I've heard the same thing from a lot of people about these movies, so I haven't seen them yet. I thought LOTR was superbly done. Can't believe Jackson shit himself on a story that was probably much easier to film.
He got too focused on milking three ridiculously long movies out of a book that's about forty pages long rather than just telling the story from the book.
I was a huge fan of the previous trilogy but these two movies are some of the most disappointing I can remember. The action scenes were some of the cheesiest and blatantly unrealistic action scenes I've ever seen. I realize we're in a fantasy world... but at least build the tension instead of have what looks like a video game cutscene starring an elf who is standing on top of two dwarfs heads with each foot, straddling himself and shooting perfectly placed arrows in the heads of orcs while they roll down a river in a couple of barrels. The special effects were some of the worst I've seen in a high production movie and I seriously feel Jurassic Park completely blows it out of the water.
The movie just completely lost me and I probably fell asleep for an hour an hour into it and still had an hour left when I awoke. Peter Jackson can't redeem himself after this one.
I've heard the same thing from a lot of people about these movies, so I haven't seen them yet. I thought LOTR was superbly done. Can't believe Jackson shit himself on a story that was probably much easier to film.
For the most part they are still good and fun movies. But a lot of the extra stuff (love stories, LOTR tie-ins, etc.) can be frustrating, especially for people who aren't into the idea of watching three movies that could be covered in one extra long one.
I personally love the world Jackson has created with Tolkien's works. A lot of the action is over the top, but it's also plenty fun. The acting is good and the effects are great. Smaug was fucking awesome for instance. It isn't as good as LOTR in pretty much any way, but the book was never as good either.
These movies don't stray nearly as far as say, the Star Wars prequels. It's obvious that a lot of work and love goes into it and it isn't simply a cash grab, though the extension into a trilogy unfortunately is. I am entertained thoroughly by them, though they are less than perfect works. A lot of the issues are inflations of Jackson's issues in general. King Kong featured a 87 minute fight scene with three T-Rexes because there was a scene with a T-Rex in the original. The dude is nuts, but it can really pay off in entertainment value.
For the most part they are still good and fun movies. But a lot of the extra stuff (love stories, LOTR tie-ins, etc.) can be frustrating, especially for people who aren't into the idea of watching three movies that could be covered in one extra long one.
The Hobbit could probably have been covered in one normal-length movie. As in, like a two hour movie. Three movies of three hours or more is clearly nothing more than a money grab, and you can really tell when you watch it. Half of each movie just seems to be ridiculous, pointless, boring action sequences as opposed to actual story-telling.
The Lord of the Rings films were as good as they were because they could rely on the quality of the story and characters when there weren't huge action set-pieces going on, and particularly in the first two films there was plenty of breathing room between them. The Hobbit characters just aren't fleshed out enough to carry the down times in the films, and thus there is very little breathing room. It feels like the third Lord of the Rings movie, only I don't care about any of the characters except maybe Martin Freeman (who plays himself moreso than Bilbo, really).
My wife's rating = 7 / 10. If you just want a forgettable thrill, go for it.
My rating = 4 / 10. Literally couldn't wait for it to be over.
The one word to sum up all of this review is "boring." That's all I kept thinking in the theater... "Fucking shut up and c'mon with this fucking teen drama shit and let's get some action... THIS SHIT IS BORING!"
The movie is simply boring, as well as downright stupid.
But anyway, I want to preface with two things: first, I loved the first Amazing Spider-Man, I also loved the first two Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movies. This movie was far more like Spider-Man 3 than any of those films. Second, I had high expectations for the movie, but was willing to give the writers/director some major creative license to make their own version of the film. They just got lost in their own lazy plotline.
So, I walk into the flick thinking "oh, yeah! It's Spidah-man!!" I love Spider-Man. To me, Spider-Man was the best of all superheroes because he had so many human qualities. I own almost every Spider-Man comic dating from the mid 60's to the mid 90's. I'm only missing the very first few (the most valuable ones of course). One of my favorite Spider-Man comics was when Spider-Man got evicted from his apartment, and I'm pretty sure it said "Merry Christmas Spider-Man," but he was on his front stoop holding an eviction notice with his stuff in a box. Doesn't get more real than that.
So, anyway movie starts and I'm amped.. Start off first scenes are of Richard Parker, Peter's dad, saying plot spoiler things and on the lamb. This is mostly consistent with his story (but I'm really not concerned with the story in the comics as it's secondary to the one they're telling). Anyway, this very first scene, once they board the plane, is very indicative of the lack of thought in exposition of the rest of the film. It's so poorly done, that you literally will say "WTF?" aloud in the theater because it's so stupid.
If I kill the pilot of an aircraft (I too am I pilot mind you), and get up to take a piss or possibly kill two other people, do I leave the now-dead pilot holding the reigns of the aircraft? Why wouldn't I move his body, and put the plane on autopilot? I slit the pilot's throat, but he's still flying the fucking plane?!
These types of "WTF" moments simply litter the film. It's unavoidable and so fucking stupid you'd have to be stupid (or just not care) not to notice. I'm not the type to nitpick either, after this first scene I said "fuck it" and gave them the benefit of doubt.
Five minutes later we have Rhino... oh boy... So, long story short, in order to create a scene where Spider-Man saves an old Korean man and his granddaughter (anonymous characters btw, and never mind the 100 people he saved on the bus, they were less important), the Rhino is driving a truck through New York city at high speed and is somehow unstoppable. The Amazing Spider-Man cannot stop a bald guy in a truck driving at 45 mph down the street. Tobey McGuire stopped a train with his bare hands, but this Spider-Man, for whatever reason can't punch through the windshield of a truck. On 3 attempts he can't do it. But he can pick up a police car...
Anyway, no more Rhino.. No costume, no nothing.. just.. gone.. What happened??
Expositionally Gwen explains: they were foreign mobsters on a heist, shows her cellphone to the camera, and story moves on.. WTF?! Isn't this guy the Rhino, isn't he getting a movie called The Sinister Six with him in it? Isn't he a bad guy in THIS movie?! Yeah.. you won't see any development of this character.. sorry....
Instead we get the Gwen and Hayden Christensen-clone, I mean Peter Parker show. Don't get me wrong, they are perfectly cast, and perform well, but in a movie that felt like it was 2+ hours long, they fill a LOT of it. So does Spider-Man, but fighting grade school bullies, talking to bystanders, buying cold medicine, that kinda shit. Not fighting the antagonists.
So yeah, that's the movie..
Oh, and Electro.. lol......!
This version of Electro is way more powerful than he ever is in the comics. This guy is reminiscent Dr. Manhattan in how he comes to being, and how he can manifest himself into and out of reality. Understand that while there are some very recent versions of Electro, who has had his powers ridiculously exaggerated, none of them that I'm aware of can do the shit Jamie Foxx is doing in this movie.
Why is that important? Because Spider-Man can't defeat Dr. Manhattan, and this guy is kinda like Dr. Manhattan. He obviously has powers similar to the most powerful versions of Electro as well as powers of de-manifestation and flight, so how is Spider-Man supposed to stop this guy?! It's bullshit. And the way he dies is so fucking stupid.. It's like... ugh this is stupid... You don't have to be a comic book fan, it's just that fucking stupid.
As in.. If I'm on the power grid.. I'm tapping all this power right? But you going to kill me by using the power from the now drained grid, to overcharge me? I was just on the grid, I drained it completely.. What in the fuck are you talking about?
See? That kinda shit is just dumb.
Also, since when is Gwen Stacy smarter than Peter Parker? Peter Parker is a genius, he alwas has been. It's how he fights people, it's how he put together all the shit in his utility belt (that he doesn't wear for some reason). That entire aspect, that was very prominent in the first Amazing Spider-Man, is vacated to make room for Gwen Stacy's dialogue and functional purpose in the movie. It's also the idiotic reason she happened to find herself in the wrong place at the wrong time.
And that last part kills it....
Gwen Stacy's death is the most grave and memorable moment in Spider-Man's history. It's what defines the relationship between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin and it's why the Goblin really is Spider-Man's true archnemesis. So... why fuck it up so badly? Why make Stacy's death her own fault? Why make Parker's inexplicable and expositional momentary lack of intellect a cheap and lazy way to write Stacy into her own death scene?
Gwen Stacy is forced to explain how batteries work to Peter Parker.... by this point you're ready to leave the theater, but when she goes on the "I'm going with you to fight supervillains" speech, you seriously are about to yell at the screen.
Point being, she had no reason to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. But what's worse is that her death in the comics makes sense. Green Goblin kidnaps her, and sets up a trap for Spider-Man dropping her off a bridge to her death. Spider-Man catches her, but the whiplash of the fall kills her (she doesn't hit the ground). Parker then chases down Goblin, defeats him, but can't kill him. The Goblin then tries to kill Spider-Man with his glider but accidentally kills himself.
Doesn't that sound familiar? Yeah, it should.. It's called Spider-Man with Tobey McGuire. The only difference is that they used Mary Jane Watson instead of Gwen Stacy and she doesn't die, she lives. Other than that, it's spot on the same. But it makes sense.... Why he did it, why she's there, why Spider-Man is pissed at him, the moral dilemma of killing out of revenge, and the Goblin's death.
Yeah, all of that.... yeah.. not here... Nope..
Oh, and the Goblin is literally in the movie for this scene ONLY.. O.N.L.Y. this scene.. THATS IT!! 5 minutes tops.
Fuck this movie...
So, Gwen's dead... cool.. Guess what, there's a guy in the street in a mech that looks ridiculous, and he's like, shooting shit. He's not robbing or doing anything of importance.. He's just in the middle of the street shooting shit, in a big ass mech!! What the fuck is this? THAT'S RHINO?!? What the fuck? He opens the cockpit and this ridiculous CG head of a guy is like "I'm da Rhino!" I'm like.. hell naw....
And... that's it. Movie fades, roll credits.. and the post-credit scene is just the fucking trailer to X-Men, I'd already saw half of what they showed on TV, so how the fuck is that worth sticking around after the credits?! And what does Mystique have to do with Spider-Man? Could this be any less thought out?!
Is this movie worth seeing?
No. It's actually not. In Hawaii this movie would've cost $30+ to see in 3D or IMAX 2D.. Here, I spent like $6 for both me and my wife, so I'm not complaining. But if I had paid US prices, I'd have been livid.
And why is Dennis Leary even in this movie? He doesn't say or do anything... And by the third time he appears it's just funny at this point. I'm just imagining him say "Fuck."
Shame is the perfect word to describe it. I was upset because I actually thought the movie had such potential. There are moments where you think they're going to turn it around, and the lead actor, Hayden-2, has Spider-Man's joke delivery down pat (although, they do go over the top with some of the slapstick).
But after the first hour, it's almost unwatchable. Your eyes have rolled too many times to continue to suspend belief and you're just waiting for the end. I found myself asking why I was watching a movie for a child and felt silly even sitting there. That's how bad it is.
oldboy, my boy spike's version. I like the nods to Asian cinematography. I like the story. Didnt feel like it was executed perfectly though. Not enough spike feeling, not enough asian feeling, story and revelation didnt hit quite as hard as it should have.
Then again im on an antipsychotic and maybe it skewed my perception
I very much enjoyed the first Amazing Spiderman. If I were ranking my top 5 superhero movies I think it would be close to being on it. Better than the first 3 Toby MacGuire Spidermans by far, imo.
Which is funny, cause when that 1st Spiderman came out it was sort of revolutionary. They haven't aged well since the superhero movies have started coming out like crazy.
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