What Happens When A Studio Loses Touch With The Audience - Tumblr Posts
"Don't even get me started on how brilliant that movie could've been..."
Go ahead and start! I felt like I was shouting into the wind with respect to TASM 2. Maybe the studio was attempting to compete/race with what they knew was in the pipeline w/respect to the tsunami of superhero projects in cinema, but they crammed way too much into one (too short) run time and it muddied everything. The plot with Peter and Gwen and Harry Osborn was plenty and even if one left Electro in (not going to lie, Jamie Foxx is and always will be a talent), there was plenty going on with the struggle between the choices (we) make in our relationships and the flaws with which we struggle. That is what draws us into Peter's psyche, Harry's rage, and Gwen's turmoil over her own path. (I love that she was an independent, smart character in her own right). Everything about the two movies we got was not a quip or short toss-off comment. There was still plenty of smart plot driven humor, but it is the pathos of Peter's story arc, and likewise the same for his friends, family, and the 'villains' that kept us enthralled. Your comment about the cut scenes with Dr. Connors from TASM 1 speaks to that. So much to work with in TASM 2 with respect to father figures (not even going to dwell on how father figures and protagonist struggles with those issues dominate the movie industry over female representation but I have thoughts for sure.)
The studio treated cinema goers as if they were not very bright and instead of burying the easter eggs so that fans could spend the next two years discussing and discovering hints and clues about a third movie and what that might entail, they just Pollocked it all over the latter third of the script and it showed. I don't fault the cast for that. I mean-- Emma Stone, Andrew Garfield, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Martin Csokas, et al bring the best of their talents to everything they do. As to Marc Webb, I wish I knew how much pragmatism he had to bring to the set every day knowing that it would be a fight to get his vision realized against a juggernaut of a global release with a lot riding on it.
Gosh, I think that was an essay and I could go on. Sorry for that, but I'm not really; it is cathartic in a way. The trilogy (a fourth was likely never going to happen with the way things were headed) will never be recaptured in the way it could have been with that ensemble and it's a shame.
Happy 11th anniversary "The Amazing Spider-Man"!