so its basically a given by now that i make these right? right. as usual im not going to say much and am just giving an initial impression It was a lot better than I was expecting. My main concern going in was that it was trying to do too much, and while I think it did suffer from this some, overall it juggled all of its subplots fairly well. Spoiler My biggest point of contention (and by big i mean huge) is that it's not enough about Harry and Peter and gives far too much attention to Electro. This film is clearly setup (and good setup) for future installments in this franchise, but this is not something I would have truncated, and because of what it is it deserves to be the focus. Obviously they're going to revisit this character, but the establishment was pretty weak considering. They just touched on his relationship with his father and in this continuity his relationship with Peter feels like an afterthought. All-in-all it's not terrible but it feels rushed for an origin. I suppose it could be fleshed out in future films but since the character has reached a status-quo and we saw him get there, there's not much they could retroactively do to make the origin seem less abbreviated. Yeah, they could add backstory for Harry's father relationship and friendship with Peter, but since we've already seen them it wouldn't be that effective. I could say more but I don't feel like it atm. may come back and edit it in or just respond to people as they say stuff i want to address.
I liked it a lot better than most of the critics I've heard from. My main problem is that the script is just a mess. It's mostly due to the fact that it seems rushed and have a web of plotlines that made it feel cluttered. Thankfully, the actors were able to really able to get into character and do something great. Spoiler One of the drawbacks of the movie is that the villains are not all that interesting. The Rhino is more of just a cameo so they can set up the next movie. Harry Osborne was just very bland, and I don't blame the actor at all. I know he's a terrific actor; it's just that the script gave him absolutely nothing to do until the very end. I can tell they wanted Electro to be sympathetic, but it just didn't work. When he first appeared on screen in the opening sequence, it worked really well. You could just see the gleam in his eyes of how starstruck he was. I easily saw myself in this situation. He just took it too far; when we saw him talking to himself in his apartment, they lost me. The first battle between Electro and Spider-Man I though was really good. With the character stuff they set up, it was a great build up. I heard a number of critics tear down the soundtrack, and while I agree with them on a lot of it, I have to say that My Enemy (Paranoia) is a great track and fit very well in the scene. I can't stop listening to it. The only other scene in the movie that can compare to it is Gwen Stacy's death. It's something many knew were going to happen; at Barnes and Noble, there was a stand of Spider-Man comics on display for the movie, one of them being "The Death of the Stacys". I love how they did it in the movie though. They gave you that bit of hope when she grabbed the web; you believe that she's going to be okay. Only a second later do you see her hit the floor. Hard. That hope is just taken away. That's how you play with your audiences god dammit!
