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Starting a rewatch of the Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield Spider-Man movies (inspired by all the speculations about the upcoming 2021 film). Had thought about doing it, after finishing rewatching the Burtonverse movies and the Fox X-Men movies, but found myself exhausted after those (and didn't want to spend any more time rewatching franchises).
Hadn't rewatched this in ages. Think I enjoyed it, when it first came out, but rewatching it as an adult, you notice a lot more of the issues. The Green Goblin wants Spider-Man to join forces with him... but the Goblin appears to have no ultimate goal. No great goal for him to accomplish, during the climax. He killed the OsCorp board, to gain control over OsCorp (though, wouldn't the shares of the board just be inherited by their next of kin?). He had a goal there, but already accomplished it, before meeting Spider-Man for the first time.
After that encounter, Peter says that someone has to stop the Green Goblin, but I'm never given the impression that Peter is proactively trying to find him.
Tobey's Peter feels more like an archetype, than a real person. He's the nerd, who is an outcast at school (a problem that is really just resolved by him graduating, within 45 minutes (I'm not counting beating up Flash, as there's no indication that it ended the bullying). Taking him out of that enviroment), who everyone picks on. Even the bus driver (maybe Peter could tell his uncle, who could contact the school and try to get that a-hole fired), the fat kid and the nerdy girl (I know that she's a nerd, because she wears glasses in a Hollywood movie) on the bus. His relationship with MJ is problematic. He comes across like a stalker, who keeps following her around. Heck, she even calls him a stalker at one point, but we're supposed to be rooting for this guy. He's the hero, so it's okay that he does creepy stuff. He also throws out a gay slur against Bone Saw... So, he's a creepy stalker and homophobic... maybe that's why no one at school likes him? Maybe he was a jerk to that lesbian couple, that we see in the establishing shot of the high school, and the other students stood up for them?
MJ has next to nothing to do. She's the love interest and three times damsel in distress, who needs to be rescued by Spider-Man. They establish her abusive father, twice. But does nothing with him. She doesn't grow as a person, until she's strong enough to break free from her father's abuse. Nor does Peter help her get away from that toxic enviroment. In fact, it appears to just be forgotten, after they leave high school. After that, she's a struggling actress. An offscreen issue, with no impact on the plot.
Decided not to nitpick on everything, like Peter's Spider-Man photos being obviously something that no regular person could've taken. Or go into stuff like how I fail to connect with the protagonist (films are subjective. Just because I don't relate to the main character, doesn't mean that no one else could).
Like that the film ends with establishing a personal vendetta for Harry Osborn against Spider-Man. Giving Harry something that his father seemingly lacked: an endgame.
Fun note about Rosemary Harris. She was born in 1927. In 1977, there was a live-action Spider-Man TV movie, starring Nicholas Hammond (best known for his role as Friedrich von Trapp in the 1965 film The Sound of Music) as a college aged Peter Parker. In that film, Jeff Donnell played aunt May. Donnell was born in 1921. With Hammond's Peter being college aged in 1977, his Peter Parker would've been born in the 1950s. Tobey's Peter graduates high school (making him about 18) in 2002, so he would've been born ca. 1984. There'd be about a 30 year age gap, between the two Peter Parkers, yet the actresses playing their aunts (not great aunt) were born only six years apart.
Hadn't rewatched this in ages. Think I enjoyed it, when it first came out, but rewatching it as an adult, you notice a lot more of the issues. The Green Goblin wants Spider-Man to join forces with him... but the Goblin appears to have no ultimate goal. No great goal for him to accomplish, during the climax. He killed the OsCorp board, to gain control over OsCorp (though, wouldn't the shares of the board just be inherited by their next of kin?). He had a goal there, but already accomplished it, before meeting Spider-Man for the first time.
After that encounter, Peter says that someone has to stop the Green Goblin, but I'm never given the impression that Peter is proactively trying to find him.
Tobey's Peter feels more like an archetype, than a real person. He's the nerd, who is an outcast at school (a problem that is really just resolved by him graduating, within 45 minutes (I'm not counting beating up Flash, as there's no indication that it ended the bullying). Taking him out of that enviroment), who everyone picks on. Even the bus driver (maybe Peter could tell his uncle, who could contact the school and try to get that a-hole fired), the fat kid and the nerdy girl (I know that she's a nerd, because she wears glasses in a Hollywood movie) on the bus. His relationship with MJ is problematic. He comes across like a stalker, who keeps following her around. Heck, she even calls him a stalker at one point, but we're supposed to be rooting for this guy. He's the hero, so it's okay that he does creepy stuff. He also throws out a gay slur against Bone Saw... So, he's a creepy stalker and homophobic... maybe that's why no one at school likes him? Maybe he was a jerk to that lesbian couple, that we see in the establishing shot of the high school, and the other students stood up for them?
MJ has next to nothing to do. She's the love interest and three times damsel in distress, who needs to be rescued by Spider-Man. They establish her abusive father, twice. But does nothing with him. She doesn't grow as a person, until she's strong enough to break free from her father's abuse. Nor does Peter help her get away from that toxic enviroment. In fact, it appears to just be forgotten, after they leave high school. After that, she's a struggling actress. An offscreen issue, with no impact on the plot.
Decided not to nitpick on everything, like Peter's Spider-Man photos being obviously something that no regular person could've taken. Or go into stuff like how I fail to connect with the protagonist (films are subjective. Just because I don't relate to the main character, doesn't mean that no one else could).
Like that the film ends with establishing a personal vendetta for Harry Osborn against Spider-Man. Giving Harry something that his father seemingly lacked: an endgame.
Fun note about Rosemary Harris. She was born in 1927. In 1977, there was a live-action Spider-Man TV movie, starring Nicholas Hammond (best known for his role as Friedrich von Trapp in the 1965 film The Sound of Music) as a college aged Peter Parker. In that film, Jeff Donnell played aunt May. Donnell was born in 1921. With Hammond's Peter being college aged in 1977, his Peter Parker would've been born in the 1950s. Tobey's Peter graduates high school (making him about 18) in 2002, so he would've been born ca. 1984. There'd be about a 30 year age gap, between the two Peter Parkers, yet the actresses playing their aunts (not great aunt) were born only six years apart.