week, I doubt I’ll get around to it for another two weeks or so.

    I just think that when an installment in any franchise comes out every three years, the excitement is distilled, and people aren’t in any rush. There’s always gonna be another one right around the corner.

  23. Even acknowledging the film’s many problems, I loved the hell out of Spider-man movie. It’s not up to Spidey 2 but it’s largely better than the first one and infinitely better than the third.

    One question though: what’s with your second last paragraph? Movies with regular people aren’t being made any more? Really? Sorry Jim but you have to be living with your head in the sand to not notice that the vast majority of movies don’t feature superheroes or outright fantasy settings. Are you exaggerating to make a point or what?

  24. I think I’m burned out on the movie going experience in general. Before the Avengers, I think it had been a year since I’d been to the movies, and in 2011 I think I went out to a theater maybe three times, all for comic book films. Prices haven’t gotten so high, the theater keeps trying to push me into 3D, kids are crying and yelling at the screen, and GET OFF MY LAWN WHIPPER SNAPPER, GARRRR.

  25. I loved the movie.
    I went in very frustrated that I was getting the origin story again but, despite some of the holes in the movie, I found the good far outweighed the bad. The character work was great, the acting was wonderful, and the fights and web-swinging looked amazing.
    I think the studio failed in their marketing of the movie and the shadow of Batman definitely hurt it.

  26. I saw it on opening day and it was really good. I enjoyed it quite a lot. There just isn’t that “I’ve gotta see it again” factor that Avengers (for example) had. The movie’s just kind of there, not compelling me to see it again. It may be a reboot, but it’s not too far removed from Sam Raimi’s movies, at least as far as the “Spider” action goes. It had the same swinging camera effects the last three movies had. They didn’t do anything new at all with the effects. I greatly prefer Garfield’s Peter Parker though. Even though there was a lot of teenage angsty stuff going on, which bores me to tears, he was very likeable in the role and I look forward to seeing what else they come up with in this version of the franchise.

    • Comments like this are exactly why I’m passing on seeing it in the theater – I’ve heard this same thoughts from a lot of other people.

  27. I’ve not seen this film and I’m not the biggest Spider-Man fan ( not read much/ translate that into almost nothing ) but…. if this is a reboot, why didn’t Marvel go the Ultimate Spider-Man and Miles Morales path then ?

    Currently reading the first TPB for Ultimate and loving it.

    • you’re right. if you’re going to start over, might as well go with Miles and make this really interesting.
      USM is Marvel’s best book. what a wasted opportunity.

    • I would absolutely refuse to see a Spider-Man movie starring Miles Morales.

    • Why Switch625 ?

    • Because I have no emotional attachment to Miles Morales and therefore am not interested in his story or adventures.

    • At this point (what, one year in?) I don’t think you could have a Miles story without a death of Peter Parker story. I don’t think movie audiences are ready for that story. And I certainly don’t think movie studios have exhausted using Peter Parker/Spider-Man on the big screen.

      Plus, I don’t know which movie studio owns the film rights to Miles Morales. If it isn’t the same as Sony then it could be mighty complicated to pull off.

    • movie audiences are ready for anything these days. clearly it’s the traditional comic nerds who aren’t ready for anyone other than their precious peter parker to fill spidey’s boots.

    • sitara119

      I agree, there is more than enough material already out for a Miles Morales film, the only thing is film studio ownership but if Sony own the Spider-Man rights then I couldn’t see an Issue, another re-boot using a different character that’s already in the comics seems bloody daft… a little consistency for once eh ffs.

  28. Jim, this is a fantastic angle on the superhero movie!! I am really enjoying reading this thread and I think you hit a nerve. Great job!

  29. I wish I had seen this new Spider-Man first, instead of the Raimi ones. It has problems, but the Raimi ones have more problems (which have been thoroughly outlined above). But the first time I saw Spider-Man, the magic of seeing my favorite character from childhood swinging around on-screen overcame most of them. So if I’d seen this far better take on Spidey first, I might’ve died of sheer happiness.

  30. i’m underwhelmed for the new spidey movie. i mean, i wanna see it. i’m gonna. i just don’t really seem to care when. might wait for dvd. i’d be more excited if it wasn’t another orgin movie. i’m sure the effects and fight scenes are awesome and i want to see Sheen as uncle ben, i guess.
    i like the idea of putting him back in high school. teenage spidey is the best spidey. that’s why USM has been the best spidey book for the past 12 years. i just don’t want to start this story over at the beginning AGAIN.
    i’d feel the same if 2 years from now DC announced they were goin’ to reboot Batman again.
    let’s continue the story from any point other than the very beginning from now on, please.

  31. Haven’t had a chance to see this yet, but it has to be better than the Raimi movies, right?

    Seriously, re-watch them and see if they hold up in this post Batman Begins, Thor, Dark Knight, Iron Man, Avengers, X-men First Class world.*

    *They don’t.

    • Agreed. I used to think Spider-Man 2 was the best thing under the sun but rewatching it, the dialogue is just awful.

      People say that Dunst was wrong for MJ but I don’t think the writers get enough of the blame. MJ in the raimi movies was so bland and not at all the fun loving care free girl with a different date every night that MJ was in the comics before the marriage.

    • Man, people are so fickle.

    • It’s not about being fickle it’s about growing in your appreciation for the source material and the way films are made. The dialogue from part 2 is laughable in some moments and brilliant in others, but mostly just mediocre.

      Harry: You were like a son to my father.

      Peter: (awkward silence) Thank you.

      The previous dialogue takes place during a birthday party where everyone looks sad as hell.

      The movie is paced well and the fights are sensational but the whole “I lost my powers because i stopped believing in myself” was weird. Huge chunks of the movie don’t hold up like i thought they would

  32. Another retelling of the Spider-Man origin.

    I would love to hear someone who says, “I don’t like The Walking Dead comics because it’s just the same stories happening over and over” explain to me how great the Spider-Man movie is.

  33. All the mediocre reviews and the retelling of Spidey’s origin have led me to skipping it in the theaters. I kinda want to see it, but I have no great desire to do so. Better luck next time.

    Definitely gonna see Dark Knight and Avengers was great. And last years low-key super-movie, X-Men First Class, was my favorite of them all. But enough with Spidey’s origin already.

  34. “I don’t think I’ve seen people flock to a movie on opening weekend and then act like it never happened this thoroughly since Iron Man 2”

    That’s because IM2 wasn’t very good. And neither was ASM.

  35. For me personally, I really like the Spider-Man parts of this Spider-Man movie. My issues were with the “movie” parts.

    The plots that went nowhere (“I shall not rest until I uncover my father’s secre- OH SHIT, A GIRL!”).

    The cramped, hyper-rushed pace (“Amazing Spider-Man: The story of an orphan, desperate to come to terms with his parent’s death… I mean, his uncle’s death… I mean, his girlfriend’s dad’s death…”).

    The random nonsense (I guess The Lizard can… summon lizards to himself, now? Kind of an Aquaman-of-the-sewers thing?).

    The strange cypher that is Peter Parker in this movie (The kid speaks zero complete sentences in the first 30 minutes. Good way to establish his personality, movie).

    The ham-fisted, savagely lazy rehash of the ending of the first movie (“We can’t be together, Mary-Gwen, for super convenient plot reasons, the tension of which you will negate immediately by figuring them out and explaining them to the audience).

    Now, the web-shooters? A Spider-Man that’s actually funny? Martin Sheen? The fight in the school? All totally rad. They just needed to be in a better movie.

    • The Lizard controlling lizards thing, I’m almost positive that was part of the Shed storyline a couple years ago.

    • The Lizard was controlling crocodiles in his first appearance.

    • The Lizard is Croc Master? Make that movie, Marvel and whoever owns the GI Joe movie rights!

    • I mean… listen, that’s cool and all, but it still makes no damn sense within the movie. That’d be like Ben Reiley walking through the house eating a sandwich and no one commenting on it.

    • Would he be wearing a blue hoodie? Because I have some more movie dollars for you right here.

    • I could not agree with you more, I would just like to add that the scene where the thief pulls a knife on spider man that we have seen in the trailers; makes Spider-man come off as more of a jerk than likeable character in the movie. I would have to say that for the majority of the movie Peter comes off as unlikeable and unsympathetic. I understand building the character up to be a jerk at first and then having the character grow in to a better person as the movie goes along, but for the entirety of the movie he is a complete jerk to Aunt May who by the end seems like she has completely lost her mind. I think the movie is getting the type of attention it is getting because it deserves it. It is an okay movie with a decent love story and a lot of editing and plot problems.

  36. Hmmmm, the amount of comments being deleted on this site recently is beginning to border on censorship. I truly appreciate the environment on ifanboy as it is one of the most positive comic sites I’ve ever found, but a little disagreement and heated discussion from time to time isn’t going to destabilize that.

  37. Jim, could you expand a little bit on what you mean by “cultural impact” ? Are you simply referring to mainstream media coverage? Or comic-fandom’s lack of response to it (which I believe you make a case for)? Having not seen the film, I can’t speak to the quality nor compare it to Raimi’s trilogy,nut to a certain degree I have to imagine that fandom is just overloaded this summer between the other comics-related films/tv shows/games/SDCC and general publishing news. When the first Spider-Man came out, there was the X-Men film, some Blade movies, the horrible bat-nipples (as you noted) and the Superman franchise from the 70’s. That’s it. It was a big deal because it was so new, one of the pioneers of comics crossing over into the new frontier of non-comics mainstream audiences. Marvel was coming out of bankruptcy and hadn’t even begun to think about how it was about to spoil us all with their own movie studio. Anyway, just my thoughts and I appreciate the article for its honesty.

    • Yeah, context is key.
      I mean we actually had a movie version of the Avengers for the first time this summer and it was GOOD. Pardon the people for not doing backflips over Spider-Man this year.

  38. Good article and while I haven’t seen the movie yet, I agree with the no expectations then coming out of the movie much more pleased than going in with high hopes but on the flipside movies like The Avengers where there wasn’t a trilogy done in recent years and had total build up with the highest of expectations, including the possible future of comic book movies, was much better on the sneak preview night due to the sheer raw energy and enthusiasm in the theatre, it made an awesome movie just that much more fun cause you could feel and hear everyone else’s excitement and cheers…most fun I had seeing a movie. I love Spiderman and think I’ll enjoy this too, it just didn’t warrant a midnight screening for me. I do think its lack of public reaction is because of the prior trilogy and bigger comic movies with higher expectations coming out before and after it, Dark Knight Rises is a midnight screening for me as well.

  39. There are a lot of good superhero movies coming out this summer.

    There are a lot of movies that people might be thinking about seeing besides superhero movies.

    Spider-Man has been done before. Three times.

    I’m hoping it’s great, but…

    It’s just not all that exciting, really.

    Neither is a Batman movie or a Superman movie, at this point. Sorry.

    Show me something new. You want me to get excited? Take a risk.

  40. Easy answer. It isn’t a pretty good movie. Its mostly terrible. The only positive I found in that movie was Emma Stone.

  41. I loved it. In my opinion, it was way better than the Rami movies. I thought the action scenes were perfect, the acting was spot on. Can’t wait for the sequels.

  42. My girlfriend and my daughter both loved the movie and so did I. Really liked Garfield’s acting and portrayal. I would see this movie again. Honestly, I stopped caring what some petty fans may think. Especially ones that don’t really create anything themselves. Great movie for new fans of the character.

    • There’s no need to call people petty just because they don’t agree with you about liking or disliking Spider-Man. Also, how do you know none of the people that have criticized Spider-Man have never created anything? Can you please provide a resume of all the thing you have created so we have a context for your comment?

    • I don’t understand the “don’t criticize unless you can do it” thing. I can’t make a pie to save my life, but I can certainly tell when one’s fantastic or terrible.

  43. I really liked the first two Raimi Spider-man movies. The second one was especially good. From the costume, to the trailers, this new one has really not excited me in any way. Spider-man is my favorite and I would argue, best super hero, yet I will wait until blu-ray to watch it. I blame Sony for rebooting, a weird costume, and for a smart ass (in a bad way) portrayal of Spidey in the trailers.

    I mean really, who gives two craps about Peter’s parents?

  44. By the way, they’re gonna do the same goddam thing to Batman in a couple years…

  45. A big part of me wants to see this, but 5 years has not been enough to wash that horrible Spiderman 3 taste out of my mouth. I just can’t bring myself to see this at the theatre because of Rami’s last outing. I will definately get it on blue ray when it comes out. Looking forward to this weekend though. Ready to get my Batman on.

  46. There’s really no mystery…the problem is that it feels like we just saw this movie! Sure all the details are different but to the average moviegoer, it feels like…wait, Spiderman’s origin again??? And as far as rebooting, everyone hated Nipples Batman so there was actual demand for a better Batman movie. I don’t think there was necessarily as much disdain for the last Spiderman trilogy even with the third flick being as bad as it was since the first two were so good.

  47. Oops…also…when did Peter Parker start looking so emo hipster?

    • when they made a movie about high school kids set in the year 2012. I see high schoolers at the local coffee house all the time and even the ones who don’t wear hipster-esque shirts still have the skinny jeans.

  48. This is a tad off topic but:

    Am I the ONLY person who actually liked Iron Man 2? It’s clearly not as great as the first movie but I found it to be quite enjoyable. Not everything about it worked of course (Iron Man having a drunken party in his suit is very close to emo Peter Parker singing in a club), but most of the movie was entertaining.

    Back on ASM…..My sister recently watched it over the weekend and she loved it. Said it was better then the Raimi films. So I guess I have no choice but to watch it at some point.

    • i love iron man 2. mickey rourke is awesome.

    • Iron Man 2 totally has its moments. Even the drunken party could have been emotionally affecting if they didn’t have the DJ scoring the fight at the end. The music utterly wrecks that scene, which could have been a “Demon in a Bottle” moment.

      When my friends and I are poking fun at Iron Man 2, the scene we always reference is, “Do you like your bird? Do you not like the bird? So it is your bird, I thought it wasn’t your bird, I’m confused, I thought you didn’t like the bird… You know what, take the bird.” Upon repeated viewings, this scene goes on for roughly eleven hours.

    • I liked Iron Man 2, not as much as the original but still really enjoyed it. My major complaint was it didn’t feel like there were any stakes. The villain was only after Iron Man, the world or innocent people weren’t really ever in danger.

    • @jimski: I have a feeling that the scene was going to be played more seriously. But let’s face it; it’s RDJ in a robotic suit, drinking, and dancing….Even if it is meant to be serious there’s no way they could have.

      People apparently don’t like Sam Rockwell in the movie because he’s trying to hard to be like Tony Stark. But that’s the point of his character! I thought he was funny anyways; hope he’s in IR3 in some capacity.

    • I’ll say it outright; I loved Iron Man 2. The hate that movie gets is baffling to me.

    • My only problem with Iron Man 2 is being expected to accept Mickey Rourke as a scientific genius, looking like that.

    • ya know, there’s an old sayin’ about judging books by their covers…
      not everyone who’s a genius looks like 1960’s peter parker.
      they tend to be eccentric more often than not.

  49. I saw it late due to traveling, but I honestly really quite loved it. Garfield was pitch perfect for me, as the movie started I was thinking, he’s too attractive, how is this going to work? Then he had a conversation with Gwen Stacey and I realized, oh. That’s how. Fabulous job there.

    I also agree on making the web, as soon as I realized what he was doing? Genius. Agreed as well on Uncle Ben, as soon as he went out that door after peter my nails started to dig into the armrest, and when it happened. Gone.

    It wasn’t perfect for me, there were a few awkward things that I won’t mention, mostly because I’ve already forgotten them, but overall it gave me the same sort of thrills I get from reading a well written arc and that’s exactly what I what from my superhero moves.

  50. I loved this movie. I have not been this excited about Spider-Man in a long, long time. I stopped reading Spidey around the JMS era, felt that Ultimate Spider-Man was getting too……………er…dunno. (I think I was extremely burnt out on Bendis) And the last movie I saw was the 3rd.

    Now Ultimate Spider-Man is in my top 5 favorite comics to buy, Dan Slott’s made me love AMS all over again, and this Spider-Man movie is my favorite. I agree with this article completely.

    Although, I still respect everyone’s right to disagree………am I allowed to do that on the internet?

  51. I wonder if this movie is just suffering from coming out after a bad movie. Batman Begins did not do well, but I think we would agree it was at least a very good movie. Were people so turned off by Spider-Man 3 that they stayed away?

    Most non-comic people I have spoken to have loved this movie as did I. I think many comic fans brought preconceived ideas into this movie. I agree that it was too early for a reboot, but it was done very well. Let’s try to go into these films with an open mind.

    • I’m not sure it’s fair to say Batman Begins didn’t do well. It made over $200 million domestically, over $370 million including international sales, and according to Wikipedia is was number one at the box office for two weeks, pretty impressive for a summer movie these days, and had the biggest opening week total of any Batman film. When it left theaters it was the second highest grossing Bat film to date. I think most studios would take those numbers.

  52. Can I say, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie split the fanbase’s reaction so squarely down the middle. Even the civilians I’ve talked to are a 50/50 split. Simply fascinating.

    • Watchmen was mostly love it or hate it, I’m one of the ones who loved it and I love the book, (cue tomatoes) but I just thought it was done with more care and substance than a lot of movies in general and looked great on the Imax and directors cut bluray. Most critics gave it 3 out of 4 stars even though I heard tons of bad feedback from the publics mainstream online reaction and have since not cared what anyone thought (like I ever did) about comic films or anything I like for that matter, I usually don’t check reviews cause I like to form my own opinion without prior notions going into it.

    • Even Comcast rates Watchmen 3 outta 4 stars and can’t figure out they’re vague rating system, as the two star ratings range from award winning movies to complete box office bombs.

    • i agree with not taking into account other people’s opinions on movies. i skipped spirit of vengence at the movies in 3D because of all the negative feedback, even here. not to mention, i didn’t really dig the first ghost rider flick. i watched part 2 on dvd and loved it(i might be the only one).
      i also love watchmen the book, the movie and, so far, the BW mini’s.

  53. Oh and with all this good or bad feedback on Spidey, the real issue for me is that Marvel Studio’s now being in full swing need to buy the movie rights to Spiderman back.

  54. I really tried to give this movie a chance but I really couldn’t have cared less as I was watching it. Everything just seemed stale and rehashed. I was a fan of the mechanical web shooters and Emma Stone as Gwen though. I think this film is silently warning anyone that wants to listen “WB” that rebooting the origin of the same character over and over in such a short time span is going to only weaken the property. Spiderman is doing well because it’s the first to try the stunt but mark my words each follower will do worse, generate less buzz, and seem more irrelevant than the last.

  55. I grew up as a Spidey nut and the first Raimi film was probably bar Batman Begins the most excited I’ve ever been for a film. Loved it then, still love it now – Spider-Man 2 was even better.

    Couldn’t care less about this one, haven’t made any effort to see it in the cinema probably won’t bother with it when it comes out on DVD.

    Firstly, Marvel has been slowly killing my interest in Spidey with their handling of him since OMD but the actual conceit of the film itself suffered from too many black marks against it…

    Way to early for a reboot (especially given the fact that Raimi got a bit screwed over with Spidey 3 by the studios/producers getting him to insert Venom into the story – he should have had a chance to redeem it with Spidey 4), bad casting (Garfield is too cool for PP, Peter is a geek/nerd not an edgy outsider), bad villian choice (especially considering it was CG – Spidey 3 was hampered by the dumb CG creations), wrong tone in the trailers (it’s Spider-Man not Batman FFS), generally poor critical reception and the dumb ‘x-treme’ Spidey suit.

  56. To be honest, I think the general public, the casual fans who make up the difference in ticket stubs between “okay” and “hit,” are still confused by comic book reboots.

    The comparison point here would be BATMAN BEGINS. Time may have dimmed our memories, and the huge success of THE DARK KNIGHT makes us think the NolanBat has been a cultural phenomenon from the start, but BB was much more of a slow burn. It did well, and took in decent box office over the length of it’s run, but it was a slow and steady film that built more through word of mouth. And most of my conversations with non-fans at the time centred around explaining that it was not a prequel, it was a reboot. Then a polite pause before explaining what I meant by reboot.

    In fact, even yesterday I had that conversation, when someone asked if DKR was going to tie into the 90’s films.

    I haven’t seen the new Spidey, so I can’t speak to it’s quality, but the reboot issue is going to be playing a major part. A sequel would probably make more money, once this first one has built through word of mouth and dvd.

  57. I can’t drag myself to the theater to see another origin story. Enough already.

  58. I liked ironman 2. Wasn’t perfect but, a good effort and well, I can’t unwatch it and get my money back. I also liked Sups Return. Not perfect, but, just another take on these malleable characters. Yes, I can criticize crappy work! I really dislike X3 and wish it had never been born! Also dislike anything that M Bay touches. This Spidey was great, it just didn’t agree with “some” people, and that is ok, nothing to cry or fret about. Didn’t like it? Cool, move on! Just to be more annoying: yes create stuff, just not for money and feel great about it! I also create good times and happy vibes wherever I go. Most of the time. I guess I agree with the writer of this column and the wonderful people that put a lot of effort into creating this movie! Thanks movie studio, Lee and Kirby, Webb and Gardield!

  59. They only made one other spider-Man origin right? I’m not crazy am I? People are acting like this is the tenth movie to tell Peter’s origin. I’ve literally seen 3 movies in theaters tell me Batman’s origin if you include (mask of the phantasm) and guess what? If it’s done well I will go see another one. Chill out folks.

    • Word.

    • Also people only complain about superhero movies for whatever reason meanwhile Sherlock Holmes will be getting his 3rd reboot in 4 years with “Elementary.” The other two being the RDJ movies and the BBC “Sherlock.”

      People will complain about Superman next year as well, despite it being the coolest origin ever.

    • Mask of the Phantasm doesn’t count.
      Tim Burton’s batman wasn’t about batman’s orgin.
      it was about the Joker’s.
      sure, we got some flashback action of his parents being murdered. it provided us with his motivations, but it wasn’t about him getting his costume together, learning how to fight, putting his equipment together, building the batcave, etc.
      so truly, Batman Begins is the only orgin story of Batman on the big screen. and i hope it stays that way.
      as a comic fan, i’ve read peter parker’s origin story A LOT OF TIMES(they use to bring it up at least every other issue back in the day). i’ve watched all the cartoons, which start as an origin story. and i’ve seen it in the theatres. Hell, it was on Broadway for fuck’s sake.
      this spider-cow has been officially milked. i want more spider-man movies and comics, just no more peter parker origins for a while. i’m full, thank you.

  60. My problems with the movie aren’t related to it being a super-hero movie at all. It was just a really slow, dragging, poorly told story IMO. As a super-hero movie, though, I must admit that it is a terrible comparison to Avengers, which I consider perfect in almost every way. I don’t really mind seeing Peter’s origin story again, but Garfield’s version wasn’t a version I could develop feelings for. Also, I don’t know if it’s been mentioned, but the part where Spider-Man shot a bunch of webs and felt for the vibrations was done in the comics after he developed the extra spider abilities (like the wrist spike), I think in JMS’ run. Overall his new abilities were stupid and unneeded so they did away with them.

  61. Any chance iFanboy would be willing to set up a Movies page similar to the weekly Comics page?

    It’d be interesting to see the average star ratings of comic book movies from the iFanbase.
    Could also give the iFanbase the ability to add movie reviews.
    Could also link out to the published reviews from iFanboy staff, special edition podcasts, and boards when the movie came out.

    Just a thought.

    Thanks

    • Considering the feature films and DC to DVD animated ones over the past decade there’s plenty of content to create a Movies listing on the website.

      I imagine it could also attract new users to the site as well as advertisers.

  62. Wow, I wrote the companion piece to this one three weeks ago over at “StashMyComics.com”. Great minds and what-not, Jimski. Here’s the link: http://www.stashmycomics.com/blog/index.php/2012/07/geek-cinema-oh-yeah-theres-a-new-spider-man-movie-coming-out/

  63. The bloom is off the rose. These movies aren’t just made for comic fans. Studios want EVERYONE to see them. When the first Superman debuted in ’79(?), people FLOCKED to theaters to glimpse this fictional character they either grew up with or knew all about – and because there had never been a movie like it – ever. Same with Batman. “Regular” moviegoers stood in line for hours alongside comic fans (myself included) to see the biggest baddest comic book hero ever. People saw the first couple of movies, were satisfied, and moved on, especially when horrid sequels (aka Supes and Bats 3 and 4) came out.

    Then a new breed of hero showed up whom people could relate to even better because he was human too: Indiana Jones and John McClain (Die Hard) were jumping off buildings, facing impossible odds, etc. Just like James Bond. Why go see a hammy Tommy Lee Jones in bad makeup when they can watch Harrison Ford in a losing fistfight around whirling propellor blades? Bruce Willis taunting Hans Gruber over a walkie talkie? To quote Robert Townsend’s great flick, ‘Hollywood Shuffle’: “Man, that shit could really happen!”

    One exception – Batman. I believe he falls into the Bond/Jones/McClane category. Naturally, you have to treat the character with respect (Joel). There have been bad Bond/Jones/McClane films. But Batman is just like them: a guy in a suit, like James Bond. He can get beat up, like Indiana Jones. He can be killed, like John Mc- well, not yet I guess.

    As long as studios don’t overdo one character, they’ll make money. Raimi’s first two Spider movies again played to our culture’s childhood: everyone knows who Spider-man is, but no one had EVER made a movie – a real movie with great actors, writing and special effects about one of the most famous superheroes in the world – like this.

    Yes, we’ll get more Iron Man, Cap and Thor – who doesn’t want to see more of them? But I believe that if Avengers hadn’t come along, I highly doubt IM 3 would be as successful.

  64. I enjoyed how the death of Ben Parker was performed. And I mean enjoyed as in it really hit me hard, “right in the chest plate” so to speak. It felt like a real death. It remided me of my own fathers death. In movies, there is this cliche’ where when a parent dies, they get this one last line that somehow defines the main character for the rest of the movie. I appreciated the death of Ben Parker, one second he was there, the next he was gone. No final words, no calling out to his loved ones, no good bye, just gone. That is the way the death of a parent is for the majority of us. Thank you Marc Webb.

    • i thought the same thing. When my father died there were no last words. i went to bed one night and he was there and the next morning my aunt came into my room and told me he was gone