The Amazing Spider-Man ASM: Stuff You Didn't Like Thread

[The Slang]

When the Lizard says Peter Parker, he sounds like a villain from Harry Potter. I Guess it's the English accent and the exaggerated P's. "You're not gonna stop my plans, PEE-tah - PAH-ka!!"
Am I the only one that got a Harry Potter vibe?

I didn't like how Gwen seemed more concerned with going out with Parker than her dad dying. It was a little sick that she was able to crack a smile when Peter directly refers to breaking the promise he made to her dying father. What is she a ****ing sociopath?

*Lizard design/SFX. Especially everytime his arm starts 'flaking'. Looks shockingly fake. I didn't like how the lizard had the t-1000's regenerative powers. They were much too ambitious with the use of cgi. Someone needed to step in and tell them to be more subtle, stop attempting to do so much. I don't know why they were confident enough to have a 9 foot naked lizard regrow it's entire tail (within seconds) in daylight, but they shouldn't have been. They should have been smart enough to realize it would look fake, and tone it down.

*Crane scene.

*Uncle Ben's death was a little awkward for me.

*Spider-man ability to enter cars through the exhaust pipe??

*Complete lack of Spidey's showbiz phase. Although it did make the vigilante scenes flow more smoothly.

*Connors personality shifts, and his transparent threat/admission to Peter.
Parker: So uh, how do you catch reptiles?
Connors: You can't!! I'll eat you! Hssss!

*Peter's dad working specifically with Spider genetics

*Skate boarding scenes instead of Parkour scenes. Just seems like a waste of time to me.

*The way Peter reveals his identity to Gwen. Aside from being cringe inducing, he shoots web at her ass that immediately disappears (just like the webs shot inside the car)

*Music during the highschool fight. It ruins the scene. What were they thinking? They could have taken the music from the basketball scene and it wouldn't have made it any worse. It turns the fight into a dance, and the Lizard into a non-threatening joke.

*Gwen hits lizard with trophy. C'mon, at least throw it from a distance.

 

[Silvermoth]

I thought the tone was just dreadful. It shambled ackwardly from trying to be fun to trying to be dark and gloomy. The worst part is, when it was fun it was great! If they could have done that consistently over the entire movie it would have turned out alright.

And bloody hell, he never wore that damn mask! Why even make a mask? He literally took it off for everyone. Worst secret identity ever.

 

[Nathan]

The only time he took it off needlessly was after the Highschool fight. He took it off for the kid to calm him down and it got taken off by Captain Stacy after he got captured.

 

[Oscorp]

We are.


But seriously, people are griping about a flag again? I didn't even notice one in this film.

I hope and think you weren't serious there :P if you are, I'll just simply say no you're not, neither more or less.

 

[Troy_Parker]

The only time he took it off needlessly was after the Highschool fight. He took it off for the kid to calm him down and it got taken off by Captain Stacy after he got captured.

Yeah and even then there was a reason why he takes it off. After he gets thrown into the library they cut to a version of the suit where the mask is removable, but it never led to the bit we saw glimpses of in trailers when he's yelling at the Lizard because it was cut out for whatever reason.

 

[GuestStar2004]

i have read a review where someone said they hated that they changed the webshooters from organic to gadgets

 

[FigsNFilms]

I didn't like some of the dramatic shifts in tone ...

Or the laid on thick melodrama it certain scenes.

Beyond that, just give me a more impressive and less corny villain, and you have the capabilities of making some really great Spider-Man films.

I don't see any cheese ala Raimi that would really date Webb's take on the character. It's of it's time and relevant. At no point watching it did I feel like the people in the film weren't real characters nor did I think they were transplanted out of the 1960s.

 

[PSYLENTGuardian]

Stuff we didn't like? Well, nobody likes Aunt May's meatloaf, so there's something...

 

[Jexx]

Peter loves her meatloaf.

..eh..

 

[Thundercrack85]

I didn't really take issue with it here. I can understand why they did it. You can't show emotion through a mask. And they didn't do it that often.

Really the biggest thing he did, that no superhero should do, is to always go to where he needs to be and then change. He should change at random locations.

 

[Gunga Diner]

-Peter Parker was a jerk who never did anything heroic or made a change as a character. He didn't have a lot of problems (literally none that a speech therapist couldn't help him overcome) and I had trouble relating to him. It bothered me that I was supposed to keep pretending that he was a nerd, or even any sort of outsider. He was constantly motivated by self-interest or vengeance and is actually a lot more "emo" than Peter Parker ever was in the most embarrassing moments of Spider-Man 3.

-The movie ends with Peter Parker breaking the promise of a man who died in his arms so that he can hook up with a hot chick. He learns nothing as a character and does not grow. He starts off aggressive, mouthy, and self-centered. He ends that way too. None of the "mysteries" in the movie are resolved.

-I was constantly comparing plotpoints in my head to the 2002 movie. Whenever I compared them, I realized that the former one was more emotionally resonant than this one was.

-Uncle Ben's death. Physically confronting the gunman made him just as responsible for the death as Peter. Being too cheap to pay full price for a children's drink is a less justifiable reason for letting a criminal get away than being ripped off for $2,900 dollars.

-The depictions of both scientists, old people, and the general experience of being a teenager felt actively less realistic than those of the 2002 movie, oddly enough. In the 2002 movie, Peter went to what looks like an actual, regular public school and dressed like an average, invisible nerd. Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker lives in the Disney Channel.

-Midtown Science High sure had an awesome sports department full of aggressive, bone-headed stereotypical jocks. Neat how basketball season and Football season were at the same time. (Why were Peter and Gwen just randomly sitting on the bleachers when they're talking about his powers? Did they need to hammer it in so blatantly that we're watching a High School movie?)

-I never got the impression that there was a finite supply of webbing. Also, he stole them.

-Peter Parker did not get his powers by anything resembling an accident. Despite being a regular teenager, he was able to teen-superspy his way into the most important government science building in the world by being sneaky and screwing over a fellow science-lover/intern without a moment's hesitation. He puts himself into the Spider- Room and puts himself into a position to be surrounded by the spiders. This and his theft of the web shooters makes me wonder why it wouldn't be glaringly obvious to Oscorp who Spider-Man is.

-James Horner's score is fine, but doesn't sound particularly specific to Spider-Man

-Gwen Stacy and Peter Parker have reasons to like each other but never have anything you could consider a deep emotional connection, like the bond that Peter and MJ had in the first Spider-Man movie.

-Curt Conners was not a fleshed-out character and did not have clear, understandable, relatable reasons for his actions. He had no real personality and his motives as a villain were completely random

-Why was there any risk that Peter would have fallen to his death if the lizard hadn't caught him? I thought he could stick to walls?

-Why did the cranes being extended make it easier for Peter to swing? Why does he even need his leg to do that in the first place?

-During any given dialogue scene, the movie would quit being 3D. I would lift my glasses and see no difference. After all the talk from studio heads about this being "revolutionary and 100% 3D like you've never seen before!!!!!11," noticing that not every scene was even in 3D felt like walking in on somebody changing clothes. Like I had seen something I wasn't allowed to see.

-The editing was really awkward sometimes

For what it's worth, I really do like Andrew Garfield. I think the suit looks neat and the use of Spidey's powers in action scenes was really clever. Some of the action scenes were really cool-looking, but they never felt very motivated, important, or exciting. I don't hate this movie at all, but it didn't make me feel anything at all. My problems with it aren't that it isn't Sam Raimi's movie, my problems are that it didn't do its own thing enough.

 

[spider-neil]

There have only been two times where Spidey takes off/loses his mask and I've been happy

1. When GG blows the mask clean off Spidey's face

2. When Spidey gives the mask to the kid and tells him it will make him strong.
Maybe Peter also feels the mask makes him strong when he puts it on

 

[Gunga Diner]

I would've liked to see the origin recapped in an opening credit sequence. Audiences could've accepted that this was a new continuity without having to rehash a story that we've already been told. (Batman Begins wasn't retelling the same story as Tim Burton's Batman, which is why it counted as a reboot. Rehashing the same story is what makes it a remake.) They then could've focused on all the new plot points that differentiate it from the Raimi series- Gwen Stacy, Peter's Parents, and Curt Connors. Setting a story like that later in Peter's career as Spider-Man while he's still at high school hiding his identity would have made that universe feel more rich and would have made me excited to see it expand.

 

[PSYLENTGuardian]

Peter loves her meatloaf.

..eh..

Well if we all got bit by genetically-enhanced spiders, we'd all crave some bad meatloaf

 

[Thundercrack85]

-Peter Parker was a jerk who never did anything heroic or made a change as a character. He didn't have a lot of problems (literally none that a speech therapist couldn't help him overcome) and I had trouble relating to him. It bothered me that I was supposed to keep pretending that he was a nerd, or even any sort of outsider. He was constantly motivated by self-interest or vengeance and is actually a lot more "emo" than Peter Parker ever was in the most embarrassing moments of Spider-Man 3.

Here's the jerk thing again. I'm just not seeing it. He's depicted, for the most part as a realistically flawed, at times self-absorbed teenager.

Not a lot of problems? His parents abandoned him when he was a kid.

That alone is enough to **** someone up for life. Then to top it off, his uncle / surrogate father was murdered in front of him.

Yes, he was motivated by vengeance. And throughout the course of the movie, we see him slowly get less self-absorbed. Like, saving that kid on the bridge.

 

[Jexx]

Just face it, most people will either see Peter as relatable or an outright jerk with this movie. I've only seen one comment saying that he's in between.

He's polarizing, like the movie.

 

[Golgo-13]

I didn't like the fact that he broke his promise to Capt.Stacy so soon. Couldn't they have waited until ASM 2 to show us that...?

 

[Jexx]

Err.. he didn't break his promise yet..

 

[Gunga Diner]

But he's vocal about wanting to break the promise, and Gwen Stacy is excited about that. We're supposed to think it's cute, funny, and exciting, because at the end of the day this movie Marc Webb knows how to make is a shallow wish fulfillment high school romantic comedy. He is going to break the promise because he is more concerned with his own desires as an insecure teenager than he is with his duties to protect the ones he loves.

In my head, I can't help to compare that to Peter Parker lying about his feelings to the woman he loves and has a genuine emotional bond with because of his duties to protect her. This is an aspect of Peter Parker which is a lot more important to me than him quipping like an ass or having electronic web shooters that emit smoke and flash red; His desires to have things he wants and live a regular life are made impossible because of his duties to the city of New York and the memory of Uncle Ben. That sort of melancholy and soap-opera human tragedy aspect of the Ditko issues was adapted flawlessly in the Raimi movies.

I understand that this movie is doing something different, but these character moments making him unlikable are made so much more vivid by how easy they made it to compare to the film they're remaking. This Peter Parker more or less gets what he wants.

 

[Doc Ock]

Yeah it really seemed uncharacteristic of Peter to break the promise like that or so soon. I was expecting something to happen in the sequel that would bring them together not just doing it because he wants to. This Peter is the most unique version of Peter Parker I have ever seen.

 

[Golgo-13]

Err.. he didn't break his promise yet..

He did break it. He whispered it to her at the end, she smiled and i wouldn't be surprised if they both ran to the bathroom after class ended, and did the nasty!

Like someone else mentioned, i would have liked to have seen some time pass then some event in the sequel brings them back together again. I mean, her father was killed by a monster Peter helped create and he can't keep his promise for more than a week...?

 

[Visualiza]

In no particular order:

• Gwen Stacy. Not the acting, but the writing. She was woefully underdeveloped; throughout the entire movie we don't get a sense of what makes her tick, what's going on in her life, and what the content of her character and personality is. She was shoved into most scenes for the sake of it. Contrast this with MJ from 2002, you have the exact opposite situation. Poorly acted, very well written. Dunst's abysmal performance aside, you see many different facets of MJ's life and character, from the family troubles, to the guy issues, fawning over Spidey, among others.

• Flash Thompson. Poorly written, equally poor performance. Wasn't a stereotypical bully so much as he was a pathetic parody of a bully. Every scene that included him was spoon-fed to the audience; no depth whatsoever. He certainly looked the part...then he started...uh...'acting'

• Ben's death. Both the situation and the build-up. Very poorly conceived and executed. It lacked impact, wasn't particularly believable and continuing the trend from the previous gripes..poorly written.

• The score. Bland and forgettable. This matters more than many are willing to give it credit for.

• Webshooters... Great idea, shoddy implementation. I would have liked to see him run out or have problems with them at some point, in addition to him creating the fluid himself. One of the things I always appreciated about Spider-Man was his clever use of the cartridges depending on his situation. Here, he created them and that was it...check in the box...NEXT

• The love story. Where was it? There was no reason for the two leads to have any sort of connection whatsoever. None. Every scene involving the two was forced, and their dialogue was as stilted and cliche as can be. Peter goes from not knowing her at all, to asking her out on an "uh...or we could um", to eating dinner, to making out on the roof while letting the 'spider' out of the bag. What comes next? "I really liked kissing you" on the bleachers. Are you kidding me? A relationship that was devoid of chemistry, development, and believable progression in any facet or form.

• The car thief scene. Wow. So overt it was damn near insulting. "Look at our edgy, wise-cracking depiction of Spider-Man, folks! No, REALLY!" This highlights a common theme in the movie, in that far too many details were jammed right down our throats. Nuanced subtlety was not a strong point of this film at all. His Spidey demeanor was stellar other than this; however, but this scene left a really bad taste in my mouth. His taunting of the cops immediately after was well done, as was the "I'm swingin' here!" and his quips towards the Lizard when he was getting smacked around the school...which brings me to...

• The villain. Once again, underutilized, underdeveloped, poorly written. Ifans gave a bang up performance, though, the guy had conviction and believability in spades. The doomsday device was yet another force-fed plot point that was shoved down our throats.

The writing and pacing were sub-par at best. Dialogue was boring and stilted, bordering on atrocious. Most of the relationships between the characters felt very unnatural as well, which is a travesty because the cast was very strong. I can't think of a single bad actor in the entire main cast, but their roles were so badly written that there just wasn't much there to work with. The sequel just has to get it right...it's readily evident from the poor editing that the development of this movie was nearly as conflicted as SM3.

 

[Frodo]

I personally didn't think he was a jerk but Tobey was more likeable in the first two films. He had heart. Yes, I know he didn't look like the comic book. Yes he didn't have while every 5 seconds. Yes, he wasn't as angst ridden. But he had more heart and it was easier to feel his pain and root for him as an underdog. I liked Garfields Peter but he is much more in the James Dean, troubled , loner,outsider who would have to grow on you before you liked him. Ironically Garfield Social Network character was a lot closer to what Peter Parker is like personality wise IMO.Other then that, I prefer Garfields spidey .

 

[Golgo-13]

Didn't like the fact that we didn't get any footage of the lizard creatures/cops that Connors had turned.

 

[DoomRulz]

I didn't like the Lizard's look at all. He's a lizard, not an ape. Flat face does not work. I need my snout.