So I finally saw the supposed tragedy of Spidey 3...
...and it wasn't quite as bad as I heard.
xposted to comicbookmovies, lethalprotector, moviebuffs,
Multi·Genre·Fandom, spidermanfans, venomcarnage, &
Webheads
1:48 AM 5/18/07 · Much relieved about Mom's good health and finally able to venture out into the world away from family for the first time in what felt like an eternity (gloom of the impending surgery no doubt put a haze over everything) the first thing I did was head for San Mateo to see Spidey 3. I wasn't entirely looking forward to it but I just felt it was something I had to see. Got a special little surprise in one of de geeks from my geek comm being there, one of the more mysterious ones, but we had tickets for different showings so it was an unexpected but brief conversation.
From my Spidey & geek communities I'd heard a lot about this movie before seeing it, and before all that I'd pretty much known what the story was going to be from beginning to end already. Don't you miss the days where they gave you one brief trailer that didn't give so much away? I kinda think this thing we've got going on now, escalating trailers with more revealed in each one, just kinda takes away from the movie they're advertising. Still, that's not the point here...
I really like the first Spidey movie but it was lacking on certain points. The second one blew me away and while I had issues with it, rare to find a movie I don't have at least some problems with, I absolutely loved it. This third one I'd put between the other two so far as how I felt about it but it was kind of a fun, twisted, painful, torturous ride that I'm glad I took.
Kinda. Sorta. Maybe.
Spidey 3 Short Form:
I could drag this out with a whole bunch of stuff before explaining the "blatant" thing but I'll just get that out of the way first...and then assault you with the aforementioned bunch of stuff. Okay, one of the basic things about the symbiote is that it can pass on the memories and abilities of a previous host to a new one which is clearly displayed in the comics and animated series. Holds true for the film as well seeing as Brock, under the symbiote's lent knowledge, sought out Flint Marko in order to team up to take out Spidey. However, Venom had a key piece of info that he should not have had, regarding Flint's sick daughter. This may be explained away by a DVD extra, some deleted scene that wasn't included in the movie, but from what we get in the movie...Peter didn't know about Flint's daughter so there was no way that Venom should've either.
Bad director...no pudding for you!
I could go on endlessly about a number of inconsistancies with the movie take on characters and the original source material but I'm going to hold off except with the big stuff. It is just a normal thing for any conversion of literature to the big screen that there will be differences, artistic license if you will, but I like mentioning stuff. It's my way, my curse, my habit; pick one or all.
Didn't have any major problem with the story but there are some interesting things regarding the individual characters that I'd like to hit upon:
Peter Parker: There's this part in the 2nd Spidey film where he loses his powers and he's acting like it's the best thing in the world. There's this scene going down the street with his glasses on where he's acting like Mary Tyler Moore, and I'm old enough to remember that TV show so I remember the scene in the opening credits I swear they imitated for the film. There's a scene when he's got all corrupted, the famed Austin Powers thing, where he's kinda doing the same thing but in an evil way. Initially it's not so bad, just noticing women checking him out more and then he's all swing scene. It hurt my head. Wanted to laugh but thought it would come out in sobs. The further he got into it, especially after he bought the suit, the worse he got. It's kinda where he divorces himself from the whole Autsin Powers comparison...because when ol' Toothy is doing his dance scenes...everyone is doing it with him; without that it just looks idiotic. Kinda feel the same way about how things went down in that blues club only not as much. Also, what was with the style he used? It's 2007 for God's sake! He was dancing like a throwback from the disco era.
It was like West Side Story meets Funky Town.
Prior to going all wonky, and the symbiote, in the beginning of the film he was beyond clueless. Granted, in the comics the guy often slapped himself from not realizing stuff until later but the movie takes that to a demented extreme. I wanted to haul his ass off the screen and beat him down, so blissful in how everybody loved his alter ego he couldn't see how the most important person in his life was having her dream torn apart and shattered. Even when she tried to tell him he brushed it all aside for the joy of being in his own little world.
Dark Spidey: While I realize nobody much cares, the corruption the costume does to him in the movie is not how it's supposed to be; it's an invention of the animated series. All the symbiote did to him was tire him out because it kept leaping on his body while he was asleep and going on patrol to hunt down bad guys. Probably figured that was what its host did so there was no reason to let a little sleep get in the way. He wasn't exactly irritable or anything...just really sleep deprived. I mean, he was sleeping but his body wasn't resting with all the webswinging and pounding on the bad guys the symbiote was doing.
That said, I did like how Dark Spidey played out in the film; even with the whole irritable, cranky, evil presentation he had. Had a little problem with the costume being just a dark version of his normal outfit, that he put on and took off like any other costume. Couldn't figure why it was presented that way, especially how it was while on Venom.
Spidey: For the most part I didn't have any problem with Spidey insofar as his costumed identity. Although, did anyone else notice his spider sense wasn't evident anywhere in this movie? Bit of comic geekery reveals that the symbiote is immune, having taken something from him when they were together, but there's other moments where it should've been working fine. Like when Harry swooped down and snatched Parker off his bike...took him totally off guard. Other than that though, and maybe that whole web ball attack thing, I liked him fine.
Venom: Didn't have as much problems with Venom as I was expecting to. Liked how they kinda got the spider pattern on the back spider with the legs extending around the back to front. Not even the lacking of that long tongue was an issue for me, seeing as originally Venom didn't have one in the comics; that came later. I was a bit bugged that Spidey and Venom seemed to be operating on the same strength level but that makes a kinda sense. In the comics Brock turned to an obsessive body builder when his career was ruined for months and months. The symbiote gave him all of Spidey's abilities on top of his already massive steroid enhanced strength; still within human norms but hefty. On paper Spidey, back then, could lift press 10 tons while Venom did 11.
My only real fault in this Venom comes from the human componant; Eddie Brock Jr is a big wuss. The original had his faults but he was a good journalist, not a photographer, until the Sin Eater story. His career was never the same after that and he blamed his failed career on Spidey only because he brought down the actual serial killer while Brock had been reporting the confessions of some deranged looney who thought he was the actual killer. The movie version is a sketchy little guy who knowingly and deliberately committed fraud and became exceptionally whiney after he was caught. They're both bad guys but the original at least was a decent guy once upon a time.
The symbiote made webs from its own substance but they looked just like Spidey's. The movie has them black but that's not so big a deal really. I've seen 3 different takes on Venom in the comics and then there's the other symbiotes to consider...a lot of them their "webs" looked less like what Spidey uses and more like extensions of themselves.
The Goblin: Harry Osborn did in fact become the 2nd Green Goblin in the comics but he wasn't as stable as his father was...which is saying something as Norman was totally insane. Harry was a heavy drug user and he didn't have the chemically enhanced strength his father did; he was taken down really fast. Years later he redonned the costume to battle the Hobgoblin who was threatening his family and surprisingly won. Despite numerous complaints from Spidey, Harry started wearing the costume more often and fighting crime, taking down Hobby gave him a bit of an ego boost. Still later he became unbalanced, enhanced his strength using his father's formula, discovered that Spidey was Peter, and got a very mistaken view of how his father died; it wasn't public knowledge at that time that Norman's enhanced abilities anabled him to heal from his supposed death. They fought to a standstill and Harry died.
So, what goes down in the film isn't that far from the truth in a slightly mixed up order. The flying skateboard was interesting and kinda cool. The original Green Goblin didn't just use a goblin glider...he also briefly used this broomstick kinda thing briefly.
Sorry about the picture...best I've currently got but the skateboard was not included.
Sandman: Flint Marko is a very complex character now but he didn't start out that way. I really like how the film handled him but they really compressed the guy. He started out a typical villain being bad for no discernible reason other than to be bad. Got his powers totally by accident by hiding in an atomic weapons testing ground because he figured that the cops wouldn't follow him. He never thought he had any living relatives, only recently discovered he had a father still alive, but he got really close to a family he was staying with while on the lam. It was because of them, and his friendship to the kid there, that he turned his life around and became a good guy.
The film version is a bit too humanized even for the good version in the comics. Still, it kinda works and made me like him that much more. Although, that flying through the city as a sand cloud thing was totally ridiculous. Not surw how I felt about the end either...his being forgiven by Spidey was cool and all but to let him get away like that, to no doubt commit more crimes, is just wrong.
Also...that whole bit with his killing Uncle Ben was completely made up for the movie.
Mary Jane: I've only this one thing to say. Everyone made a big deal about how she was underplayed in this and such a victim but given how things went down it makes total sense. I didn't have any problem with her here. She's actually the one character in this whole bit I couldn't fault for anything.
If you've read this far and you got issues with my nitpicking...I'd like to point out that you did read this far. You could've just waited outside the LJ·cut where it was safe.
xposted to comicbookmovies, lethalprotector, moviebuffs,
Multi·Genre·Fandom, spidermanfans, venomcarnage, &
Webheads
1:48 AM 5/18/07 · Much relieved about Mom's good health and finally able to venture out into the world away from family for the first time in what felt like an eternity (gloom of the impending surgery no doubt put a haze over everything) the first thing I did was head for San Mateo to see Spidey 3. I wasn't entirely looking forward to it but I just felt it was something I had to see. Got a special little surprise in one of de geeks from my geek comm being there, one of the more mysterious ones, but we had tickets for different showings so it was an unexpected but brief conversation.
From my Spidey & geek communities I'd heard a lot about this movie before seeing it, and before all that I'd pretty much known what the story was going to be from beginning to end already. Don't you miss the days where they gave you one brief trailer that didn't give so much away? I kinda think this thing we've got going on now, escalating trailers with more revealed in each one, just kinda takes away from the movie they're advertising. Still, that's not the point here...
I really like the first Spidey movie but it was lacking on certain points. The second one blew me away and while I had issues with it, rare to find a movie I don't have at least some problems with, I absolutely loved it. This third one I'd put between the other two so far as how I felt about it but it was kind of a fun, twisted, painful, torturous ride that I'm glad I took.
Kinda. Sorta. Maybe.
Spidey 3 Short Form:
- I actually liked this movie...but I didn't love it.
- There's a lot about this movie to hate.
- Only to a real Spidey geek, like myself, there are some gross innaccuracies.
- There is a blatant mistake in this movie.
I could drag this out with a whole bunch of stuff before explaining the "blatant" thing but I'll just get that out of the way first...and then assault you with the aforementioned bunch of stuff. Okay, one of the basic things about the symbiote is that it can pass on the memories and abilities of a previous host to a new one which is clearly displayed in the comics and animated series. Holds true for the film as well seeing as Brock, under the symbiote's lent knowledge, sought out Flint Marko in order to team up to take out Spidey. However, Venom had a key piece of info that he should not have had, regarding Flint's sick daughter. This may be explained away by a DVD extra, some deleted scene that wasn't included in the movie, but from what we get in the movie...Peter didn't know about Flint's daughter so there was no way that Venom should've either.
Bad director...no pudding for you!
I could go on endlessly about a number of inconsistancies with the movie take on characters and the original source material but I'm going to hold off except with the big stuff. It is just a normal thing for any conversion of literature to the big screen that there will be differences, artistic license if you will, but I like mentioning stuff. It's my way, my curse, my habit; pick one or all.
Didn't have any major problem with the story but there are some interesting things regarding the individual characters that I'd like to hit upon:
Peter Parker: There's this part in the 2nd Spidey film where he loses his powers and he's acting like it's the best thing in the world. There's this scene going down the street with his glasses on where he's acting like Mary Tyler Moore, and I'm old enough to remember that TV show so I remember the scene in the opening credits I swear they imitated for the film. There's a scene when he's got all corrupted, the famed Austin Powers thing, where he's kinda doing the same thing but in an evil way. Initially it's not so bad, just noticing women checking him out more and then he's all swing scene. It hurt my head. Wanted to laugh but thought it would come out in sobs. The further he got into it, especially after he bought the suit, the worse he got. It's kinda where he divorces himself from the whole Autsin Powers comparison...because when ol' Toothy is doing his dance scenes...everyone is doing it with him; without that it just looks idiotic. Kinda feel the same way about how things went down in that blues club only not as much. Also, what was with the style he used? It's 2007 for God's sake! He was dancing like a throwback from the disco era.
It was like West Side Story meets Funky Town.
Prior to going all wonky, and the symbiote, in the beginning of the film he was beyond clueless. Granted, in the comics the guy often slapped himself from not realizing stuff until later but the movie takes that to a demented extreme. I wanted to haul his ass off the screen and beat him down, so blissful in how everybody loved his alter ego he couldn't see how the most important person in his life was having her dream torn apart and shattered. Even when she tried to tell him he brushed it all aside for the joy of being in his own little world.
Dark Spidey: While I realize nobody much cares, the corruption the costume does to him in the movie is not how it's supposed to be; it's an invention of the animated series. All the symbiote did to him was tire him out because it kept leaping on his body while he was asleep and going on patrol to hunt down bad guys. Probably figured that was what its host did so there was no reason to let a little sleep get in the way. He wasn't exactly irritable or anything...just really sleep deprived. I mean, he was sleeping but his body wasn't resting with all the webswinging and pounding on the bad guys the symbiote was doing.
That said, I did like how Dark Spidey played out in the film; even with the whole irritable, cranky, evil presentation he had. Had a little problem with the costume being just a dark version of his normal outfit, that he put on and took off like any other costume. Couldn't figure why it was presented that way, especially how it was while on Venom.
Spidey: For the most part I didn't have any problem with Spidey insofar as his costumed identity. Although, did anyone else notice his spider sense wasn't evident anywhere in this movie? Bit of comic geekery reveals that the symbiote is immune, having taken something from him when they were together, but there's other moments where it should've been working fine. Like when Harry swooped down and snatched Parker off his bike...took him totally off guard. Other than that though, and maybe that whole web ball attack thing, I liked him fine.
Venom: Didn't have as much problems with Venom as I was expecting to. Liked how they kinda got the spider pattern on the back spider with the legs extending around the back to front. Not even the lacking of that long tongue was an issue for me, seeing as originally Venom didn't have one in the comics; that came later. I was a bit bugged that Spidey and Venom seemed to be operating on the same strength level but that makes a kinda sense. In the comics Brock turned to an obsessive body builder when his career was ruined for months and months. The symbiote gave him all of Spidey's abilities on top of his already massive steroid enhanced strength; still within human norms but hefty. On paper Spidey, back then, could lift press 10 tons while Venom did 11.
My only real fault in this Venom comes from the human componant; Eddie Brock Jr is a big wuss. The original had his faults but he was a good journalist, not a photographer, until the Sin Eater story. His career was never the same after that and he blamed his failed career on Spidey only because he brought down the actual serial killer while Brock had been reporting the confessions of some deranged looney who thought he was the actual killer. The movie version is a sketchy little guy who knowingly and deliberately committed fraud and became exceptionally whiney after he was caught. They're both bad guys but the original at least was a decent guy once upon a time.
The symbiote made webs from its own substance but they looked just like Spidey's. The movie has them black but that's not so big a deal really. I've seen 3 different takes on Venom in the comics and then there's the other symbiotes to consider...a lot of them their "webs" looked less like what Spidey uses and more like extensions of themselves.
The Goblin: Harry Osborn did in fact become the 2nd Green Goblin in the comics but he wasn't as stable as his father was...which is saying something as Norman was totally insane. Harry was a heavy drug user and he didn't have the chemically enhanced strength his father did; he was taken down really fast. Years later he redonned the costume to battle the Hobgoblin who was threatening his family and surprisingly won. Despite numerous complaints from Spidey, Harry started wearing the costume more often and fighting crime, taking down Hobby gave him a bit of an ego boost. Still later he became unbalanced, enhanced his strength using his father's formula, discovered that Spidey was Peter, and got a very mistaken view of how his father died; it wasn't public knowledge at that time that Norman's enhanced abilities anabled him to heal from his supposed death. They fought to a standstill and Harry died.
So, what goes down in the film isn't that far from the truth in a slightly mixed up order. The flying skateboard was interesting and kinda cool. The original Green Goblin didn't just use a goblin glider...he also briefly used this broomstick kinda thing briefly.
Sorry about the picture...best I've currently got but the skateboard was not included.
Sandman: Flint Marko is a very complex character now but he didn't start out that way. I really like how the film handled him but they really compressed the guy. He started out a typical villain being bad for no discernible reason other than to be bad. Got his powers totally by accident by hiding in an atomic weapons testing ground because he figured that the cops wouldn't follow him. He never thought he had any living relatives, only recently discovered he had a father still alive, but he got really close to a family he was staying with while on the lam. It was because of them, and his friendship to the kid there, that he turned his life around and became a good guy.
The film version is a bit too humanized even for the good version in the comics. Still, it kinda works and made me like him that much more. Although, that flying through the city as a sand cloud thing was totally ridiculous. Not surw how I felt about the end either...his being forgiven by Spidey was cool and all but to let him get away like that, to no doubt commit more crimes, is just wrong.
Also...that whole bit with his killing Uncle Ben was completely made up for the movie.
Mary Jane: I've only this one thing to say. Everyone made a big deal about how she was underplayed in this and such a victim but given how things went down it makes total sense. I didn't have any problem with her here. She's actually the one character in this whole bit I couldn't fault for anything.
If you've read this far and you got issues with my nitpicking...I'd like to point out that you did read this far. You could've just waited outside the LJ·cut where it was safe.