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

[ThePowerCosmic]

It wasn't a shadow -- it was a silhouette of him.

-R

Now that changes everything.

 

[Hotwire]

I saw no sense of it improving. He kept getting ambushed thru out. Tobey had it out right and so do the comics. Just hope they fix that.

Not the Spider Sense improving, Spider-Man improving. Him learning more as the film went on. Growing, in a way.

 

[FVD]

I didn't really have any gripes about the film at all. Still some of the nitpicks on here are just ridiculous if you ask me. As for Uncle Ben's death I really felt it all due in part to the acting talents of Andrew Garfield and Martin Sheen. Yes it really did leave me in tears too.

As for Capt. Stacy's promise to Peter leaving Gwen out of it. I thought it was to keep her out of all things Spider-Man. Thought at least Peter and Gwen could still see each other though.

 

[elsewhere]

The Lizard and over-reliance on (subpar) CGI. The fact the film started to resemble the Raimi's movies toward the end. Damn you crane guy.

 

[NinjaCarm]

1. Way too much drawn out scenes with Peter / Gwen - felt purely there to draw in the Twilight girl fan base. Enough already move on and speak!

2. The effect of Ben's death on Peter was pretty weak. I mean, Jesus, why glance over that?

3. Transition of Peter to Spider-Man was again pretty quick. Here he is in costume folks! In a backpack!

4. From #3 - it just felt some scenes were shortened... WHY? Why shorten the most important ones and elongate the useless ones i.e. Peter / Gwen. Annoying Webb, annoying. I can just see Avi Arad behind the editor of this film... "No! More staring!!"

5. Andrew Garfield was good but not my favorite Peter Parker. He was too introverted and f #'d up to be my Peter Parker.. sorry, speak up Andrew. Speak the hell up in the sequel and be a little more pep next time. I know this was the origin and to show how Peter became Spider-Man but enough with the down and out depressed with my I-pod in my ears listening to some India Rock crap... that's not my Peter Parker.

BUT! I did enjoy it. It's good to lay the ground work for sequels and I hope they improve on pacing, a happier Peter Parker for Christ's sake, and a better musical theme for Spider-Man already, geeesh.

 

[Doctor Jones]

Yeah, Garfield was a bit too introverted for me. I think he can be a lot better and has that potential. I've seen that in his other work and he has it. Here even after the spider bite, he was still the same as before. People were saying how, "Oh, he's gonna be more confident and be more witty!" (from before the movie came out, like other things) and yet, he didn't really change that much in those terms.

That's why I'm looking forward to a sequel. They now have shed off the damn retreaded origin and can do their own thing. I'm wondering what Peter's journey will be in the second one. I liked how the parents angle wasn't too emphasized in this, but I guess they're gonna have to keep building it... *sigh*

 

[Hotwire]

The Lizard and over-reliance on (subpar) CGI. The fact the film started to resemble the Raimi's movies toward the end. Damn you crane guy.

Sub-par? Were we watching the same film? What on Earth does on-par CGI look like? What does great CGI look like? Please, list some examples of films with those three levels.
Great CGI = ???
Average CGI = ???
Poor CGI = ???

 

[Doctor Jones]

And another thing. They spend a good amount of time building up finding ben's killer with the whole star on his wrist, this is obvious forshadowing to when he does find him, saved perhaps for a powerful moment.

But we got... nothing? No payoff. No closure to that. If they drag that storyline out for the sequel too, am I really still gonna care?

You know what would have been better? Spider-Man comes across him in the end of the film and confronts him, but decides to let him go. It's different, but it would have really benefited this story they were telling. I wouldn't have minded that one bit. I was waiting for them to conclude it... but it never happened. Just a man's picture in his room. It just felt like they dropped it and forgot about it.

I guess they're saving him to be Sandman in the sequel. t:

 

[Doctor Jones]

Sub-par? Were we watching the same film? What on Earth does on-par CGI look like? What does great CGI look like? Please, list some examples of films with those three levels.
Great CGI = Anything ILM or WETA related, Gollum, Davy Jones, the Na'Vi, Hulk,
Average CGI = Green Lantern, Lizard (yes the CG wasn't that great for the Lizard)
Poor CGI = Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Lizard just felt like this CG monster without much weight to him.

 

[Hotwire]

3. Transition of Peter to Spider-Man was again pretty quick. Here he is in costume folks! In a backpack!

Too quick? We see him chase the first criminal in his street clothes, no mask. Then he fashions a mask and goes at it again all the while, working out his web shooters. Then he works out the suit and again, goes back to his vendetta. It's only AFTER he saves the kid, that he is Spider-Man. Up until then, he's just Peter Parker with powers and a need for vengeance.

 

[kguillou]

One thing was the lack of an epic music score. I feel like superhero movies like this absolutely need a moving, memorable score to complement their best scenes. Raimi's movies had the epic Danny Elfman scores, and even Avengers had the Alan Silverstri score to complement the movie's best scenes. I felt that was nonexistent in this film.

 

[Hotwire]

Lizard just felt like this CG monster without much weight to him.

I disagree with you on Lizard, and I've not seen Abraham Lincoln-Vampire Hunter.

 

[elsewhere]

Sub-par? Were we watching the same film? What on Earth does on-par CGI look like? What does great CGI look like? Please, list some examples of films with those three levels.
Great CGI = ???
Average CGI = ???
Poor CGI = ???

Great CGI = Avatar, District 9, Prometheus

 

[Doctor Jones]

I disagree with you on Lizard, and I've not seen Abraham Lincoln-Vampire Hunter.

I liked how Webb said they removed the snout to see more of Ifans, but in the end, it didn't make much difference because what was said by the Lizard didn't have much weight to him. The whole Lizard didn't feel like this great villain. Just some typical villain who wanted to turn people into lizards. Just this special effect going through the motions.

Now Ifans was quite good. The CGI was good, but at times, I was thinking more monster movie creature than the Lizard.

Should have kept the lab coat. It looked so much better on him.

 

["_____"]

OK, I liked the movie but here's my big beefs

1.) Sally Fields is literally given nothing to do in this movie. I was the biggest defender of her casting, and she's a fabulous actress. It's unfortunate the screen writers felt she wasn't that important.

2.) The effect that Ben's death has on Peter, is not shown very well in the film. I just didn't buy it the way I did in Raimi's movie.

3.) The Lizard/Conner's split personality theme. It seems thrown in there and a blatant rip off of Willem Dafoe's mirror scene, only done horribly.

4.) That Peter's origin is drawn out over several scenes. He doesn't get bit in the room, but out in the hallway talking to Gwen. Just really overdone.

Agree

 

[DarKush]

-Curt Conners didn't have a wife and son.
-Uncle Ben fighting the robber on the street. I better liked the idea of the robber coming after Uncle Ben in his home more so than Uncle Ben jumping into the fray.
-How Peter got bitten. I liked the idea more of it being a random thing than Peter going somewhere he wasn't supposed to go and screwing around with those spiders. And I'm iffy on the whole thing about his father having a hand in creating the spiders.
-How quickly Peter went through the transformation with his spider powers.
-Wasn't clear on the web shooter thing. Did Peter make them or get the material from Oscorp? And if he got the material from them, how did he pay for it?
-Peter/Spider-Man not having the final confrontation with the robber.
-No one saying "With great power comes great responsibility".
-Spider-Man taunting crooks; wisecracking is one thing, but it felt too much like taunting.
-Peter evidencing all of these freaky powers and no one seems to say anything or do anything about it. In the Raimi films, Peter's powers made him seem even more of an outcast. But in the new film it made Peter cool or was played for a joke. And the changes in his mood and behavior were largely ignored by the adults.
-Aunt May never asking Peter if he's on drugs or wrapped up in gangs. She sobbed too much and wrung her hands.They really did a disservice to Aunt May in the new film.
-Peter not having money problems, noticeably at least.
-Flash's conversion to Peter's buddy. After Peter punked him out he now wants to become his best friend? Didn't feel convincing to me. I can understand him saying something nice to him after Uncle Ben's passing, and maybe laying off him a little, but I think they made Flash way too nice too quickly.
-Peter using a camera with his name on it to take pictures of the Lizard. And why does he need money from the Daily Bugle for? He seemed to be doing all right financially. I think it was just an awkward way to put the Daily Bugle in the movie.
-Going to Gwen's apartment after he got his ass whipped by The Lizard. I sort of get it, but at the same time, dude you've just been in a sewer. And still not stitched up or showered, Peter decides that then was the time to take Gwen on a swing around the city.

 

[Hotwire]

Great CGI = Avatar, District 9, Prometheus

I agree. What about average and poor?

 

[elsewhere]

I agree. What about average and poor?

Uh..not those movies?

 

[SpideyScott]

1. I didn't like the fact that gwen knows he's spider-man, in the comics gwen hates spideman and blames him for his fathers death.

2. didn't like the fact that flash just beat the snot out of peter and peter embarrasses him in the gym and peter gets in trouble

3. the development of his powers during the early stages of the origin was very rushed, for example: he literally built the web shooters in 30 seconds. I love the fact he has web shooters but i felt that building them is a huge part and shouldn't be rushed. I felt he should have went out and tested them and failed and come back to fix it.

4. Peter/connors relationship was to under developed.

5. some of the dialogue was really out of place

6. the guy that operated the cranes towards the end to help spider-man was a little cheesy, though it was cool

7. the fact that spider-man was shot in the leg, limps for 5 minutes, then all of a sudden is better when he webs up the wound.

8. no martha and billy, i felt that they would play a huge part like they did in "the spectacular spider-man series"

9. Dr. Ratha, I felt that his character was extremely unnecessary. Can someone please explain to me the point of his character? The last we really saw of him was the bridge scene, i didn't really understand his point in this movie.

10. Peter's Parents, most of the trailers said "spider-man's greatest secrets revealed", i didn't really think they explained much about his parents, just showed them in the beginning or really reveal his "greatest secrets" for that matter

11. Lack of scenes that were shown in trailers and previous clips. there were a lot of little clips in trailers and footage that was released that wasn't in the movie, some of them i was looking forward to seeing. maybe a directors cut?

12. It didn't explain the lizards reason for doing what he did, Connors personality was very under developed.

13. I DID LIKE however the fact that flash had a spider-man shirt on at the end of the movie, Thats something I love. the fact that he makes fun of peter, etc. But he loves spider-man.

14. Uncle ben was obviously a good man and I think Martin did a good job with what he was given, i didn't really feel the fact that his uncles death was a big part of him becoming spider-man.

15. the vigilante suit that peter makes ( the red mask with sunglasses and a beanie), I really loved the fact that he made something like this before he makes the suit but this was another thing I felt was rushed.

16. Rushed scenes, if you notice in the beginning, most of the scenes are only 30 seconds-2 minutes

17. No stopping petty crimes, i would love it more than anything to see spider-man just take down a bunch of criminals, like small robberys etc.

18. The car thief scene were the cop shoots at spider-man from point blank range a couple times and doesn't hit him, makes no sense to me.

19. Peter loses interest in his father's work halfway through the movie, I thought the fact that he's spider-man would help him find more clues.

20. One big thing everyone said about this movie, is peter would be more witty and pitch more wisecracks, i felt this would be a really funny thing with spidey vs. lizard, pitch a couple lizzy wisecracks but something i felt spiderman really lacked. Only wisecracks I recall is with the car theif.

21. peter was very introverted, even after uncle ben tells him "if you have the power to help someone, its your obligation"

I did infact like the lizard's look, at first i was skeptical about it, even though he lacked a labcoat throughout most of the movie. Hey, can never please comic book fans right? aha

I like the fact that the mysterious figured popped up at the end, there are so many possibilities or routes they can take for a sequel, no origin next movie, more time to focus on other things. My guess on who the mysterious figure is possibly Quinton beck? Maybe he works for oscorp? he seemed to disappear and appear out of the jail cell so you never know, even though the mysterious figure was not confirmed to be Norman osborn yet, you never know.

I would personally like to see Mysterio or kraven next, and of course Green Goblin, Bring on the death of gwen stacy ah!

 

[ShadowBoxer]

I didn't like how they rushed Connor's story arch. He became all evil way to fast for my liking. I also didn't like how they rushed Captain Stacy's story arch (well he was under developed).

 

[Streetlight]

I disagree with quite a lot of what I've read in this thread. People saying Peter becoming Spider-man was drawn out enough compared to the Raimi version, seriously? Made a lot more sense to me, like with the proto-mask and when he finally learns to use his powers unselfishly.

And people saying Ben's impact didn't have enough impact on Peter, I just don't get that.

Things I didn't like were the Lizard Rat (maybe for a spin-off?) and the football post scene. I wish they'd taken that out and just had the little dialogue with the coach.

 

[Hotwire]

Uh..not those movies?

Ah, so everything but those three has bad CGI? Whatever, dude.

 

[Doctor Jones]

Yeah, strange. Everybody was saying "Oh, Spidey is a wisecracker now! He quips!"

How many exactly? I can only recount the car jacker scene and the one to the Lizard. Hmm... so much for more quips. The quips aren't entirely important. Though I loved the car jacker scene, Webb is a filmmaker who knows that constantly throwing quips around doesn't make things better. It has to fit the situation. Plus if Spidey made quips all the time I couldn't take him seriously as a hero. Just someone who jokes and can't grasp the stakes of the situation at hand.

 

[elsewhere]

Ah, so everything but those three has bad CGI? Whatever, dude.

Did I say that? I don't feel like making a list.

Sorry.

 

[FrostBite]

Pretty much 3/4 of the movie, to be honest. But I'll widdle it down to 3 big beefs (which cover that 3/4 of the movie).

1) The villain had no motivation. No, I don't count turning NYC with a stereotypical doomsday device as a motivation. It's ridiculously two-dimensional as opposed to other villains in the previous trilogy. (Yes, even Spider-man 3's Venom.) Had we had spent more time with Curt/had his family been included we may have been able to sympathize with him a bit more/fear his alter-ego on a deeper level. As it stands he was just kind of... there. Tipping cars and filming himself. Why were the lizards attracted to him? What was he doing with the lizards? Why is he down in the sewer? Why is he addicted to the power? Yes all of these things can be inferred, but nothing is fleshed out. He's simply there. So when he and Peter tussle there's no tension, because to me he's more uninteresting than the thug who killed Ben.

2) Peter Parker. While Peter (particularly Andrew's performance) is actually the highlight of the movie; Peter is a highly inconsistent and unrealistic caricature of every teen walking the face of the Earth. Come now, I get the genius, geeky outcast. I understand the rebel seeking vengeance. What I don't understand is how in God's name a character can work when he is portraying several characters wrapped into one. Different attributes attract different people. You are never in your life going to find a young man who is a genius so far ahead of his class who is late to class all the time and breaks every rule in the school; he'll value education too much. You never going to find that same kid fascinated with skateboarding to the point of having several on his shelf. Mix into that, with his rebellious attitude, strategically unkempt hair, and hipster garb he'd likely be the talk of the school much like Flash attracts positive attention as a bully. He's careful, but a risk-taker to the extreme. Jumping off a skyscraper to test untested tech rather than a building where he could take the fall without dying, taking off his mask in broad daylight walking around a school that could be full of cops with his alter-ego exposed to the world. (Didn't he MAKE THE MASK TO KEEP IT ON!?) None of this is really consistent and never quite feels cohesive. It's unnerving and rubbed me the wrong way.

Add to that, I never (outside of helping the kid) felt that Peter was much of a heroic individual. He was a vigilante, he was a menace. Christ, while old comic Peter was flawed leading to his Uncle's death, this Peter causes his death over a bottle of chocolate-effing-milk.

When it works? It works so effing well it's scary. But when it doesn't, the whole thing falls apart.

3) Spider-man barely exists. While I felt Raimi hardly separated Pete and Spidey, this movie doesn't separate them at all. There is no altered persona or new found confidence, he's just always cocky. Spider-man hardly does anything when he shows up (outside of, again, the kid scene) and he doesn't even save the day. It's like I am watching the struggles of Peter Parker, and that's fine. But I came to see him overcome those struggles, in the form of The Amazing Spider-man. Who's.... well, hardly amazing.

Edit:

Yeah, strange. Everybody was saying "Oh, Spidey is a wisecracker now! He quips!"

How many exactly? I can only recount the car jacker scene and the one to the Lizard. Hmm... so much for more quips. The quips aren't entirely important. Though I loved the car jacker scene, Webb is a filmmaker who knows that constantly throwing quips around doesn't make things better. It has to fit the situation. Plus if Spidey made quips all the time I couldn't take him seriously as a hero. Just someone who jokes and can't grasp the stakes of the situation at hand.

Exactly, he hardly quips at all. Personally, I agree with you. Constant quips don't make anything better. With that said... am I the only one who kept expecting at least one line along the lines of "Nyaaahh, what's up Doc?" when he changed into his suit in the school?