Sony's Amy Pascal didn't like Amazing Spider-Man 2

[Scott Taylor]

i think the amount of editing would've made it better or at least decent if focused more on the other mythos. also let's face the fact that the parents weren't really focused that much on the first movie but more on the mythos. you have peter care about his loved ones even bearing his guilt towards uncle ben's death and focused on saving people and while TASM 2 was pretty fault was able to get the characters right for the most part and even capturing spiderman well on screen and handle peter and the romance well.

it's not that the parents were a bad idea it's more like the execution of them.

The parents weren't focused on for most of the movies, true, but in each movie they were in the very first scenes, implying a big importance to the overall plot. And they were mentioned more than Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Peter seemed to downright forget about revenging Uncle Ben's death! Thats just bad storytelling.

Theoretically the parents could have been better integrated but why? Just having them be present undermines the role that Aunt May plays in all previous incarnations of the character. Maybe if they just outright replaced Aunt May and Uncle Ben with the parents - but then you really are getting far away from the mythos.

I think the movies were conceived as a love story between Gwen and Peter, ending in her tragic death. And Webb really embraced that, because thats where his strength lies. And that part was done well. But thats a misunderstanding of what Spider-Man is all about. In the final analysis much of the non-romance parts of the films felt like trappings to a love story.

[Confuzzled]

The parents weren't focused on for most of the movies, true, but in each movie they were in the very first scenes, implying a big importance to the overall plot. And they were mentioned more than Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Peter seemed to downright forget about revenging Uncle Ben's death! Thats just bad storytelling.

Theoretically the parents could have been better integrated but why? Just having them be present undermines the role that Aunt May plays in all previous incarnations of the character. Maybe if they just outright replaced Aunt May and Uncle Ben with the parents - but then you really are getting far away from the mythos.

I think the movies were conceived as a love story between Gwen and Peter, ending in her tragic death. And Webb really embraced that, because thats where his strength lies. And that part was done well. But thats a misunderstanding of what Spider-Man is all about. In the final analysis much of the non-romance parts of the films felt like trappings to a love story.

Again, I don't think it was Webb who pushed for the prominence of the parents over Aunt May and Uncle Ben. The fact that he wanted to focus more on the supporting characters probably means he wanted Aunt May, Harry et all to play more significant roles in Peter's life. It was Sony that kept harping on "The Untold Story" and insisted on making a big deal about the parents even though it was apparent right from the first film that nobody cared.

And in Webb's defence, the Raimi movies were essentially a soap opera romance too. Only the execution for the first two films were better as the scripts were strong and actually treated the villains as fully fleshed, important players instead of caricatures. I think the problem with TASM boils down to script and studio interference rather than with the director.

[marvelguy25]

The parents weren't focused on for most of the movies, true, but in each movie they were in the very first scenes, implying a big importance to the overall plot. And they were mentioned more than Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Peter seemed to downright forget about revenging Uncle Ben's death! Thats just bad storytelling.

Theoretically the parents could have been better integrated but why? Just having them be present undermines the role that Aunt May plays in all previous incarnations of the character. Maybe if they just outright replaced Aunt May and Uncle Ben with the parents - but then you really are getting far away from the mythos.

I think the movies were conceived as a love story between Gwen and Peter, ending in her tragic death. And Webb really embraced that, because thats where his strength lies. And that part was done well. But thats a misunderstanding of what Spider-Man is all about. In the final analysis much of the non-romance parts of the films felt like trappings to a love story.

Webb also did well with humanizing the other characters like peter, may, ben, flash, curt, George, Gwen and Harry even makingbthe chemistry between them more organic.

The parents being introduced in the very first scene doesn't really add anything to them being more important than Ben and May. The first movie even focuses on peter's life and his relationship with Gwen and may including struggling with his powers.

Having the parents better used doesnt make uncle ben and aunt may irrelevent. It just means you have to work on the script and editing. What you just said was just over exaggeration. Also ben was originally suppose to be relent in the second film until the edits so hopefully there'll be leaks coming out soon.

[marvelguy25]

Again, I don't think it was Webb who pushed for the prominence of the parents over Aunt May and Uncle Ben. The fact that he wanted to focus more on the supporting characters probably means he wanted Aunt May, Harry et all to play more significant roles in Peter's life. It was Sony that kept harping on "The Untold Story" and insisted on making a big deal about the parents even though it was apparent right from the first film that nobody cared.

And in Webb's defence, the Raimi movies were essentially a soap opera romance too. Only the execution for the first two films were better as the scripts were strong and actually treated the villains as fully fleshed, important players instead of caricatures. I think the problem with TASM boils down to script and studio interference rather than with the director.

Actually the romance in the raimi films were just terrible. The actors and the script didnt do Peter and Mary Jane justice one bit. They made Peter into a caricature and MJ into some stuck up snaggletooth bitch.

Norman was fleshed out but goblin was just a power rangers villain even with topher and sandman weren't really that good.

I totally agree with what Webb was trying to focus. It's not even his fault and now they're actually treating him like some bad director even comparing him to one. This wasnt actually what he deserves. You can see that he had a better grasp on spiderman. It's the studio that was the problem.

[Scott Taylor]

I keep hearing it was all Sony interference, but that sounds like excuses. Where is the evidence that Webb had nothing to do with the final product?

[Kevinroc]

I keep hearing it was all Sony interference, but that sounds like excuses. Where is the evidence that Webb had nothing to do with the final product?

The Pascal e-mails make it seem like she didn't get involved enough.

[Ceebiro]

I keep hearing it was all Sony interference, but that sounds like excuses. Where is the evidence that Webb had nothing to do with the final product?

Nobody's saying that Webb had nothing to do with the final product. He's the director so he had to play some part in that and quite likely the casting as well, but it's not as if he wrote or edited the film. ASM 2 absolutely feels like a film that's hampered by too many voices rather than a singular vision of what the movie should have been.

[marvelguy25]

I keep hearing it was all Sony interference, but that sounds like excuses. Where is the evidence that Webb had nothing to do with the final product?

Behind the scenes, interviews, deleted scenes, trailers, and with a producer like avi arad. Seriously I've been checking the series since the first film was on production. We also know the kind of company Sony is so there is that as well.

[marvelguy25]

The Pascal e-mails make it seem like she didn't get involved enough.

Probably doesnt want to share the blame. Didn't she once compare raimi to sheumacker?

[marvelguy25]

Nobody's saying that Webb had nothing to do with the final product. He's the director so he had to play some part in that and quite likely the casting as well, but it's not as if he wrote or edited the film. ASM 2 absolutely feels like a film that's hampered by too many voices rather than a singular vision of what the movie should have been.

I think TASM 2 would've worked well on Netflix

[Scott Taylor]

Probably doesnt want to share the blame. Didn't she once compare raimi to sheumacker?

That makes no sense. It was a confidential email, not for her bosses or the general public. What could she hope to accomplish by that in terms of CYA?

[marvelguy25]

That makes no sense. It was a confidential email, not for her bosses or the general public. What could she hope to accomplish by that in terms of CYA?

No idea. But I still probably take her side for the stuff she said and did.

[TheDarman]

Honestly, it seems like Pascal just saw the writing on the wall and wanted to get out before it blew up in their faces. Avi Arad, who I'm guessing is "you-know-who", likely forced in massive cuts to the product as well as the horribly written script. I do think it is a little unfair for her to blow up at the cast. By all accounts, the cast was fantastic; it was made up of talented actors who could do great things with their characters, a great chemistry between the main leads and an overall understanding of these characters motivations (in the film itself). The cast is the least to blame in all of this. The script really killed it, but probably still told a cohesive-ish story before it was slashed. I think Max's original motivation: that his mother, who he had taken care of his whole life, received a check from OsCorp and got out of her wheelchair, caused him to get angry and go on a rampage, forcing Spider-Man to intervene, would've been fantastic. Instead, we got this weird Riddler-Batman thing. Harry Osborn's character arc was rushed to get him to become the Green Goblin for a single scene. It was wasted. Plus, Peter should've given him his blood or, at the very least, had a better reason for not doing so. I think if they'd had Harry reveal to Peter originally that he was dying before Peter revisited his dad's research and discovered that the spider DNA worked on him because his father used his own DNA in them and Peter had to go back and tell Harry "no" then but couldn't tell him why (secret identity and all that), then I would've really felt for both characters on that. Overall, the movie was a disappointment but I don't really think it was anything to reboot over but, hey, at least we have Spider-Man in the MCU now.

[Scott Taylor]

As much as i found fault in the movie, its impossible to blame the cast. Actors bring what they can to the roles, and sometimes improvise, but its really clear that the overarching creative concepts and plots are not driven by actors for these types of productions. The way I understand things, someone writes a screenplay first. I'd begin blame with that person and go from there through everyone who nodded and passed it along the way.