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Pressing the easy button
Jul. 14th, 2012 11:41 amOkay, so I already made a post on fixing The Amazing Spider-Man, but that was more of a full rewrite thing. This is, like, five minutes, tops. I actually think it might've been the direction they were going in the movie before they cut the entire thing into seafood.
Okay, so Gwen is worried that Peter will die like she's been worrying about her father since he became a cop (you know, the one moment of characterization she has?). She tells him, hey, quit this Spider-Man gig. He's all, yeah, yeah, as soon as I catch my uncle's killer. Then, you know, he catches him. Or the guy gets picked up running a red light. We can even have Aunt May be the one to tell Peter, give her something to do. So now Peter and Gwen can be 2gether 4ever, right? Only now the Lizard's running around and Peter's feeling responsible for that, so he has to keep being Spider-Man, which Gwen isn't happy about. Boom, conflict, theme.
Also, the ending. I guess they were trying to make Gwen's upcoming death more of a plot point by having Peter be responsible for it, but it doesn't play at all as an ominous moment of "this guy hasn't learnt his lesson." Everyone in the story and behind the scenes treats "Promises you can't keep are the best kind" like Peter has just overcome his fear of flying or something. So instead of this stupid, convoluted sequence of Peter-can't-be-with-Gwen, Gwen-guesses-it-was-her-father's-last-wishes, Peter-decides-he-does-want-to-be-with-her-after-all, how about he just lies? They're at the funeral, Peter's comforting her, she asks if her dad said anything before he dies, Peter makes up something like "He asked me to take care of you." They hug, he looks guilty, to be continued.
It'd be dark and uncomfortable, subversive, instead of just a less ballsy replay of the first movie's denouncement. We're four movies into the Spider-Man series, it's an institution now, they're pretty much guaranteed moneymakers. Superhero movies have stopped being a risky proposition and become a cottage industry. Why not be a little punk rock?
Okay, so Gwen is worried that Peter will die like she's been worrying about her father since he became a cop (you know, the one moment of characterization she has?). She tells him, hey, quit this Spider-Man gig. He's all, yeah, yeah, as soon as I catch my uncle's killer. Then, you know, he catches him. Or the guy gets picked up running a red light. We can even have Aunt May be the one to tell Peter, give her something to do. So now Peter and Gwen can be 2gether 4ever, right? Only now the Lizard's running around and Peter's feeling responsible for that, so he has to keep being Spider-Man, which Gwen isn't happy about. Boom, conflict, theme.
Also, the ending. I guess they were trying to make Gwen's upcoming death more of a plot point by having Peter be responsible for it, but it doesn't play at all as an ominous moment of "this guy hasn't learnt his lesson." Everyone in the story and behind the scenes treats "Promises you can't keep are the best kind" like Peter has just overcome his fear of flying or something. So instead of this stupid, convoluted sequence of Peter-can't-be-with-Gwen, Gwen-guesses-it-was-her-father's-last-wishes, Peter-decides-he-does-want-to-be-with-her-after-all, how about he just lies? They're at the funeral, Peter's comforting her, she asks if her dad said anything before he dies, Peter makes up something like "He asked me to take care of you." They hug, he looks guilty, to be continued.
It'd be dark and uncomfortable, subversive, instead of just a less ballsy replay of the first movie's denouncement. We're four movies into the Spider-Man series, it's an institution now, they're pretty much guaranteed moneymakers. Superhero movies have stopped being a risky proposition and become a cottage industry. Why not be a little punk rock?
