There was something different in the wind as the release date kept sneaking up closer and closer...first the shocking news that it would be without Sam Raimi, Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and everybody else, then hearing that Mary Jane wouldn't be involved at all, and then that a British guy would be Peter Parker...the Lizard would be the villian, which sounded cool...and then there were the promos run during the NBA Finals, spliced together with highlights of the Thunder and Heat. Kinda interesting how often it would go from Spidey to KD or Westbrook or Harden, and from the Lizard to LeBron...well, the bad guy won that round, but there will be another day, sometime....
Oh, right....the movie. Yeah. Well, like I said, I asked around who wanted to see it, Sam and Josh both were all for it. Suzanna, Cassie and Courtney jumped on board, Bennett followed; and then Marie and Katie and Lilya all asked if they could come along that morning. "Um...sure....we'll need to figure out how to get to the mall, though...."
Boy, was that ever a headache. Actually, the whole project was like construction work; as soon as you (think) you have one part tied down, another place needs to be worked on. At first we were going to go to Woodland Hills mall, a good generally-centerish spot from where everybody came from. Then we realized Woodland Hills didn't have a theater. "But isn't there a theaer like across the street or something...?" "Yeahhhh....but it's the cheap one that shows movies that a few months old, not the brand-new ones." "Okay...what about Promenade?" "Promenade's creepy! I always feel like - I don't know....it just doesn't feel safe." "Oh, I know, it's awful. But it does have a theater..." "...That isn't showing the movie." "....Oh." "Yeah." Hmm...."Hey, I think there's a theater over by Promenade that's within walking distance; could that work?' "We'll make it work, somehow; there's been too much planning gone into this already to back out now." "You got that right..."
So, it's Sunday, finally; the expedition is all planned out. We've enlisted the help of some parents to get us over there, and then we find we have about three new travelers along for the ride, throwing us into a scramble to figure out how to deal with the latest wrinkle. "If you can get a ride with somebody, I guess that's cool..." Stephen and Nick, newish guys to the youth group we were trying to welcome in, were going to come, but couldn't make it at the last second. Dylan probably would have came, too, but he was on vacation or something. I guess church went about ordinary, I have no idea, it was a few months ago and I was having a hard time paying attention.
We arrive at the mall, Cassie, who beat half our group there, has this quizzical and somewhat distressed look on her face. "I don't think they're showing it here, guys." "Oh, yeah..." Sam looks slightly embarrassed. "I guess we forgot to tell you the plan, huh?" "You're right, they aren't showing it here," I pick up the story. "which is why we're eating lunch here, and then walking to the theater." "Ohhh....." "Sorry....thought we'd told everybody that....so many details flying here and there. It's been a little hectic." "Yeah, and there was kind of a lot going on this morning."
There was, too...a lot of strange, tense undercurrents that didn't leave any clues just then for why they existed. But our gang managed to find the food court, took a look around to see what the food options were, then ate lunch. I wasn't hungry, just ate a brownie coated with peanut butter and chopped Reese's. Most of the others got Subway. Somehow or another, the conversation turned to those who couldn't make it, including Cassie's brother Garrett, and from there to speculation about his new girlfriend. Cassie's saying she wished that she had a boyfriend, and Bennett leaps in emphatically: "ME TOO!!!" Instant stunned silence for two seconds. "That was not - Wow....you know what I meant..." So. Awkward. It was pretty hysterical, though....once we were finished laughing, somebody involved with the CVS Scotch-Tape Incident commented on the similarities between the two statements; and that set off another round of uncontrollable mirth.
It's nearly 2 p.m, there's just enough time to walk over before the show starts. So we rush out the first door we see, and walk around the building....and around the building....and around the building....and realized we went in a huge circle. (The Horrible Sense of Direction strikes again!) We finally get pointed the right way, and race across too many large traffic-laden streets, going about a mile or so until we reach the movie theater, where we purchase tickets, head into the wonderful cool darkness of air-conditioning, waaaaiiiiitttt for those standing in line for popcorn, and then, finally, go pick our seats. We didn't have to be so choosy, I suppose; since there was only about ten other people in the whole rest of the theater, but this was a rare experience for most of us, and we wanted to make the most of it.
Well, nobody warned us about the previews. They started about 2:07 p.m. or so and rolled for TWENTY MINUTES STRAIGHT. Preview after preview after preview...most for shoot-'em-up actioners like The Bourne Legacy, The Dark Knight Rises, or a Total Recall reboot, crass "comedy" buddy movies like The Watch, or an interesting-looking Kevin James flick titled Here Comes the Boom, featuring an out-of-shape schoolteacher becoming an MMA fighter. And then without any heads-up a cousin to Pac-Man or Dig Dug or something fills the mammoth screen, a 1980's video game is being played. And then we see that it's the newest Disney movie coming out, about a video-game villain in a midlife crisis trying to become a hero, called Wreck-It Ralph. It stood out, for one, being a cute throwaway kid's movie in the middle of all these kill-people, loads-of-violence-and-gore films. I want to see that, kinda...looks good.
Yeah, so, anyway, the movie began about 2:30 p.m, it was different right from the opening credits. I had some trouble following the actual movie at first, examining all the new camera angles and editing techniques, adjusting to the lighting and dialogue, and otherwise noting the successfullness of how being trapped in a dark box can suspend disbelief so well. Movie theaters have amazing sound systems, by the way. So I was pretty distracted, monitoring all the chaos leading up to/on the trip, was hoping it would go down as a successful venture. Kind of like the person with the camera at Christmastime who runs all over the place documenting the holiday and never actually taking part of it, having been directing things behind the scenes so much as to not taking part in the actual play.
And then I was noting the changes of lighting, camera, editing, scenery, wardrobe, music,ACTORS....and dialogue. And trying to unsuccessfully reconcile the obvious contradictions between this and the trilogy, never mind that this is a total reboot....took me about an hour to get fully involved with the plot, I wasn't really that impressed with the film. Peter was too cool-looking to be a believable nerd, the dialogue seemed mumbled all the time, the plot was shallow, and with the exception of Dr. Connors, every role was overacted and felt forced, and Peter and Gwen seemed way too old for their roles. The scene where Peter asked Gwen out was great; and there were a few zippy one-liners that were worthy of a grin, but overall I didn't know what to think of it, honestly...a real head-scratcher of a movie, that was maybe better cinematically than the original, but far short in terms of storytelling to the trilogy. But, then I had to remind myself that it's the beginning of a new trilogy, so hopefully things will make sense later on. I (of course) stayed behind for the credits, like I usually do, and there was this confounding miniscene halfway through that left us on even more of a cliff than we were already. I kinda went into a writer's vortex, a sort of trance that's somewhat indescribable how to explain. You kind of go into the story's world and attempt to know everything in it; to understand the entire universe of the tale. This movie was puzzling, it was an especially deep vortex they had to pull me out of. "Hey...you okay, Wes?" (Startled look at finding myself back in the real world) "Huh?! Oh....uh, yeah, I'm fine. Just was.. thinking." Cassie grins, knowing what the vortex is like. "He'll be all right."
Courtney hated it, I wasn't sure what I thought of it. This made Mom even more curious to watch it than she already was; so she was anxiously keeping an eye out for when it would come out on DVD. "Hey, we ought to see if Netflix has the new Spider-Man in stock yet!" "Already looked." "Did you put it in the queue?" "About two months ago, yep." "Oh, good! I'm moving it up to the top of the list." So about the first thing Mom said when I got back for Thanksgiving break was: "Spider-Man came in yesterday! When do ya want to watch it?" Dad decided he'd watch, too, so we set in the family room and watched the film. It's a long movie...two hours and sixteen minutes. And there were a ton of previews here, too(I timed it later while doing laundry, there's at least thirteen minutes of trailers on the DVD.)
I liked it a lot better the second and third times. It's a darker, more realistic world; not quite as touching and at times corny as the trilogy. We don't know the characters' backstories and histories very much, so that kind of takes away your involvement as an audience. The dialogue feels more like true-to-life conversations, which somehow loses points, even though technically it should be better. And there isn't those awkward spaces where a phenomonal line is followed by a ridiculously out-of-place one. Denis Leary as Captain Stacy fit his role well; there was a few good exchanges and snappy insults, like the meatloaf, or the climbing up the fire escape. Like "Is that a real knife?" "Yes it's a real knife!" Or Gwen's exchange with her dad: "Hey hon, do you want some cocoa?" "No, Dad, I don't want some cocoa. I'm seventeen years old, not some little kid." "All right...I just thought last week somebody said her fantasy was to live in a chocolate house." "Welll...that would be impractical!...And fattening!"
The plot is shallow, yes; but it's very suspenseful...keeps you guessing all the time. A very slow-paced movie, but the action scenes are very set in this world(Strange, I know, seeing as they're between a gigantic mutant lizard and a human-sized arachnid, but....yeah.) Really intense.
Curt Connors makes a great villain, a man capable of great things, who went just a little off, which leads to some much mayhem....why are the bad guys so well-known and interesting to study throughout history? Darth Vader the most famous face of Star Wars. Napoleon and most of the Roman caesars. Hitler's rise to power. Anakin Skywalker's fall. Doc Ock's attempt to create a new energy source. The Lizard's efforts to restore health to amputees. MacGyver's arch-enemy, the incredibly crafty and malvolent Murdoc. Gollum. Maybe because they show us what can happen if we abuse the powers and gifts we've been given...and that in trying to do the best for others, we not only have to have the right motives(Genuinely wanting to help, not greed or lust or personal gain or pride or....), but we also have to go about it in the right way. We can't take shortcuts, because those are the paths to our downfall. Which is why it's so terrifying sometimes, this life, of always trying to make the right choices, right decisions. It's hard in places, what's right and good can be twisted and rearranged all everywhere so that we don't know which way to go. Thankfully, those of us who are Christians have the Holy Spirit leading and guiding us onward in the right way, but being humans, we kinda have this way of sinning. A lot.
Anyway, comparing all four films side-by-side, you see a lot of similarities: A gradual introduction to the main conflict, highlighted by lots of minor conflicts, violence, and personal growth. The villian is usually taken care of by the end, there's a lot of relational problems between characters, a lot of webs woven. We hear some good advice given, observe how mistakes can be overcome, and we our somehow...inspired by those stories. To live our ordinary humdrum lives in a way that's more heroic, to be better people.
Something I was wondering the last few days/weeks, which was sort of brought up again by the movies: Which teaches us more, external conflict, which you may take part in, but otherwise don't have control over, or internal conflict, where it doesn't involve any outsiders, but for that same reason, makes it so much harder to deal with? What makes the better story? And which is easier to deal with?
I don't really know. But whatever trials and struggles we face, no matter how dark the road ahead may seem; God will not test us beyond what we can bear(1 Corinthians 10:13), and He will provide a way through the whatever-it-is that we're facing. We just have to do our best to hang on to the truth of His Word, and try to believe the promises and follow His commands. Which is a lot easier said than done sometimes, which is why the church exists, to strengthen and encourage our fellow believers.
Oh, by the way....witty comebacks towards the problem may not solve all of it, but they don't hurt, either. And they make us feel better.
