In May of 2002 I was about 13 years old. I had already been a huge Spider-Man fan since I was about 5. So when I learned there was a live action Spider-Man movie in development, I was psyched. When I was younger I had already pretty much came up with my own MARVEL MOVIE DREAM TEAM. In my mind I had always pictured a Spider-Man movie with Michael J. Fox as Peter Parker and Jackie Chan would do all the web swinging and stunt work. Hell even the guy who played Biff in Back to the Future could play Eddie Brock. Now of course I didn’t expect to get that in this film but I was excited none the less. When I first saw Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man I was very satisfied. I felt like I was watching a cartoon come to life. A few years later I saw the second film. Now everyone says that Spider-Man 2 is the best in the series and I 100% agree. But there was something happening while I watched this film. Something that back then I couldn’t explain. It was festering under all the “ha-ha’s” at every comic relief and under the goose bumps caused by the wide angles of all the acrobatic web swinging scenes. Something wasn’t right but, I hadn’t realized it until a few months after I saw the third film. I never liked Tobey Maquire as Peter Parker.
Do I believe he did a terrible job? No. Do I feel like there could have been someone better for the part? Absolutely. Maybe this take on Peter Parker was good at the time but, I just don’t like the way he was portrayed in these stories. Sam Raimi’s Peter Parker is every bit a social outcast. From his shy and meek demeanor, to his lack of confidence and thick rimmed glasses. He was always picked on by all the jocks until his dashing and rich friend Harry Osbourne came to his rescue. When it came to the ladies, no one set his soul on fire like that of miss Mary Jane Watson who is sweet but never takes much notice to Peter. To me, all this seems backwards. Peter Parker to me didn’t seem like much of a loser. In fact, he was a pretty cool guy. The only thing that made him a social outcast was that fact that he was brilliant. Sure the jocks teased him but he was always witty in his snarky come backs that they had no choice but to kick his ass. As for women, Parker had honeys flocking to him and as I recall, Mary Jane Watson was going after him not the other way around. Harry Osbourne was a huge loser. And would constantly ask Peter for advice. Now granted the Peter Parker from the films became more confident after the what should have been cancerous spider bite, making for a more dramatic on screen transformation. In that case I totally understand the change.
Until of course I notice that he never really changes. He has powers, he beat up a high school bully, he gets the girl and he saved all of New York City. Yet he’s more depressed than ever before. I won’t go into how much I hated the third films interpretation of the symbiote Parker or the fact that it made him more of a loser than before. I won’t even get into the fact that in all actuality I really like Eddie Brock because he kind of was the Bizarro Parker according to the films. But I will say that from all the sappiness, and the crying, and emo douche moments, over all I loved Spider-Man but hated Peter Parker. Quite honestly I do think it’s pretty ridiculous that there’s a reboot for a film franchise that’s only ten years old but, I’m glad it's being done. Though I haven’t seen The Amazing Spider-Man yet, I can say that I like what I see. This reminds me of how I felt about Batman Begins after trying to get the taste of Batman & Robin out of my mouth and living in fear of the idea of another Clooney Batman film. Hopefully Marc Webb’s take on Spidey will bring something fresh to the world of Spider-Man for years to come.
-Foxx De'Ville
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