The Amazing Spider-Man 2 How could TASM 2 have been better with the elements it already had?

[Batsfan1]

I just wanted to put this idea out there about how TASM 2 could have been better with some of the same basic elements (actors, basic story elements, ideas), but done differently or better?

I'll start with changing the opening to be more like TASM 2 video game where Oscorp is attacked by the Russian mob or something and Peter breaks and asks for Max Dillion's help, but this gets him electrocuted and Aleski st puts on the R.H.I.N.O. suit and him and Peter fighting, where Peter chooses to save Gwen instead of Max, which is what leads to him being electrocuted and develops Peter's lacking in responsibility. I'll give my other ideas later! Please tell me what you think!

God bless you all! God bless everyone!

 

[UltimateWebhead]

In no particular order, and off the top of my head:

Drop the parents storyline altogether or at least make the 'reveal' something interesting.

Max was a good idea for a character with his psychotic issues and total out-of-place antics but again nothing interesting was done with him. His turn to Electro the villain was forced and unnatural...I love you Spidey, oh wait, now I hate you.

The Goblin was forced in at the end and robbed the character of any semblance. I'd have saved his transformation until the 3rd movie along with Gwen's death. Making Harry the Goblin first was dumb especially with Cooper, a brilliant actor playing Norman...though it still could have worked. They only shoehorned GG in there to make sure he was the one who was there to drop Gwen. Writing the script backwards hurt this production for sure.

The humor was ok for the most part but Spidey's quips could have been stronger and watching him banter with a crook while cars were being mangled and people killed or at least seriously injured was incredibly stupid.

Why didn't Peter attempt to find out what happened to Max on his own?

Peter's intelligence should have been showcased more.

Uncle Ben? Are you there?

 

[Tacit Ronin]

Stop the references of Stacey about her death. There is foreshadowing and there is telegraphing.

Or if they were gonna telegraph her death so much, subvert it by keeping her alive. That's drama.

As it was, there wasn't an ounce of emotion or drama in her death. They milked it so much that her death became a farcical product. Not a human moment.

 

[Batsfan1]

Ya'll have some good straightforward ideas!

I'd make Max trying to be a superhero at first. He looks up to Spider-man and wants to emulate him and ends up causing more damage, maybe against Shocker or something, I don't know, and gets someone killed, and Spider-Man has to stop him and he blames Spider-Man and thinks that he caused what happened to him. When Electro is captured and taken to Ravencroft, the scientist that studies him isn't Dr. Kafka, but Dr. Otto Octavius, using his robotic arms as a way to interact with Max inside his special containment cell. When Max escapes, he electrocutes Octavius, welding the arms to his body, setting him up for another movie.

God bless you all! God bless everyone!

 

[LEVITIKUZ]

How could TASM 2 have been better with the elements it already had?

It couldn't. It just couldn't. Not with the elements the film has.

Everything about the film is bad. I am not hating it is. I wrote in a Word document all the issues this film has. It has a **** ton and that's why I hate it. It's the most unfocused CBM of all time. Batman & Robin is more focused than TASM2. What do you want to focus on with TASM2? Gwen and her death? Sinister Six? Green Goblin? Peter's parents? What is the central point of the film?

Here's all I would take out now here me out:

Rhino in the beginning and end. Just have random thugs but not Alex. This meeting should feature villains who will never become anything. Think how TDK opened. We had Scarecrow to continue that loose plotline at the end of Begins meeting with mob bosses. After we saw Scarecrow, he was gone for the rest of the film. Adding Rhino at the ends makes the film feel too polished. Look at all the Indiana Jones movie beginnings. Raiders was never about the idol in Peru. Temple of Doom was never about the diamond. Last Crusade was never about the golden cross. TASM2 should have opened with something that will never show up again in the plot.

Take out the parents storyline. All of it. Especially that opening.

More screentime between Harry and Peter. Let us see their friendship. Were are told it but never seen it.

No Harry Goblin. **** that.

Don't kill off Norman. Include him. Don't make him become the Goblin.

Take out Gwen's whole storyline about getting into Oxford. Nobody resisters for a college and tries to get in them after gradation. Councilors suggest you apply in your junior year. Plus she's the school's valedictorian. Have her already accepted into Oxford.

Have Peter driving people away. This is different from Raimi Spider-Man 2. Peter wanted a normal life with the Spidey life. Have Peter push his friends and family and Gwen away so he can be Spidey almost 24/7. He does this after the guilt of losing Uncle Ben and Gwen's dad.

Don't kill Gwen yet and **** that on-off stuff in TASM2.

Vulture should be the main villain and I will say my direction with him does feel very Sandmanish but I like it. Marvel Knights Spidey is my favorite Spidey comic behind Spider-Man Blue. In that comic, Vulture has a son and he never really cared about but has come to care deeply for both his grandson and his mother. May Vulture was fired by Norman Osborn in my take also. Now Vulture is stealing money to try to cure his grandson's leukemia. We have a connection between Spider-Man and Vulture. Both are doing things for their loved ones in different ways. Spidey is pushing his loved ones away for fear of loving them. Vulture is committing crimes to save his loved ones.

So in that, cut out Electro & Green Goblin.

Mention how Peter is going to college. I mean people say TASM Peter is smarter than Raimi but isn't it odd how there is no mention of Peter going to college? Hell he says he'll go live in England, not attend college in England. TASM Peter was never accepted into college. Think about that.

Let us see Aunt May as nurse instead of being told it.

**** Fedora man in shadows guy.

Don't make the NYPD look like dumbasses

That's all I got I think.

 

[pr0xyt0xin]

More screentime between Harry and Peter. Let us see their friendship. Were are told it but never seen it.

No Harry Goblin. **** that.

Don't kill off Norman. Include him. Don't make him become the Goblin.

Take out Gwen's whole storyline about getting into Oxford. Nobody resisters for a college and tries to get in them after gradation. Councilors suggest you apply in your junior year. Plus she's the school's valedictorian. Have her already accepted into Oxford.

Have Peter driving people away. This is different from Raimi Spider-Man 2. Peter wanted a normal life with the Spidey life. Have Peter push his friends and family and Gwen away so he can be Spidey almost 24/7. He does this after the guilt of losing Uncle Ben and Gwen's dad.

Don't kill Gwen yet and **** that on-off stuff in TASM2.

Mention how Peter is going to college. I mean people say TASM Peter is smarter than Raimi but isn't it odd how there is no mention of Peter going to college? Hell he says he'll go live in England, not attend college in England. TASM Peter was never accepted into college. Think about that.

Let us see Aunt May as nurse instead of being told it.

Don't make the NYPD look like dumbasses

I kept everything I agree with. Ontop of that:

Man in fedora IS Norman. Played by Michael Masse. Or, if it was to be Chris Cooper give him more than 4 minutes of screentime.

Electro is the villain, flesh him out more. but the ONLY primary villain. Rhino can show up at the end, I was mostly okay with that.

Save Gwens death, Peter/Harry breakup for the third film. I was saying this since long before the movie came out. So stupid to end that chemistry after just 1.5 movies.

Ratha and Menken would be the same character. Bring back Irrfan Khan who disappeared in the first film.

Smythe and Kafka would be the same character. Flesh them out more.

Tie up the burglar loose end from the first film. Just more slight hints to Peter's parents. Not the focus of the film.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

Don't make the NYPD look like dumbasses

I am fine with this.

 

[Doctor Octopus]

How could TASM 2 have been better with the elements it already had?

It couldn't. It just couldn't. Not with the elements the film has.

Everything about the film is bad. I am not hating it is. I wrote in a Word document all the issues this film has. It has a **** ton and that's why I hate it. It's the most unfocused CBM of all time. Batman & Robin is more focused than TASM2. What do you want to focus on with TASM2? Gwen and her death? Sinister Six? Green Goblin? Peter's parents? What is the central point of the film?

Here's all I would take out now here me out:

Rhino in the beginning and end. Just have random thugs but not Alex. This meeting should feature villains who will never become anything. Think how TDK opened. We had Scarecrow to continue that loose plotline at the end of Begins meeting with mob bosses. After we saw Scarecrow, he was gone for the rest of the film. Adding Rhino at the ends makes the film feel too polished. Look at all the Indiana Jones movie beginnings. Raiders was never about the idol in Peru. Temple of Doom was never about the diamond. Last Crusade was never about the golden cross. TASM2 should have opened with something that will never show up again in the plot.

Take out the parents storyline. All of it. Especially that opening.

More screentime between Harry and Peter. Let us see their friendship. Were are told it but never seen it.

No Harry Goblin. **** that.

Don't kill off Norman. Include him. Don't make him become the Goblin.

Take out Gwen's whole storyline about getting into Oxford. Nobody resisters for a college and tries to get in them after gradation. Councilors suggest you apply in your junior year. Plus she's the school's valedictorian. Have her already accepted into Oxford.

Have Peter driving people away. This is different from Raimi Spider-Man 2. Peter wanted a normal life with the Spidey life. Have Peter push his friends and family and Gwen away so he can be Spidey almost 24/7. He does this after the guilt of losing Uncle Ben and Gwen's dad.

Don't kill Gwen yet and **** that on-off stuff in TASM2.

Vulture should be the main villain and I will say my direction with him does feel very Sandmanish but I like it. Marvel Knights Spidey is my favorite Spidey comic behind Spider-Man Blue. In that comic, Vulture has a son and he never really cared about but has come to care deeply for both his grandson and his mother. May Vulture was fired by Norman Osborn in my take also. Now Vulture is stealing money to try to cure his grandson's leukemia. We have a connection between Spider-Man and Vulture. Both are doing things for their loved ones in different ways. Spidey is pushing his loved ones away for fear of loving them. Vulture is committing crimes to save his loved ones.

So in that, cut out Electro & Green Goblin.

Mention how Peter is going to college. I mean people say TASM Peter is smarter than Raimi but isn't it odd how there is no mention of Peter going to college? Hell he says he'll go live in England, not attend college in England. TASM Peter was never accepted into college. Think about that.

Let us see Aunt May as nurse instead of being told it.

**** Fedora man in shadows guy.

Don't make the NYPD look like dumbasses

That's all I got I think.

Agreed with all of this.

 

[Unbreakable Lex]

Cut out Rhino at the end, make Electro more pivotal in the fight, maybe have Harry Osborne manipulate him "Max". Have Harry's turn more towards the end to replace the Sinister Six easter eggs/Rhino.

That would have helped a bit. I also thought Jamie Foxx mailed it all in some too.

 

[PeterBenParker]

I kept everything I agree with. Ontop of that:

Man in fedora IS Norman. Played by Michael Masse. Or, if it was to be Chris Cooper give him more than 4 minutes of screentime.

Electro is the villain, flesh him out more. but the ONLY primary villain. Rhino can show up at the end, I was mostly okay with that.

Save Gwens death, Peter/Harry breakup for the third film. I was saying this since long before the movie came out. So stupid to end that chemistry after just 1.5 movies.

Ratha and Menken would be the same character. Bring back Irrfan Khan who disappeared in the first film.

Smythe and Kafka would be the same character. Flesh them out more.

Tie up the burglar loose end from the first film. Just more slight hints to Peter's parents. Not the focus of the film.

 

[A Necessary Evil]

It can't be any better. It's a pure hot mess, start to finish.

 

[FeedOnATreeFrog]

I think all the elements had a place in the story.

It was about Peter trying to juggle too much, to have it all, so the amount of storylines felt appropriate. They just weren't always as relevant as they could have been.

Like the parents bit could have been more relevant to Peter’s overall character arc if it was to show his inability to let go/move on, something he has to learn to do by the end of the film with Gwen. As is, it's just kind of....random, with the suspicions of Richard being a criminal or something, and then quickly resolving it in the tunnel. Kind of a waste of time. He should have gotten no answers ever, and it's just this obsession he turns to over and over again, until the very end when he puts the suitcase away for good.

Probably didn't need that whole plane intro as well. A flashback with young Peter dealing with their deaths, and young Harry being there for him would have been a lot more useful to the story.

And for Electro, I think the character is good on paper. Someone who's in desperate need of hope. But after his debut in Times Square, it just 'resolves' and has zero effect on Peter's character. Now, that could have been used to good effect if that was the point. An example of Peter being distracted ("England?") by his personal issues, when perhaps he could have done more to deal with the ticking time bomb of Max. Like....why didn't Peter visit Max after his incarceration? Instead it's Harry who visits and takes advantage of Max. But the film doesn't make a point of it.

So when Peter confronts Electro again, I think he needed to feel the guilt of the city being under siege. A rude awakening for Peter. And it would have been nice if Peter ends up resolving it by getting through to Max, apologising, asking for his help to save the planes, or something, allowing him to be a hero before he dies, or something.

But then have the twist that Peter has already failed nonetheless, as he also wasn't really there for Harry, who's lost it, with a 'betrayal' that's too deep (childhood friends and all) to repair.

Rhino is just a good bookend. I thought it was perfect TBH.

 

[Green Goblin]

• Forget the parent's plot or keep it to just Roosevelt
• Keep the first film's tone
• Change Electro's characterization
• Remove Rhino
• Have Norman Osborn become Green Goblin
• Don't make the Goblin look like a meth addict
• Focus should be on Peter & Gwen