Last night I saw the latest Spiderman flick, and I was not disappointed. For those people who were disappointed, or mad because of the changes in time line in the Spiderman world, shut up. The introduction of Gwen Stacy does nothing to significantly change the story, she just as well could have been an original character, but instead directer Sam Rami chose to use an already existing Spiderman character. Also for those mad with the team work (careful word choice, I don’t want to spoil anything) if you really look at what drives the characters, the alliance makes sense. Overall I thought this was a great movie; at no point was I bored or mad. If you were a fan of the first two films, I can see no reason why you wouldn’t also enjoy this film. On the other hand if you hated the first two films, save your money because you’ll hate this one too.
Here are a few things that I noticed about this movie in contrast with Spiderman 1 & 2:
- It is a much darker movie, both in theme and imagery. Peter Parker takes on “emo” persona when under the influence of the alien symbiote to signify its effect on his persona and emotions. Peter Parker’s outward appearance changes to signify the internal battle his soul is having.
- This movie is much more violent than the first two films. Or at least the violence is much more visible in this film. There are more battles between Spiderman and the Super villains. Plus the black suited Spiderman and his Peter Parker counterpart are violent and aggressive. At one point Peter even strikes Mary Jane.
- For the first time in the movie, the realization that Spiderman can be defeated by super villains is shown. Venom and the Sandman are obviously too much for Spiderman to handle. Without some help Spiderman can fail.
- Teamwork. Spiderman reaches out for help, both in his Peter Parker life and in his masked escapades.
Finally if you are really interested in Spiderman, check out my post on Webslinger, a book of essays on Spiderman.