For me the deja vu wasn't a giant obstacle to the enjoyment of the film. I loved it. I think that visually it was great and the leads really played their parts well and I felt like I could really relate to them although I have never been bitten by a radioactive spider before. I think that everything about the film is great, I just wish that this was the first of the spider-man films and not just a remake. I do believe that this film builds on everything that the first films did, to the point where I must say that I like this new one better than the first spidey films. I am not bad mouthing those films though. They were good, but before this film, when I thought about spider-man, it was always followed with a big "Meh" I didn't really care all that much. Nor am I saying that Toby Maguire was bad as Spider-man because he wasn't, he was good and I know that a lot of people really loved him in that role but something about this new Spider-man film really connected with me.
Yes there are things that they could have done a lot better, for instance, given Emma Stone a bigger part. She is an awesome actress and isn't given all that much to work with in this film. Mostly I wish they had really steered away from the old films, even more than they have tried to. I suppose it would be hard to not tred on familiar territory when making a new Spider-man film because both are about Spider-man but they could have tried a little harder to find a new angle. Even the new villain, Dr Curt Connors is far too similar to Norman Osbourne and the Green Goblin, although in the film it does say that Dr Connors is working for Norman Osbourne to creat a cure for dying and in the comics, they are different it just seems for those that are not diehard fans (or those who do not bother to go surfing the net to find out like I did) it may just seem that these two characters are the same.
But the leads are great. Garfield brings a new depth and greater emotion to the role. You can really feel and see his pain. I don't know the character of Gwen Stacy but in my opinion Emma Stone was great. The character of Gwen Stacy in Spider-man 3 is pretty weak and a bit of a nothing. I don't know how she is written in the comics but she is better in the new one. And the relationship between the two leads is believable and they have good on-screen chemistry. Andrew Garfield is 28 and Emma Stone is 24, so for having to act 17/18 year olds they do a pretty good job. Although, again, I was never a spider teenager nor was a super smart to be a top intern at Oscorp. But if I was a teenager with either of those things, I would like to believe that I would be like either of these two.
What was really great about this film was the look of it. The visuals were awesome and I think I might have to go back and watch it in 3D to really get to appreciate them. The camera angles and the point of view shots really worked. Marc Webb, the director, (500 Days of Summer) really did a good job and apparently this will be a trilogy, so definitely looking forward to more of both Garfield and Webb (it's too bad that Stone's character has an ill fate ahead of her).
Marc Fennell seemed to have something against the soundtrack. I do not agree. I thought that the soundtrack was good and was quite happy to see that it was composed by James Horner (behind such soundtracks as Avatar, A Beautiful Mind). Fennell said it was intrusive and did not capture the moment. I think (and now sitting here watching Spider-man 3 whilst typing) the new soundtrack is less intrusive than the old films. I thought it had a nice theme and to be honest, I barely noticed the soundtrack until the end. That, to me, means that it was neither a great soundtrack nor a crap one but somewhere in the middle. Maybe I was too engrossed in the film to even notice. Maybe I will have to go see it again...
I have heard in an interview with Andrew Garfield that Tobey Maguire actually sent him a note wishing him luck and giving him support in the role of Spider-man. Now isn't that cute, what a nice guy. And in a particularly funny scene in the school library we have the guest appearance of the co-creator of Spider-man, Stan Lee as the librarian. It's a great scene and a good tribute to the man behind the whole thing. (I have just been informed that I am living under a rock because Stan Lee apparently pops up in all the Marvel comic movies. He is in the old Spider-mans..he just appeared on the TV then....and he is also in The Avengers. Well it's still a good scene regardless of the fact that Stan Lee happens to be a comic-movie slut).
Well regardless of what you think of the old films or how wary you may think you are about the new one, it's definitely worth going to see. I like this new one much better and (my apologies to Tobey Maguire) the new Garfield Spider-man, I just wish it had been made before the others so that there would be nothing to compare it to.
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