So, my sister and I have gone to see a lot of movies together over the last few months. One was "Divergent," (spoilers for that movie ahead too- skip forward two paragraphs to miss them) and there was a moment when the romantic interest had been brainwashed and was forced to fight his love. The protagonist breaks the mind control by forcing him to confront his deepest emotions, and then they save the day and make out (I can't actually remember if they make out, but I'm assuming they did).
But anyway, after the movie, my sister and I (who both liked it, but didn't think it really stood out) were talking about it, and I suggested to her that the brave choice for the writers to make would have been to force her to kill him, the save the day on her own and deal with her pain afterwards. I mean, she already had plenty of pain to deal with- she lost both of her parents and saw a lot of atrocities in the battle that had ensued before this moment. But parents and citizens die all the time, so audiences are used to that. Romantic interests, however, seem to be protected from that kind of thing.
The obvious exception was Batman's girl in "The Dark Knight," but while her death was certainly unexpected, I also didn't care all too much. For a few reasons: while whats-her-face's (Rachel, if I recall correctly) relationship with Bruce was important, it wasn't really central to what the movie was about. Plus that was such a dark movie anyway, there were plenty of other reasons to feel a little shaken as you walked out of the theater. And, frankly, my interest in a character suffers a heavy blow after they change actors on me, and she didn't matter to me too much in the first place.
But none of those things applied to Gwen Stacy. In both the first and second movies of the Spider-Man reboot, Gwen and Peter's on-screen chemistry was probably the best I've seen of any superhero movie couple... like, ever. I didn't really realize that until the second movie, because I was too busy with my conflicted feelings about the reboot during the first movie. More on that later. But anyway, Emma Stone nailed this character, plain and simple. I don't even know how to describe how charming her performance was.
And then we reach the movie's climax. The clock ticks. The web snaps. Her body hits the ground. I mean, the whole build up to that moment was implying her eventual demise. But I wasn't sure that they were really going to go through with it until I saw her head snap against the concrete.
I was basically in a state of shock until the credits rolled. I mean, I'm the one who's always advocating for writers to make the brave choice, but I suppose I was never really prepared for what that would mean for me, the audience, when I saw it. And it was as brilliant as it was heartbreaking. It was the right choice for the movie, no question. The choices Peter made had to have consequences, and it's frustrating and unrealistic when characters in these kinds of stories avoid them.
It was that moment that really cemented my admiration for this movie, but I enjoyed the whole thing up until that point as well. The main critisism I've heard from people is that there was too much going on; it was all over the place. While I can see where they get that impression, I think that there's a fine line between too much going on in a movie, making it frustrating, and just the right amount going on in a movie, making it really interesting. And I think that they walked that fine line very well.
I'm going to get back to Gwen at the end of this post, but let me say a bit about the other characters in this movie.
I really liked Harry's character. He was good in that he was not really evil from the get-go. Which is true of basically every Spider-Man villian we've seen on the big screen, and I like that. Was he flawed? Yes. Angry? Of course. But he had a lot to be angry about. I really liked the rekindled friendship he had with Peter; while it would be interesting to know what their history was, they handled it in such a way that we really didn't need to. And frankly, I was kind of questioning Peter's choice about giving Harry his blood the whole time. Harry was right- he WAS dying anyway. Plus, just because it was a bad idea to do a straight transfusion doesn't mean that the blood couldn't have been studied, analyzed, and used to maybe solve the mystery of cross-species genetics, which could have saved Harry. Peter meant well, but he may have made the wrong judgement.
I love that last bit, because he says much better than I could why the movie was so successful. They didn't undermine the truth of the it, and they did have an impact, it was a brilliant piece of storytelling. There's a cost to being a hero, and Peter had to pay that no matter what. He had a chance to pay it by choosing to let her go, and then at least she could have lived. But when he refused to do that, fate took matters into its own hands.
I admit, I didn't catch the symbolism of the ticking clock while watching the movie, but as soon as I read that article, it made perfect sense. Peter thought he was strong enough that, no matter what, he could protect Gwen. But there are things that no man is strong enough to stop. Time, and sacrifice, are such things. Despite his best possible efforts, Peter payed dearly for his hubris. And now, Peter and us as an audience have to say goodbye to Gwen forever.
Or do we?
Not that that excuses what Harry ended up doing. Yes, he had been severly wronged by his father, Oscorp, and maybe even Spider-Man. It was easy to fall into a mindset of survival and vengence. But the brave choice for Harry would have been to forgive and move on with his life, and refusing to do that is what made him a villian in the end (and they really nailed his Green Goblin image, by the way).
I was a big fan of how Two-Face came in to play at the end of the Dark Knight, even though the Joker was obviously the main villian for the movie. It was especially effective because I didn't know it was coming, given that I'm not a comic book junkie. While I did know that Harry would be connected to the Green Goblin, I didn't know how or when they would make that happen, and I really liked the timing. They beat Electro, we thought the day was saved, things were calming down... and then that brilliantly awful, maniacal laugh descends from the sky. Their battle was short lived, but it was also intense, and it did its job- namely, it killed Gwen. And, the movie left us secure in the knowledge that we had only seen the beginning of the Green Goblin.
Now, when I first saw a hooded man shooting electricity at Spider-Man in the previews, I thought that they were bringing in Doctor Doom, and I was still thinking that through the movie until he actually said "I'm Electro." But Electro works too, I guess. I dunno, I just feel so bad for Max. Again, turning to evil was an inexusable choice no matter how cruel the world was to him, but I feel like he had things much worse off than even Harry did. At least Harry, for all his pain, was filthy rich, and had a friend in Peter. Max had nothing but a random citizen encounter with Spider-Man. I really wish things could have worked out for him.
Honestly, I have a hard time believing that the innocent Max Dillon we saw at the beginning of the movie and the villian Electro we saw by the end of it are the same character; the character arc felt a little too unrealistic (I had similar feelings with Doctor Conners before him). Unless I just say to myself that his transformation itself messed with his head. And honestly, I'm okay with using that as an excuse; it is sci-fi, after all. If I think about it like that, then I can say that Max Dillon himself died in the workplace accident, and Electro was just born with his memories. That doesn't make his story any less sad though: In that interpretation, he was a genius who was never noticed by anyone, who never got credit for his brilliant work, who died in a workplace accident because he was the only one who had to stay in the building when everyone else got the day off... all on his birthday. And there wasn't even anyone to miss him. I'm making myself all depressed just writing about it. It's one of those times when I commend the writers for telling a brutally realistic story, but kind of wish there was a way we could sneak something uplifting in there too.
Anyway, I guess that Electro's turn to evil in Times Square kind of has a twisted logic to it, if you assume that he couldn't really think clearly. He had always just wanted to be seen, be important. For a brief moment, until Spider-Man stole the limelight away, he had achieved that goal by causing terror. So, a logical response would be a) that Spider-Man was the adversary to his goal, and b) causing more terror would make him recognizable and important again. Of course, that whole thought process is way overly simplistic, and it throws any kind of morality or empathy out the window. But given the life he had led before this, it's almost surprising it took him this long to decide that this world didn't care about morality or empathy.
By the time they had him locked him away and painfully experimented upon, his villianous persona was set. They had proven every bad thing he had ever suspected about humanity, and he wanted to get even for it. When Harry came by and made him a deal which allowed him to be important to someone and take what was rightfully his, why pass it up? And at least Harry kept up his side of the evil bargain- as soon as he helped Harry stormed Oscorp, Harry stood aside and let him take over his grid (although, if all he needed was an outlet in the floor, why did it matter that they take Oscorp first? That part didn't make too much sense to me... but I'll let it slide). With the egotistical storm that had been brewing in him so far, the grand plan to become god over the people of New York by controlling their power didn't come as much of a shock. So, we get a pretty classic resolution to that story when Spider-Man saves the day with the help of Gwen (who was important because she knew how to reset the power grid, because evidently it takes someone with a lot of experiance to turn a key and press a big red button labeled "MANUAL POWER GRID RESET"). Still, I wish that they could have found some solution besides blowing the guy up. Electro might have deserved that, but Max didn't. I wish they could have saved him somehow, or at least given him some kind of redeeming death like Doctor Octavius got in the original Spider-Man 2. Sad stuff. But, hey, the movie needed a villian. No use crying about it, I suppose.
Probably the least interesting part of the movie for me was Peter's parent hunt. I mean, I know all of the reasons why they had to do it; it was a way to create continuity between the movies, like how the opening sequence from this movie took place immediately after the opening sequence from the last move. And it was a loose end from that movie-
Peter's search got him as far as Doctor Conners and the spiders, but then Peter had more pressing matters to attend to. He never actually got his resolution, and it would be incongruous to Peter's character to say that he wouldn't get back to the hunt when he got a chance. Which leads into the next point, that it was an important part of Peter's character development. All his life, he had struggled with the pain of just not knowing why his parents left him, which made him unsure of himself in turn. Finding out the truth helped him find peace with himself (although that peace was depressingly temporary, because it shattered again the moment Gwen died). The plane scene also told us how (and more importantly, that) Peter's parents died, and that died because of their devotion to their conscience. And, finally, we learned why the spider venom worked for Peter, but not Harry.
So, yeah, those are all fine and good reasons for having that plot line, and I guess that it didn't really need to be anything else. But I felt like those things could have been accomplished just as well with a lot less screen time. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but the long Airplane sequence at the beginning was just about the parents uploading their last confession to Roosevelt station. But because of how dramatic that scene was, the whole movie I was wondering what incredibly important information piece of coding or experimental data or formula was in that upload. Whatever it was, I was hoping it was something that would become crucial at the movie's climax, something that Peter would use to save the day- something that Peter could act on, something that really ties it back into the rest of the plot. When it was just a video diary, I have to admit I was disappointed. I mean, the secret about Dr. Parker's DNA being the key to unlocking the spider's potential kind of connected it back to Harry's plot line, but only for the audience; Peter himself didn't do anything with that information. I wish they either would have made the Roosevelt upload more important, or made the story behind it less dramatic and, more importantly, shorter.
Anyway, this brings us back to Gwen. Their relationship was, as I mentioned before, one of the best parts of the whole movie. Of course, just watching the scenes of them together was rewarding enough just because of how fantastic of a couple they made. From the broom closet scene, to the "just friends" scene, and even just Gwen's face when webbed her to the cop car; every time I saw them together on screen, it made me love their characters more and more. But, if that's all I thought about when watching movies, this blog would be about nothing but romantic comedies. Allow me to do what I do and Overanalyze their character interaction. During the whole movie, Peter had to figure out how to reconcile his desire to be with Gwen with his desire to protect her (remind you of anyone?) But what should he have done? It raises some interesting moral questions, none of which I can decide on a clear answer for. I mean, Peter basically had three choices: Be with Gwen, be Spider-Man, or try to do both. But out of those three, which was morally sound? I think the point her father was trying to make with his dying request was that the third one wasn't entirely so, for the very reason that we saw in this movie. Staying near Gwen put her in avoidable mortal peril, plain and simple. I really like how her father's image haunted him for that.
But could he really abandon Spider-Man, and just live a normal life with Gwen? I certainly think that that would have brought the most happiness for both of them. But, "with great power comes great responsibility" is kind of the theme behind the whole Spider-Man franchise, even if they were careful to avoid that exact phrase in this iteration. I mean, by one argument, giving up Spider-Man would mean costing others their lives for his happiness. But the same could be argued of anyone who spent $10+ to go see this movie, or spent hundreds of dollars on whatever device they're reading the blog post on, instead of donating that money to starving children in Africa. The idea that if you have the ability to stop something bad from happening to someone else you have a responsibility to do so makes perfect moral sense, but in application, it can be pushed to some seriously uncomfortable extremes. All of this is to say that honestly, I think that choosing not to be a vigilante in order to pursue a normal life could be considered as blameless a decision for Peter as living a comfortable life would be for any of us. If he couldn't live with himself that way, then fine, be Spider-Man, but he needed to that understanding that that choice requires some serious sacrifices.
He did put forth an honest effort, no doubt; just not enough effort. They were broken up for the first half of the movie, and it was implied that it wasn't the first time he tried to distance himself from her. But then she calls, and they try the "just friends" thing, which of course never works (and I think they both knew that). Then they had that whole part about her moving to Oxford, which would have been the perfect opportunity for him to cut things off with her and keep her safe. But he decided to follow her. And under any other circumstance I would be cheering for him, because it was an instance of him putting her needs and wants first while still pursuing her, which is a lesson a lot of men could learn from . But in this case, he wasn't really doing that, because he was still planning on bringing his dangerous life as Spider-Man with him to London, and keeping that life around meant that Gwen wouldn't even survive the night.
Now, I know what many of you are saying right now. "Peter tried to keep her out of danger, and was Gwen who decided to get involved in the battle against Electro. It was her choice!" Which is true, no question. So, we can just say her death is her own stupid fault, brush off our hands, and walk away, right? Of course not: her death was a horrible tragedy, and while she could have prevented it by not stealing a car and following Peter, Peter could have also prevented it by letting her just stay in her Taxi in the first place. Keep in mind that she didn't die in the battle with Electro, she died because the Goblin used her as weapon against Spider-Man, which would have happened somewhere, somehow, no matter how careful they were. It was only a matter of time.
In fact, Marc Webb has given some fascinating interviews where he talks about how the symbolism behind the moment of her death:
“'Ultimately, it’s not the Goblin that kills Gwen. They’re fighting in the cogs, in the machinery of the clock tower, and Spider-Man puts his foot in between the cogs and literally tries to stop time. That’s what causes her death—his inability, despite his enormous efforts, to stop time... [The movie] is about time and about valuing the time you have with the one you love,' he says. He points out that the very first shot of the film is a ticking clock, and that its first line is Richard Parker saying, 'I wish I had more time.' [Webb says, 'Gwen's death in the comics] stayed with me in a profound way. It broke me. I was anxious and curious to explore it on the screen. From the very beginning I planned on doing it. For me, everything in the movie was built around that moment. There’s a cost to being a hero... I’m utterly aware of the consequences for us. Emma is beloved, and that relationship is the heart of these movies. But that’s also why we couldn’t shy away from that. It has to have impact. It has to shock you. It has to be devastating. Anything else would be undermining the truth of it... It’s going to be really difficult for Peter Parker to move forward, but that’s the challenge of it: How do you recover from that? That’s going to play out in the next movie.'"
Peter's search got him as far as Doctor Conners and the spiders, but then Peter had more pressing matters to attend to. He never actually got his resolution, and it would be incongruous to Peter's character to say that he wouldn't get back to the hunt when he got a chance. Which leads into the next point, that it was an important part of Peter's character development. All his life, he had struggled with the pain of just not knowing why his parents left him, which made him unsure of himself in turn. Finding out the truth helped him find peace with himself (although that peace was depressingly temporary, because it shattered again the moment Gwen died). The plane scene also told us how (and more importantly, that) Peter's parents died, and that died because of their devotion to their conscience. And, finally, we learned why the spider venom worked for Peter, but not Harry.
So, yeah, those are all fine and good reasons for having that plot line, and I guess that it didn't really need to be anything else. But I felt like those things could have been accomplished just as well with a lot less screen time. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but the long Airplane sequence at the beginning was just about the parents uploading their last confession to Roosevelt station. But because of how dramatic that scene was, the whole movie I was wondering what incredibly important information piece of coding or experimental data or formula was in that upload. Whatever it was, I was hoping it was something that would become crucial at the movie's climax, something that Peter would use to save the day- something that Peter could act on, something that really ties it back into the rest of the plot. When it was just a video diary, I have to admit I was disappointed. I mean, the secret about Dr. Parker's DNA being the key to unlocking the spider's potential kind of connected it back to Harry's plot line, but only for the audience; Peter himself didn't do anything with that information. I wish they either would have made the Roosevelt upload more important, or made the story behind it less dramatic and, more importantly, shorter.
Anyway, this brings us back to Gwen. Their relationship was, as I mentioned before, one of the best parts of the whole movie. Of course, just watching the scenes of them together was rewarding enough just because of how fantastic of a couple they made. From the broom closet scene, to the "just friends" scene, and even just Gwen's face when webbed her to the cop car; every time I saw them together on screen, it made me love their characters more and more. But, if that's all I thought about when watching movies, this blog would be about nothing but romantic comedies. Allow me to do what I do and Overanalyze their character interaction. During the whole movie, Peter had to figure out how to reconcile his desire to be with Gwen with his desire to protect her (remind you of anyone?) But what should he have done? It raises some interesting moral questions, none of which I can decide on a clear answer for. I mean, Peter basically had three choices: Be with Gwen, be Spider-Man, or try to do both. But out of those three, which was morally sound? I think the point her father was trying to make with his dying request was that the third one wasn't entirely so, for the very reason that we saw in this movie. Staying near Gwen put her in avoidable mortal peril, plain and simple. I really like how her father's image haunted him for that.
But could he really abandon Spider-Man, and just live a normal life with Gwen? I certainly think that that would have brought the most happiness for both of them. But, "with great power comes great responsibility" is kind of the theme behind the whole Spider-Man franchise, even if they were careful to avoid that exact phrase in this iteration. I mean, by one argument, giving up Spider-Man would mean costing others their lives for his happiness. But the same could be argued of anyone who spent $10+ to go see this movie, or spent hundreds of dollars on whatever device they're reading the blog post on, instead of donating that money to starving children in Africa. The idea that if you have the ability to stop something bad from happening to someone else you have a responsibility to do so makes perfect moral sense, but in application, it can be pushed to some seriously uncomfortable extremes. All of this is to say that honestly, I think that choosing not to be a vigilante in order to pursue a normal life could be considered as blameless a decision for Peter as living a comfortable life would be for any of us. If he couldn't live with himself that way, then fine, be Spider-Man, but he needed to that understanding that that choice requires some serious sacrifices.
He did put forth an honest effort, no doubt; just not enough effort. They were broken up for the first half of the movie, and it was implied that it wasn't the first time he tried to distance himself from her. But then she calls, and they try the "just friends" thing, which of course never works (and I think they both knew that). Then they had that whole part about her moving to Oxford, which would have been the perfect opportunity for him to cut things off with her and keep her safe. But he decided to follow her. And under any other circumstance I would be cheering for him, because it was an instance of him putting her needs and wants first while still pursuing her, which is a lesson a lot of men could learn from . But in this case, he wasn't really doing that, because he was still planning on bringing his dangerous life as Spider-Man with him to London, and keeping that life around meant that Gwen wouldn't even survive the night.
Now, I know what many of you are saying right now. "Peter tried to keep her out of danger, and was Gwen who decided to get involved in the battle against Electro. It was her choice!" Which is true, no question. So, we can just say her death is her own stupid fault, brush off our hands, and walk away, right? Of course not: her death was a horrible tragedy, and while she could have prevented it by not stealing a car and following Peter, Peter could have also prevented it by letting her just stay in her Taxi in the first place. Keep in mind that she didn't die in the battle with Electro, she died because the Goblin used her as weapon against Spider-Man, which would have happened somewhere, somehow, no matter how careful they were. It was only a matter of time.
In fact, Marc Webb has given some fascinating interviews where he talks about how the symbolism behind the moment of her death:
“'Ultimately, it’s not the Goblin that kills Gwen. They’re fighting in the cogs, in the machinery of the clock tower, and Spider-Man puts his foot in between the cogs and literally tries to stop time. That’s what causes her death—his inability, despite his enormous efforts, to stop time... [The movie] is about time and about valuing the time you have with the one you love,' he says. He points out that the very first shot of the film is a ticking clock, and that its first line is Richard Parker saying, 'I wish I had more time.' [Webb says, 'Gwen's death in the comics] stayed with me in a profound way. It broke me. I was anxious and curious to explore it on the screen. From the very beginning I planned on doing it. For me, everything in the movie was built around that moment. There’s a cost to being a hero... I’m utterly aware of the consequences for us. Emma is beloved, and that relationship is the heart of these movies. But that’s also why we couldn’t shy away from that. It has to have impact. It has to shock you. It has to be devastating. Anything else would be undermining the truth of it... It’s going to be really difficult for Peter Parker to move forward, but that’s the challenge of it: How do you recover from that? That’s going to play out in the next movie.'"
I love that last bit, because he says much better than I could why the movie was so successful. They didn't undermine the truth of the it, and they did have an impact, it was a brilliant piece of storytelling. There's a cost to being a hero, and Peter had to pay that no matter what. He had a chance to pay it by choosing to let her go, and then at least she could have lived. But when he refused to do that, fate took matters into its own hands.
I admit, I didn't catch the symbolism of the ticking clock while watching the movie, but as soon as I read that article, it made perfect sense. Peter thought he was strong enough that, no matter what, he could protect Gwen. But there are things that no man is strong enough to stop. Time, and sacrifice, are such things. Despite his best possible efforts, Peter payed dearly for his hubris. And now, Peter and us as an audience have to say goodbye to Gwen forever.
And her dynamic with Peter could be fascinating. Because of course, she wouldn't be the Gwen he fell in love with, she would be someone new. The way I'm imagining it, she wouldn't have Gwen's memories, she would effectively be someone with no past at all. So the clone would have all of Gwen's genetics, but none of the life experiences Gwen had to make her the person she was by the time we met her. So we get to see some interesting interpretations of nature vs. nurture. Of course, the plot of the movie would force them to interact, and so we would get to see Peter's reaction to being with someone who has Gwen's face, Gwen's voice, likely Gwen's mannerisms, but it just isn't her. Almost like seeing her ghost right in front of him. And, of course, she has no idea who he is. So of course, Peter wants Gwen back, but could he really pursue something with this new person who simultaneously is and isn't her? If he tried, would it feel like betraying the real Gwen, his Gwen? Would this new person even be interested in him? How could it possibly work? I see so much potential in exploring these problems and these questions, and while the original Gwen may be gone forever and Peter will never be able to escape that pain, we as an audience still get Emma Stone's interaction with Andrew Garfield, and that's what we all love about these movies anyway, right? It would be incredibly tricky, but I think a plot based around a clone or some other new form of Gwen could be done really well, and then we get the best of both worlds.
But as much as I want it, I realize that it's incredibly unlikely that that is Marc Webb's plan. I figure from here, either Peter stays single, or (and this seems to be the predominant theory) they bring in Mary Jane Watson. I'm not really sure how I feel about the latter, because I feel like no matter who they bring in or how they craft the relationship, nothing will match up with what we had between Peter and Gwen. But maybe I'm not giving them enough credit. Maybe they could create a Mary Jane that could rival Gwen, or at least one who is satisfying enough to carry on my admiration for this film series (or, Emma Stone could just dye her hair again and we all pretend to not notice it's her). I can't imagine how, but the past two movies have given me a lot of faith in Marc Webb, (even though I've only ever seen these two films by him, and I didn't even know his name until after this one came out) so I'm trying to stay optimistic. But honestly, I think if they did make Peter single for the next movie, I'd be okay with that too. Honestly, I can't remember the last superhero movie where they tried just not having a romantic interest at all, so I think it would be interesting to see if they could pull it off.
But anyway, my last thoughts I want to be about the reboot itself. When I first heard they were doing a new Spider-Man, I wasn't too thrilled about the prospect. It just felt too soon, even though, of course, it has been a decade since the last one. Likely, I was uneasy about it just because it was the first reboot I personally witnessed- Spider-Man was the first Superhero movie I personally saw, and it was one of the first Superhero movies of this Millennium, arguably beginning the modern age of Superhero movies that is still going strong today. So the whole time I watched The Amazing Spider-Man, I was forcing myself to compare them; look at every choice, every change, and think to myself "is that better or worse?" As I mentioned before, this kind of hindered me from sitting back and really just enjoying the show for what it was. The whole time, I knew that I shouldn't be judging this version against the last one; I should just let each one be it's own story, and that doing that would allow me to enjoy them both much more.
But I was never really able to do that until I saw this movie. Part of it is that the first films in both of the series had tell basically the same story in different ways: how Peter Parker became Spider-Man. But after the end of the first movie, with this new version of the character named Peter Parker/Spider-Man created, the team behind The Amazing Spider-Man 2 were now free to do a completely new story, and make the characters face original and unique challenges, developing them in new ways. So it was only after I saw this movie that I was finally able to separate the two film series' in my mind, and allow this new one to be it's own story, not just another reboot. Doing that allowed me to appreciate the first movie a lot more, and really look forward to what they do with the future of this film series.
Well anyway, those are my thoughts on this film, and the possibilities it creates for the next one. I'd love to hear what you think about it!
Well anyway, those are my thoughts on this film, and the possibilities it creates for the next one. I'd love to hear what you think about it!
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