Sony's Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Men
With all the talk of Spider-Man going around in light of Spider-Man:Homecoming being in the editing stages along with having trailers released for them and me just being a Spider-Man fan that wants to talk about the character, I decided to do a comparison of Sam Raimi and Marc Webb's first films in their respective series'. First I'm going to cover the pros and cons of both movies as movies on their own and then discuss how well these films hold up as representations of the Spider-Man mythos.
Spider-Man 2002:
Pros -
The performances of Cliff Robertson, Rosemary Harris, Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Willem Dafoe, and James Franco in their respective roles are effective representations of the way they are characterized in this film
- Danny Elfman's score from the intro on down is very memorable and sets the atmosphere successfully throughout the movie
- The film moves at a pace that's not too fast or too deliberate so it doesn't often have time to drag or truly feel rushed outside of the flaws existing within the writing.
Cons:
- The action scenes in the movie are largely forgettable despite some involving fairly huge set pieces. Some of this is to blame on Sony due to the studio wanted scenes cut out or just basically pressuring Raimi to tone down the scope of the action sequences planned for the movie. For instance there was a helicopter action scene hinted at in early trailers that was allegedly pulled due to the 9/11 Twin Towers situation but overall even the hand to hand combat scenes are fairly underwhelming
- The storyline is fairly underwhelming due to how much time is spent on Parker pining over MJ with his personal struggles taking the backseat. Whether it's school, the impact his double life juggling schoolwork, crime fighting, and taking care of Aunt May financially or health wise, these things are largely downplayed to make this film about Parker getting the girl.
- The Uncle Ben death feels rushed due to him not being in the movie and interacting with Peter onscreen long enough for the viewer to truly connect with him and feel Parker's pain when he dies unless you read the comics or watch the cartoons etc enough to know how their relationship.
- Some of the protagonists in this film are presented in a way that makes them feel like unlikeable people despite seeing them have moments of "Vulnerability":
For instance, Harry Osborne here is characterized as guy who yearns for his father's validation but mostly cares about money and social status. It also doesn't help that he seems to only like Mary Jane because of her looks and him supposedly being "crazy about her". However we don't get to see why he's supposedly so crazy about her outside of her looks due to their interactions being scarce and the little dialogue they have together being about impressing Norman. He doesn't even put much effort to defend her to his father.
Another example is Peter Parker in this movie due to how even some of the not so noble things he does, the film seems to take his side on with the sole exception being the way he acted towards Ben during their scene in the car together. For instance, Parker seems to have no problem with kissing Mary Jane behind Harry's back while he's Spider-Man or hearing Harry getting insecure when MJ told him how "Amazing" Spider-Man was over the phone.
- There is no real character arc for Peter Parker outside of becoming a hero as Spider-Man after Ben's death. He's the same nerdy, insecure kid pining over MJ throughout the film with little to no changes to his personality.
Overall: A fairly well paced action film with solid performances from the cast that suffers from storyline and plots issues, somewhat underwhelming action scenes, less than stellar humor and unlikeable main characters.
The Amazing Spider-Man (2012):
Pros:
- The cast of Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Martin Sheen, Sally Fields, Dennis Leary, and Rhys Ifans deliver a ratio of solid to great performances that helped breathe their incarnations of the character to life
- The action scenes, while light on hand to hand combat, are paced and constructed in a way that gives them a sense of excitement and fluidity that makes the issue almost irrelevant
- The character arc of Peter Parker coming to grips with his life as a teen, developing his abilities as Spider-Man and learning to control them while also getting himself into trouble in various ways while learning from the consequences of his actions make for a compelling film due to seeing him on a learning curve going through the process of becoming Spider-Man in earnest
- The Chemistry between Garfield and Stone was so well done that it was easy to tell why they became a legitimate couple as they often had the most touching/endearing scenes when together.
- The film does a solid job of balancing the personal struggles of Peter Parker, his life as Spider-Man and the "love story" without one necessarily overshadowing the other
- The love interest here despite loving and caring about Parker is still a mostly intelligent and independent figure that isn't a damsel in distress as she manages to bail herself out of a situation with the Lizard and get people out of the lab without Spider-Man's help.
- The humor, despite being more scarce than the Raimi films, is actually more effective due to legitimately being funny
- The relationship and dynamic between Peter and his Aunt/Uncles feel more significant due to their being more significant interactions shown in the film that makes Uncle Ben's death more effective to the viewer
Cons:
- The soundtrack by James Horner is effective but not exactly remarkable like the Danny Elfman score from the original trilogy
- The action scenes peaked after the Library fight between Spidey and the Lizard where as in the original trilogy's fights got better and better despite not being constructed as well as this version.
Overall: While some might seeing it as retreading older territory it is largely a better constructed and paced film with better acting, better story, better character development, and better action.
Now onto how well these two hold up adaptations of Spider-Man.
What Both films got "wrong":
- Peter Parker didn't meet Gwen Stacy, Mary Jane, or Harry Osborne until College in the mainstream 616 timeline
- Peter Parker's first real crush was Liz Allan and the first girl he dated was Betty Brant in the comics
- The first villain Spider-Man ever fought was The Chameleon in the comics
- Part of the reason Parker had trouble making friends in the comics was because his quiet nature had people thinking he was stuck up. Neither film ever touched on or addressed that
What Spider-Man '02 got "wrong":
- Mary Jane was a carefree bombshell that didn't like to get tied down and she never was fascinated with Spider-Man in a romantic way. Matter of fact, in the comics, it simply gave MJ and Parker common ground due to her also "wearing a mask" with her carefree persona. Nonetheless, the whole "I'm in love with Spider-Man" thing was a characteristic adapted from Liz Allan as well as being Flash's High school girlfriend and Parker's high school crush. However in all fairness, Parker and MJ were childhood friends in the Ultimate Spider-Man timeline. So overall one can argue that she was a hybrid of Liz Allan, 616 MJ's backstory with her abusive parents, and Ultimate MJ's role in knowing Peter Parker for years as well as living next door to him.
- Peter Parker while he was a nerdy awkward wallflower before the Spider-bite, he became more confident and bold enough to speak his mind to people that disrespected or made fun of him. In this film, he's an awkward whiny nerd regardless of the bite and doesn't grow or evolve as a character in any substantial way.
- This film doesn't highlight how much of a toll his life as Spider-Man takes on his life as Peter Parker as only briefly teased and hinted when that's a major crux of the Spider-Man mythos.
- Spider-Man doesn't display his intelligence in any real way and he doesn't use wisecracks/sarcasm to irritate his opponents like in the comics.
- Spider-Man's webshooters in the comics were mechanical and not organic in the 616 timeline. They were Organic in the Ultimate timeline due to the Spider that bit Peter having a drug called "Oz" in its system
- Harry Osborne in the comics was originally a jerk to Peter Parker due to feeling threatened by Parker's intelligence, Gwen Stacy's interest in him and misconstruing him as being stuck up but would later become friends after Parker consoled him over his problematic relationship with his father Norman. This version seems to want to combine the relationship 616 Harry had with his father with elements of the Ultimate timeline's Harry Osborn that was friends with both Peter and MJ in high school.
- Norman Osborn wasn't a sympathetic villain in the comics as he was often Cold and psychotic.
- Oscorp never had any financial trouble nor was Norman's employment in jeopardy. He also created the Globulin Green after finding a prototype by Mendel Stromm and decided to make a name for himself by targeting Spider-Man and once he finds out Parker is Spidey, he would later go on to kill Gwen Stacy. He hates Parker and does his best to make Parker's life miserable. He never had "father/son" dynamic or befriended Parker.
What The Amazing Spider-Man got "wrong":
- Besides what's posted above on "what they both got wrong", In the comics, Gwen wasn't a "Girl Next Door" type. In her inception, she was presented as a bombshell that came across as a stuck-up "Uptown Girl" that was used to having any guy she wanted and got vindictive when she thought Parker was being snobbish. Though she would become a nicer character (along with a super insecure daddy's girl) in the comics once John Romita took over for Steve Ditko, she wasn't portrayed the way she is here that mostly infuses aspects of Gwen Stacy like her being bold due to her parents being cops, her love for Science, her overall look and infusing it with 616 MJ's ability to bail herself out of tough situations as well as Ultimate MJ in terms of the role she has as Parker's love interest where he tells her his identity very early on to avoid the strife that keeping it a secret could lead to.
- Dr.Connors never worked for Oscorp or knew Richard Parker. He was a professor at ESU that didn't develop a relationship with Peter Parker until after Parker fought him as the Lizard in the 616 universe.
- Parker and Flash Thompson didn't become anything resembling friends until the college years when Flash would go on to fight in the Army and come back a more matured person, being impressed with how popular with the girls Parker became at ESU and generally understanding his personality more in the 616 timeline. Though they become friendlier towards each other after Parker joined the Basketball team in the Ultimate comics.
- Aunt May was an older and frail person that Parker would go on to have to take care of when it came to her health and financially in the 616 timeline.
- No Daily Bugle presence in the film
- Captain Stacy approved of Gwen and Parker's relationship as well as being a supporter of Spider-Man along with knowing it was Parker for a long time. While Stacy did indeed die in the comics, it was during a fight between Spidey and Doc Ock causing debris to fall on him.
What Both films got "right"
- Peter Parker has a falling out with Uncle Ben and his arrogant refusal to stop a burglar and allow him to run free leads Uncle Ben dying
- Parker is picked on and seen as a "nerd" in high school along with being a working class person financially struggling
- Parker gets bit by a radioactive or genetically altered spider that leads to him gaining Spider-Sense, Wallcrawling and enhanced Strength/Speed and a healing factor that leads him on the road to becoming Spider-Man
- Parker also retaliates against Flash Thompson with his powers in some way or form
What Spider-Man 02 got "right":
- Harry Osborn was in fact yearning for the validation of his father Norman whom was cold and neglectful towards him despite the movie not expanding on the fact that it was largely due to Osborn blaming Harry's birth for the ailing condition of his wife.
- Norman Osborn did indeed own a company called Oscorp and was driven insane by a drug called "Globulin Green" that also accelerated his strength, speed and intelligence.
- While in a different context of events, Norman did indeed "die" at the hands of his glider during a fight with Spider-Man
- Mary Jane did in fact have abusive parents
- In the comics, Parker technically did date Mary Jane before Gwen and was constantly foreshadowed in his high school years despite the dates they went on being casual in nature in the 616 timeline.
- Mary Jane also did live next door to Parker and was the first girl he dated in the Ultimate Marvel timeline
- Harry Osborn did seek revenge against Spider-Man for the death of his father in the 616 comics
What Amazing Spider-Man got "right"
- Spider-Man is supposed to be very sarcastic in nature in a way that irritates his opponents when he fights
- The emphasis on the way his double life as Spider-Man impacts his life at school and his life at home with his Aunt and Uncle.
- The character arc where Parker's focus on developing his powers and learning to control while also losing sight of himself and becoming negligent towards his Aunt/Uncle along with constantly getting himself into trouble in a way that leads to him gradually learning from the consequences of his acting by trial and error is very much a cue from Vol.1 of Ultimate Spider-Man written by Brian Michael Bendis.
- Peter Parker's scientist level intelligence is highlighted and emphasized via him learning the Decay Rate algorithm and helping Dr Connors along with his creation of the mechanical webshooters
- The storyline where Dr Connors tries to use cross species genetics to heal his hand as well as the aspect where he later decides to try and turn everyone into Lizards are plots taken from Spectacular Spider-Man Season 1 and the plot of Connors trying to turn everyone into Lizards is very reminiscent of a storyline used in Spider-Man:The Animated Series. The episodes in question are two Spectacular Spider-Man episodes called "Interactions" and "Natural Selection", which are episodes 2 and 3 of the first season along with Spider-Man TAS's 1st episode of season 1 known as "Night of The Lizard". In essence, it's a mash up of plots used in two different Spidey toons used to fit into one singular narrative.
- The premise of Richard Parker trying of create a cure but leaving items behind when he "disappeared" seems to be a hybrid of he and his wife's backstory and his involvement in the creation of the symbiote prototype that was intended as a cure for cancer from the Ultimate Spider-Man comics where it's stated that he shut it down due to its potential to be used as a weapon. The symbiote-prototype involvement was replaced with a cross species genetics-based cure and him hiding his research due to the potential dangers the "cure" could bring about.
- Parker's look and personality in and of itself is largely a mash of the appearance of John Romita's Parker, the more confident post-Spider bite Parker from Ditko's run and the character arc of Brian Michael Bendis's take on Parker in the Ultimate Spider-Man series. His dress style is also highly reminiscent of Peter Parker's outfits in the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon
Overall: Both adaptations largely take their fair share of liberties and are in some ways faithful to the source material but ultimately, The Amazing Spider-Man proves to have a better understanding when it comes to the essence of the Spider-Man mythos along with being a better film in its own right.
Now to get down to my overall ratings of these films:
Spider-Man '02: 7/10
Amazing Spider-Man: 8.5/10
Now obviously, these films are going to be viewed in an "apples and oranges" type of way by some but despite the Webb trilogy now having a bad rep thanks to the god awful sequel, I consider Amazing Spider-Man to be my second favorite representation of the character behind The Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon despite not being quite as good as Spider-Man 2.
