What Went Wrong With Sonys Amazing SpiderMan Movies

What Went Wrong With Sony’s Amazing Spider-Man Movies

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Sony’s Amazing Spider-Man movies starring Andrew Garfield had plenty going for them, but ended abruptly. Here’s what went wrong with Sony’s reboot.

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What Went Wrong With Sonys Amazing SpiderMan Movies

What went wrong with Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man reboot starring Andrew Garfield? Back in the early 2000s when Aunt May was still an elderly lady, superhero movies were fast becoming big business, and Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man played a massive role in that. With a stellar cast starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Willem Dafoe and James Franco, web-mania was in full effect, and a 2004 sequel that pitted Spidey against Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus is widely considered even greater than the original. The franchise quickly turned sour with the maligned Spider-Man 3, and as production on a fourth entry stalled, Sony opted to hit the big red reboot button.

Enter Andrew Garfield in 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man. Directed by Marc Webb, the Spidey movie reboot took Peter Parker’s story right back to the beginning, with a younger version of the superhero and a more stylized visual approach. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 premiered several years later, and this would prove to be the final chapter in Webb’s aborted version of the web-slinger. Compared to the original trilogy, the Amazing Spider-Man series was making less money and proving less popular with fans and critics, and Sony would eventually choose to throw their lot in with Marvel’s MCU.

It’s vital to acknowledge that Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man movies were by no means an outright failure. Both offerings are visually stunning and better capture the humor of the comics, while Andrew Garfield is the undoubted highlight as both Peter Parker and Spider-Man. There’s a youthfulness that feels fresh compared to what came before and Emma Stone is a more rounded character than Kirsten Dunst’s Mary Jane Watson. Nevertheless, the fact that the famous red and blue suit is currently occupied by Tom Holland proves The Amazing Spider-Man series clearly didn’t go to plan, and here’s why:

Spider-Man’s Movie Villain Woes Continue

What Went Wrong With Sonys Amazing SpiderMan Movies

Superhero movies so often boil down to the strength of their villains; it’s no coincidence that the revered The Dark Knight starred Heath Ledger’s Joker, while the MCU’s black sheep, Thor: The Dark World, also had the franchise’s most forgettable villain in Malekith. Subsequently, it’s no surprise that a sizable chunk of The Amazing Spider-Man’s woes can be attributed to lackluster villains.

The Lizard was an odd choice for a main antagonist in The Amazing Spider-Man, not only because of his status as a solid but distinctly un-amazing ‘B’ baddie in the comic books, but also because the transformation necessitates heavy use of CGI. If there’s one lesson comic book movies have repeatedly taught over the years, it’s that CGI villains are extremely difficult to get right, with the more human adversaries almost always proving more popular. The anomalous Thanos aside, Parallax (Green Lantern), Steppenwolf (Justice League) and Abomination (The Incredible Hulk) are just a sample of the monsters that failed to connect by virtue of being drowned in special effects, and Curt Connors joins that motley crew of undesirables.

If Lizard was underwhelming, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 overcompensated. Jamie Foxx starred as Electro, the main villain as far as the film’s marketing was concerned, but the sequel also included Harry Osborn’s proper debut as Green Goblin and Paul Giamatti as Rhino. One of the most frequent critiques leveled at Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 is an overdose of evil, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 makes exactly the same error.

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Not finding the right villain balance was damning for The Amazing Spider-Man, and the situation was worsened by poor casting. The talented Rhys Ifans was miscast as Curt Connors, coming as close to a generic comic mad scientist as it’s possible to get. Similar sentiments apply to Jamie Foxx’s Electro, who embarks on a rushed origin story and ultimately falls into very familiar ‘angry social outcast’ mold. Compare this to the MCU’s Vulture and Mysterio. Neither are Spider-Man’s most renowned foes, but the twists on both characters (Vulture as Spidey’s prospective father-in-law and Mysterio as an elaborate technological conman) elevated them beyond mere faceless targets for the web-slinger to punch.

Amazing Spider-Man Was Too Close To Raimi’s Trilogy

What Went Wrong With Sonys Amazing SpiderMan Movies

Coming only 5 years after Spider-Man 3, Marc Webb’s movies were always going to be directly held up against Sam Raimi’s work, and might’ve benefited from more of a tonal and narrative departure. When tasked with reviving the failing Batman movie franchise, for example, Christopher Nolan opted to take Batman Begins into previously unexplored territory, adopting an urban realism that was a world away from Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher. Although the directive likely came from Sony, rather than Webb, the Amazing Spider-Man movies tread a remarkably similar line to the Raimi trilogy, and are more forgettable as a result.

Peter Parker struggles to balance his superhero antics with his love life, while a scientific mentor begins a slow descent into madness and villainy in pursuit of progress at any cost, forcing Spider-Man to fight a man he once held in high esteem. That description works as well for 2002’s Spider-Man as it does for The Amazing Spider-Man and the similarities don’t end there, with the Harry Osborn dynamic coming into play in both retellings of the story and the same tones and themes recurring time and again.

In contrast, Spider-Man: Homecoming makes far more telling changes. The origin story is skipped altogether, Tony Stark replaces Uncle Ben and there’s a far greater focus on Peter Parker’s high school pals. MCU Spidey’s villains are smart criminals rather than crazed monsters, and the love story doesn’t come into full effect until the second movie. This is the gear shift The Amazing Spider-Man needed in order to differentiate itself – not just reinstate the mechanical web shooters and shave a few years off Aunt May.

Trying To Rewrite The Origin Story

What Went Wrong With Sonys Amazing SpiderMan Movies

In fairness, The Amazing Spider-Man does make one significant shake-up to the familiar formula but it’s not one that lands as intended. Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man movies present the idea that Peter’s parents were deeply involved in a scientific conspiracy that echoes into Peter’s life as an adult and his superhero career. On paper, this had the potential to be a fascinating addition to the usual Spider-Man origin, and could’ve spiced up Webb’s movies in a unique way, but The Amazing Spider-Man never figured out how to integrate this new building block with the pieces already in place.

After spending much of its first half setting up the Parker mystery, The Amazing Spider-Man rapidly abandons that quest in favor of the emerging Lizard story. In a fatal mistake to whatever intrigue the storyline held, Garfield’s first Spidey offering never reveals the truth behind why Peter’s parents disappeared, leaving the conclusion for the sequel. The eventual solution in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is overly convoluted, trying to connect Osborn, Connors, Peter, his powers and the safety of the entire world. Worse still, the answers come via an extremely convenient video message that Peter really should’ve found an entire film ago.

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The Amazing Spider-Man also made adjustments to Spider-Man’s (very) familiar origin story but, once again, the changes fall flat. Peter Parker’s motivation for becoming Spider-Man feels out of character, Uncle Ben’s death is entirely avoidable and the twist that only Peter could’ve developed powers from the Spider bite removes the ‘everyman’ quality that defines Spidey in the comic books. The MCU does exactly the same with Peter’s Stark connections and, in both cases, Spider-Man is made far less relatable.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Buckled Under Franchise Building

What Went Wrong With Sonys Amazing SpiderMan Movies

If The Amazing Spider-Man was underwhelming, the sequel was overstuffed. Electro’s introduction, the emergence of Green Goblin, Peter and Gwen’s relationship woes, the Parker family’s secrets, the true intentions of Oscorp, Gwen’s death and various smaller side stories are all left battling for screen time. With far too much to cover, the villains’ development feels rushed and the constant back-and-forth of Pete’s relationship with Gwen becomes an annoying hindrance, rather than the emotional love story it could’ve been. Much time is devoted to the young couple deliberating about the future of their relationship, while the likes of Electro and Harry Osborn are left under-developed. By the midway point of the sequel, the audience doesn’t care whether Pete and Gwen stay together, they just want them to make a damn decision.

In defense of Webb, it’s very clear that Sony sought to use as The Amazing Spider-Man 2 as a launch pad to other things. There’s a very transparent effort to build towards a Sinister Six movie, which no doubt contributed to the glut of villains involved, and much of the Oscorp material is clearly intended to pay off further down the line, in films that were ultimately never made. Meanwhile, vital storylines are accelerated to set up further movies. Harry Osborn is rapidly established as Peter Parker’s closest friend because the Green Goblin needs to appear before the third film, while Gwen has to die so Peter’s gripe with the villain becomes personal – something that would’ve paid off more in later films than in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

Style Over Heart

For all the technical and story analysis, perhaps the overriding reason The Amazing Spider-Man failed to make the same impact as Sam Raimi’s trilogy or Tom Holland’s MCU iteration is that fans simply aren’t inclined to care about the characters. Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst’s on-screen relationship might’ve been by-the-numbers, but Raimi’s easily relatable Spider-Man combined with the unattainable Mary Jane was heartfelt. As cheesy as it might’ve been, the duo’s upside-down kiss is an iconic cinematic moment. By contrast, The Amazing Spider-Man’s Pete and Gwen feel like any other teenage couple. Through no fault of the actors, Garfield’s Peter is prone to being unlikable and their constant troubles dampen Gwen’s eventual death. Doc Ock holding M.J. captive over the New York waterfront might’ve been more stereotypical, but it can’t be accused of lacking impact. Similarly, grown adults were shedding tears when Tom Holland’s Spidey didn’t feel so good in Avengers: Infinity War.

The Amazing Spider-Man lacks anything that comes close to bottling that same magic, and it’s a curious phenomenon. From the cast and director to the exemplary visuals and clean slate, The Amazing Spider-Man should’ve come out swinging, but the experiment got caught in its own web of unnecessarily elongated plots and overly ambitious world-building, and couldn’t keep up with its predecessor.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/amazing-spider-man-movies-sony-movies-bad-reason/

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