Thursday, July 5, 2012

My Two Biggest Suspension of Disbelief Issues in Amazing Spider-Man (Spoiler Free)


Just saw 'Amazing Spider-Man'.  A perfectly cromulent summer popcorn flick.  I'm not going to get into a big comparison between this and Sam Raimi's first Spider-Man movie.  All I'll say on that front is that CGI action scenes have come a long way in 10 short years.  Those fight scenes were great.  I also wanted to say that Emma Stone has never looked hotter.  Something about the fact that Gwen Stacy was always wearing knee-high socks/boots in every scene just did it for me... but I digress...

(Probably the poorest example from the film, but the only photo example I could find)


There were only two things in the movie that really took me out of the experience and ruined my suspension of disbelief:

1.  Peter Parker uses 'Bing' as his search engine.

Never in a million years will I accept the fact that anyone under the age of 35, much less a science nerd, would use Bing as a search engine.  I know it's a minor thing, and they probably got a lot of money for the product placement, but it was just totally unrealistic.  And I know how ridiculous that sounds for a super hero movie.

2.  Peter talks to Gwen on his cell phone whilst in a sewer with perfect reception.

There are some rooms in my own house where I can't get decent cell phone reception.  Yet I'm supposed to believe that Ol' Web Head can get 5 bars in an underground concrete tunnel?  Ridiculous.  


Other random thoughts:

-  Lizard looked fine on film, not cartoony or anything.  But he did look waaaaaaay more like Killer Croc from DC comics than Lizard from Marvel. 
- I liked that they eschewed the organic web-shooters in favor of the mechanical versions.  More true to the comics.  But, I kept waiting for a mid-swing empty web cartridge that never came.
- I'd love to see high schoolers portrayed by actors under the age of 25 sometime. 
 - Sally Field was fine as Aunt May.  But it bugged me way more than it should have that she didn't have white/gray hair.


Overall I suppose I mostly had a bit of deja vu watching this movie.  It was understandably similar to the first Raimi Spider-Man, but had enough differences to make it seem fresh.  Less campy than the earlier takes, although the Stan Lee cameo was in there.  Definitely had some major plot holes in the sense of dropped plot points. I guess I want to say it felt like I had just seen this movie.  10 years was probably too soon to reboot.  But hey, you've gotta do what you've gotta do to hang onto those valuable character rights.



What did you guys think?

7 comments:

  1. I think my problem with that Aunt May is that she looks way too young. I'm also disappointed there was no empty web cartridges. I think that should count as a moment of disbelief. Chances are the company would have to pay Google a lot to have them in the movie, so they opted for Bing Given how Xbox 360's use Bing for their searches, it's a lot more common these days, and a lot of teenagers would know what it is really.

    I guess.

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  2. Sounds like it is a decent watch, but not one I want to rush rate out and see, the friggin origin story thing needs to die already, if you don't know how he got his powers, one needs to come out from under their rock haha.

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  3. Never been a fan of the character so will give this a miss but enjoyed your review, it's a Punisher comic thing!

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  4. I haven't seen the film, but agree that Aunt May should look older. These are some excellent points about the movie and my intention is to see it. I'm not rushing out though. I'm with Pat...the story itself is old.

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  5. You actually forgot a huge one.

    He screen printed his symbol onto the front of his one piece suit, but no screen printing ever comes out looking like that.

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    1. I have to say, I really thought the costume would bother me when I say the trailer for the film. But it didn't really bother me at all once I was watching it in the theater.

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  6. You forgot the screen printed logo on his suit. Screen printing doesn't work like that.

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