Spider-man - Amazing and Regular (2002 - 2012)

                             

I must admit that when I first heard about The Amazing Spider-man project I was intrigued. Andrew Garfield sounded like an interesting choice as Peter Parker, and I wondered how 500 Days of Summer director Marc Webb was going to handle the super-hero genre. When I saw the trailer however my thought was “aren’t they just rehashing Sam Raimi’s genesis story from 10 years ago?” What’s the point in that? Won’t it be completely redundant? Well, yes and no.

First of all, Peter Parker. Andrew Garfield is certainly a better actor than Tobey Maguire, but perhaps almost too good. I feel that Peter Parker works better as an awkward geek (just my opinion from the films, I’ve never read any of the comics), and Garfield comes across as being too confident and almost a bit cocky; Tobey is far more awkward and this makes his transformation into a physically stronger super-hero more convincing. The relationship between Parker and Gwen was good (perhaps this is Marc Webb’s forté), but again I felt that it was a bit too familiar. This of course is explained by the history between Gwen and Peter. Compare this to MJ not really knowing who Peter is despite him living next door, and Peter only gets the confidence to talk to her once he has his alter-ego. Both of these scenarios are valid enough I guess, I just prefer the route of the geeky awkward PP.

The transformations themselves were dealt with differently, and again, I think I prefer that of regular Spider-man. Like I’ve already said, I’m not familiar with traditional Spider-Man canon, but to me it makes more sense that one of the abilities that is conferred having been bitten by an engineered spider is being able to spin webs. Having to make your own web-slingers is rubbish! Though I preferred Peter going home, feeling rotten, falling asleep and then finding everything had changed; I did like the apologetic way that Garfield’s Peter beat everyone up on the Subway! However, I don’t remember Garfield’s spider-sense ever tingling; not very amazing.

I feel like I’m continually dissing the Amazing Spider-Man here (only purely in comparison to Sam Raimi’s film), but Rhys Ifans’ Lizard is nothing compared to Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin. Ifans certainly doesn’t have the presence or gravitas that Dafoe does. There was even a scene in the sewers as Dr Curt Connors (Ifans’ character) argues with himself about taking another dose of whatever it is that makes him the lizard, clearly mimicking the brilliant scene in Spider-Man when Norman Osborne has the schizophrenic argument with his Green Goblin persona.

I could maybe compare more, but I feel that I’m really slagging The Amazing Spider-man, which isn’t my intent. There is much to like. I’ve already mentioned that I think Garfield is a better actor than Maguire, but the choice of Martin Sheen as Uncle Ben was also a good one. He breathes far more life into his brief screen time than Cliff Robertson does. I also liked the character of Captain Stacy (though I want to say his name in a Cap-tain Scar-let kinda way!), he gave Spidey an internal ally as well as a verbal sparring partner when they first meet. However the conclusion to this scene is Parker’s reveal to Gwen, which I thought was all too sudden and impetuous.

“Wristslap”; I’m being negative again. The Amazing Spider-man is a good film, it is a great cast, cool story, and lots of great action (thanks to Vic Armstrong), and there are some nice camera moves & first person web-shooting/swinging. The mistake I’ve made is watching Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man immediately afterwards, and I just prefer the decisions made in this film compared to the Amazing one, that’s all. That’s, just, like, er, my opinion man!

Never Let Me Go (2010)

Never Let Me Go is one of those films that I either don't remember putting on our LoveFilm list, or my wife did. Either way, I knew nothing about it other than Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield were in it. This probably explains why I felt it was so hard-hitting and emotional; if I had known what the story involved I would have been prepared for it. As it was I was completely caught off guard, and the impact of the story was so much more brutal than it would otherwise have been.

I'm not going to mention the plot at all as that would spoil everything. If you don't know the story, keep it that way before you see it. It isn't far into the film that we find out the crux of the plot and from there we kind of know where the film is likely to take us, but that doesn't make it any easier to handle. Carey Mulligan gives a typically mature and excellent performance as Kathy, Andrew Garfield is good as Tommy, and Keira Knightley is OK as Ruth. Actually, Carey Mulligan is perfectly cast as she has really sad eyes, and she often looks like she is about to burst into tears. Her face really is a reflection of the atmosphere of the film as a whole. The relationship between the three main characters is the driving force of the film, and as such the leads all work really well together. If their performances or their chemistry hadn't worked, then the film would not have been as emotional as it was.

A very beautiful yet haunting film, both aspects of which are enhanced by the music which I half expected to have been composed by Warren Ellis and Nick Cave (The Road; The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford). Well made and very well acted, Never Let Me Go is definitely worth seeing, just make sure you have someone to cuddle up to near the end.

Social Network

I suppose I'm surprised that there isn't more hype surrounding this film given its subject matter. I enjoyed the way that computer geek Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) 's techno-joy at hacking Harvard's computer network and the ensuing set up of the facebook phenomenon, was intercut with the two legal proceedings that were being brought against him. Then perhaps there hasn't been the hype, because as soon as the phrase "legal proceedings" enters a film synopsis, your average joe who doesn't want to think while watching a film, falls asleep.

I thought I was going to struggle initially, because in the first scene with Zuckerberg's girlfriend breaking up with him, they both talk at like a million miles an hour! Not to mention lots of references to I don't know clubs, fraternities whatever, which meant nothing to me and confused me more. Still it settled down and I did like the smarmy, un-flappable,  know-it-all character of Zuckerberg. Reminded me a lot of the know-it-all in the Sontaron episodes of Dr Who, who invented the ATMOS!! Zuckerberg's character is definitely of the "It's been a long time since anyone said no to you isn't it?" brands.

The one thing that was very impressive was the handling of the Winklevoss twins. Two actors, but in post production the face and speech of Armie Hammer was computer-ally added on to the unfortunate other actors (Josh Pence) head. I seriously couldn't tell the difference between the twins.
The thing that was awful was the cgi breath that was added to Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) as they discussed the beginnings of facebook outside in the cold in one scene. Truly is was terrible! Not a case of "is that cg or not?" it obviously was, instantly.

That's really my only gripe really. I guess the other very good effect was discovering that Justin Timberlake is quite a good actor!