A Couple of Things About Amazing Spider-Man

I caught the Amazing Spider-Man on TV over the weekend. Part of it. It wasn't engaging enough for me to stay with it constantly. What I watched seemed all right.

I was glad the Lizard was intelligent (the shift to make him a mostly savage animal in the early '90s was not one I approved of), but I thought he needed a more pronounced snout. Let his nose and jaws jut further in front of his eyes, as is the case with most reptiles. If the serum can cause him to regrow an arm, grow a tail, and generally greatly increase his skeleton, musculature, and everything else, I think it can make his face change shape a little more.

Andrew Garfield was fine as Peter and Spidey (this movie did a better job capturing Spidey's speed and agility than the Raimi films), and I guess Emma Stone was good as Gwen. It's nothing against her; I've just never cared about Gwen Stacy. Always a Mary Jane or Felicia Hardy person myself. Gwen being dead for 15 years before I got into comics had something to do with it, I'm sure.

Two things the film changed up from the comics I wanted to talk about. One was Peter not catching the guy who killed Uncle Ben, and the other was Captain Stacy making Peter promise to stay away from Gwen. Obviously Spidey catches the killer in the original story, and in the comics, Captain Stacy reveals as he dies that he's known for some time Peter was Spider-Man, and he asks Peter to take care of Gwen.

Some of the difference in the latter thing is a time issue. In the comics, Stacy had been observing Spider-Man for months, maybe longer (I'm not sure how long Peter had been Spider-Man by that time, but in our time, I think Stacy had been showing an interest for at least three or four years), and he'd seen how Gwen felt about Peter, and how Peter felt about Gwen. He had enough evidence to judge the kind of man he was dealing with. Movie Spidey's been at this for a few weeks, maybe a couple of months, hasn't been dating Gwen even that long, and Captain Stacy found out Peter was Spider-Man about five minutes ago. He didn't have any time to process it, and he has a lot smaller amount of evidence. Also, he's dying at the moment, which might lead him to doubt Peter's ability to protect people. He opts for caution. Keep the masked vigilante away from his daughter.

If they'd waited for the second or third movie, maybe they could have done it up like the comics, but I don't know if they would have wanted to, if they'd been inclined to wait. Maybe they didn't want to mimic the mostly positive Batman/Gordon partnership, but didn't think it was plausible for Stacy to still be antagonistic towards Spider-Man after Spidey saves the city, which left killing him, I don't know.

I'm less accepting of having him not catch Uncle Ben's killer. It creates this implication he's being Spider-Man as a way to find that guy, and the other lives he saves, crimes he stops, are almost incidental. Just tasks he takes care of along the way to his true goal. It's good he saved those people, but it makes him a little less a hero, a little more revenge-obsessed Clint Eastwood character. Or Inigo Montoya, if you prefer. I suppose they could set up the question of whether he'll continue or not once he catches the killer, if that's the way they want to explore Peter's periodic desire to quit web-slinging.

Taken together, the two things are somewhat bleak. Not that Spider-Man's origin is ever a happy one, but as it usually goes, he catches the killer, realizes his mistake, and sets out to keep other people from suffering the way he does for it. It's sad, but there's a sense of hope, that from the tragedy is a drive that's going to make the city a better place. It's less guilt pushed into responsibility, more guilt pushed into possible revenge. I guess it's an open question what Spidey will do if he catches the guy.

Then add in the father of the girl he loves, rather than see the good man he is and trusting him, instead asks him to stay the hell away from Gwen. Again, the death of Captain Stacy in the comics isn't some joyous occasion, but there's still the underlying theme that Stacy sees the person Peter is, and that's why he didn't reveal he knew who Spider-Man was, and entrust Gwen's safety to him. We know it turned out to be a bad call, because Norman Osborn's a crazy asshole, but at the time, there's affirmation Peter's a good person who tries his best, in spite of falling short, like all of us. In the movie, Stacy's dying wish confirms his view of Spider-Man as a threat to his daughter, someone to be kept at arms' length. Even seeing Spider-Man save the city, the confidence isn't there. In the comics, it seemed as though the public at large, who saw him at a distance, didn't trust him, but the people who got close enough to work with him eventually did. Captain Stacy, Jean DeWolff (though I just mentioned 2 characters that both died. Hmm). And Peter's friends, for all that they thought he was flaky and unreliable, seemed to understand he was a good guy. Why would they keep hanging out with a broke science nerd otherwise? Here, it's the public that recognizes he's a good guy, but those closer to him don't. Or won't let themselves. Although Stacy did trust Peter enough to keep that promise - sucker - but not enough to keep Gwen out harm's way.

I wonder if Peter and Gwen's decision at the end of the film doesn't negate the issue with her father. I was fine with it; I bristled at Stacy making that request, even as I understood it, and the idea that they like each other and want to be together, so they will, seemed fine. It does raise the specter of her father being proven right, though. Given that all these villainous plots seem to end with a city in peril, Gwen wasn't going to be safe as long as she was in New York, but she's a lot closer to the bullseye if she's hanging out with Spider-Man a lot (given Peter can't seem to keep the damn mask on, that secret identity will last about five minutes).