Saturday, July 7, 2012

The Amazing Spiderman: Webb vs. Raimi

Marvel Entertainment
The Amazing Spiderman. Will it be Raimi or Webb? After watching the recent release, and re-watching the release from 10 years ago, both films are satisfactory with differences that did not significantly  sway one version as being better than the other. 

Details such as Peter smashing the alarm alarm, and the computers keys being stuck to his fingers, made the scenes where Peter was discovering his new powers more amusing. Raimi's version did not feature such details, but satisfactory nevertheless .   

Webb's version was based on Peter's high school years which featured Gwen instead Mary Jane, and Raimi's film portrayed Flash as a bully who was conquered by the web-slinger's acrobatics, while Webb's version portrayed Flash as a bully who is empathic in expressing sincere condolences to Peter about uncle Ben's death. Before this expression of empathy,  Peter humiliated Flash not through acrobatic fighting but through a basketball standoff. Effective. Amusing. But far from menacing. 

Both villains were awesome. My bias for Willem Dafoe as an actor has made me favor the Green Goblin, but The Lizard, no doubt was pretty cool, but Green Goblin fought out skill rather than rage. He was more of a tactical opponent as a fighter. Green Goblin used psychological manipulation, especially noted in the penultimate scene in Raimi's version. 

As a whole even with these differences, both  films constituted as great entertainment. However, Spiderman's identity is revealed way too often, in both films, especially for Raimi's trilogy.  Revealing the identity of a superhero violates the mystique of what makes many superheroes so appealing. On a final note, the first kiss showing Spiderman hanging upside-down was more memorable.