The Post 9/11 Captain America

Last year, one of my last projects at University was to write a Dissertation on a subject in Film. I decided to write about the effect 9/11 had on superhero films, the official title being 'With Great Powers Comes Great Responsibility: Approaching and Reflecting 9/11 in Superhero Films'. (Yes I am a massive nerd.) One of the chapters in my dissertation was a study on 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' where I analysed it and compared it to a previous post 9/11 themed superhero film, 'The Dark Knight'. As we are mere days away from the release of 'Civil War' I thought it would be interesting post this chapter on my blog for you guys to see. Now remember, this was written a year ago and it is just one section of a larger piece of work however, it should be an enjoyable read by itself. It isn't perfect, academic writing wasn't always my strongest suit and if you read it all the way through you will see some of my own personal fanboy opinion seep through the cracks. It's something different and for those of you who do read it all, thank you and I hope you enjoy it! 

Captain America: The Winter Soldier follows Steve Rogers - a superhero named Captain America from 1940’s who was frozen and then defrosted in the present day - as he adjusts to modern day living whilst working for a government agency whose ideals do not fully match up with his own. The film looks at the ideologies of the world security company S.H.I.E.L.D (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division), whose defences have had to be reassessed after realising the world is a lot bigger than they thought and now have to deal with the possibility of an extra-terrestrial attack after the events of the previous film in the franchise, Avengers Assemble. As with Man of Steel, the people of Earth in the Marvel universe have had a recent attack from a different life form, which has changed their world and their views forever. In their world, super powered people exist and what was once mythology and legend with the likes of Thor and his kind, are now a reality that they must accept. They have had their 9/11 like event and must now deal with the aftermath. The Winter Soldier does this in a way that sums up the main question raised post 9/11, should society sacrifice its freedom for security? The security company S.H.I.E.L.D propose a plan to use a computer algorithm that determines a person’s background and to have them eliminated if they pose a threat to society, even before they commit a crime.

It just so happens that S.H.I.E.L.D has been infiltrated by an old German Nazi division named Hydra, who believe that eliminating all these threats will be the way forward for a better society, but under their control.  Although this is a film with a heightened sense of reality, it is one that very much offers a critical response to the types of security innovations, which have started coming up in Western society post 9/11. Innovations such as the increase in CCTV cameras, the approval of the government to listen in to our conversations and also the ability track our whereabouts through our mobile devices. After Edward Snowden released documents to the press, it was found that the American government could even do some of these acts without a warrant, as reported by The Guardian: ‘The National Security Agency has a secret backdoor into its vast databases under a legal authority enabling it to search for US citizens’ email and phone calls without a warrant,’ (BALL & ACKERMAN, 2013).

            Captain America is a hero who is out of his own time. After crashing into an icy landscape during World War Two, he is discovered frozen, brought back to life and introduced back into modern time. His ideals are old fashioned, what some would refer to ‘the good old days’ when it was believed there were clear distinction between good and evil with no grey area, though his are even more heightened due to his sense of morality and his character being enforced as the epitome of good and what is right by the writers. This is represented in the first film Captain America: The First Avenger (JOHNSTON 2011) when he is asked ‘Do you want to kill Nazis?’ and replies ‘I don’t want to kill anyone. I don’t like bullies; I don’t care where they’re from.’ In the sequel, after S.H.I.E.L.D lets Captain America know what they have in store with their plans, assessing who could be a threat and taking them out before they commit a crime,  he replies ‘I thought the punishment usually comes after the crime?’ He represents the side of the argument which feels that freedom should not be sacrificed for our security, should Western society be taking out possible threats before they have actually committed crime, is this not infringing on their freedom to make a different a more moral decision. As Captain Americas states in the films; ‘This isn’t freedom, this is fear.’

This is not the first post 9/11 film to represent this argument. In 2005, Christopher Nolan released his gritty and grounded in realism version of Batman with Batman Begins (Nolan 2005). This new and contemporary adaptation of the Batman story, saw the hero training with the Middle Eastern terrorist organisation ‘The League of Shadows’, before leaving and then having to fight off their leader, Ra’s al Ghul, who attempts to poison Gotham’s city’s water supply in order to cleanse the city of its scum and in turn, its crime. An ideology that’s not too dissimilar from Batman’s own of stopping crime but with a more brutal and lethal approach that does not go with Batman’s moralistic stance. Batman’s ideology is similar to the way Captain America would not hesitate to stop the bad guys but not at the cost of his country’s freedom. Like Batman, Captain America uses violent techniques to subdue his enemies. In one of the opening action sequences of The Winter Soldier, the Captain jumps aboard a hijacked ship before stealthily killing the criminals who have taken his fellow S.H.I.E.L.D colleagues prisoner. This kind of brutality shows that Steve Rogers is someone who will do what it takes to protect his country and its values; he has a different moralistic stance to Batman who does not kill under any circumstance, even for his country or for Gotham, but instead does whatever it takes to apprehend the threat. Superman is much like Batman in the sense that he does not want to kill - although he is pushed to do so in Man of Steel – In the comic his values are more like Captain America’s; ‘Superman represents not only an ideal of transcendent moral and physical perfection, but also a harmonious and ordered universe with clear distinctions between right and wrong.’ (HASSLER-FOREST, 2012: 38).

In the second instalment of the Batman franchise, The Dark Knight, our hero must face the embodiment of post 9/11 fear, The Joker, a terrorist who has no other apparent motive but to cause chaos. His only goal is to push Batman so far as to make him kill him. Only then will The Joker feel he has won. In many ways, The Joker embodies terrorist organisations like Al Qaeda who launch their attacks in order to get a response and retaliation from the Western world, which would then turn more people against the West. John Ip says ‘The Joker himself presents as a terrorist figure who intimidates, threatens and inflicts violence and mayhem upon a civilian population in furtherance of his anarchic ideological purpose.’ (2011). The Dark Knight is very obvious in its political portrayal of a world post 9/11 and a lot of the imagery used in the film complements the themes, as discussed by Will Brooker:

The explicit description of Joker as a terrorist, and visual motifs such as the poster’s image of a burning skyscraper and the slow camera glide into the side of a building, punctuated by an explosion, that starts the film (2012: 200).

Unlike The Joker who represents fear and destruction. John Ip believes that Batman himself, throughout The Dark Knight, offers a commentary on the Bush administration after the events of 9/11, most particularly in a scene where Batman tortures The Joker in order to get information out of him. However, Ip argues that the ineffectiveness of the torture itself does not endorse the administration but instead criticises it:

The Bush Administration’s authorization of the use of torture and coercion during the war on terrorism, despite legal prohibitions both at the domestic and international level was perhaps the starkest indicator of the paradigm shift that occurred after 9/11... The Dark Knight’s depiction of the effectiveness of torture and coercive interrogation is therefore sceptical: at no point does it lead to the divulging of any useful information. Therefore the film is plainly not an endorsement of the Bush Administrations war on terror. Indeed, it is better seen as a critique (2011).

            As explicitly as his name suggests, Captain America is the symbol of the American way for a global audience to witness. Jason Dittmer argues this point and that Captain America represents nationalism at its finest:

Significant to this role is Captain America’s ability to connect the political projects of American nationalism, internal order, and foreign policy (all formulated at the national or global scale) with the scale of the individual, or the body. The character of Captain America connects these scales by literally embodying American identity, presenting for readers a hero both of, and for, the nation. (2005)

Dittmer goes on to argue, that characters like Captain America and other influential pop culture heroes, take events from our society and create ‘geopolitical’ scripts surrounding them, that; ‘mold common perceptions of political events, [to create a] key to a full understanding of both national identities [both American and foreign]’ (2005). This comes relates to Adorno and Horkeimer’s ‘Culture Industry’ theory, that films and other pop culture are no longer works of art, but cogs in a machine to throw out the ideologies of its creators to mass audiences in order to shape their understanding. Marvel Studios are a household name now, and though their comics have only reached a limited amount of people, their films have had global success (Box Office Mojo). Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a political piece; it’s addressing what it means to be a patriotic citizen of the U.S.A in a time when the country’s values and freedoms are being redesigned under the pretext of improving security but at the expense of freedom, after such events as 9/11. The heroes of the film are the people who stand up and oppose Hydra’s ideology, not just the spy agents of the company but the small everyday manual workers, even though the consequence of this may mean death. This is shown in one scene where a S.H.I.E.L.D operator has a gun held at his head by a Hydra agent, demanding him to start the algorithm that will decide who poses a threat to society and then kill them. Even with a gun held to his head, this worker refuses, knowing that he will be shot, because he believes in Captain America and the American way, he says ‘I’m not going to launch those ships, Captain’s orders.’.

            As in Man of Steel, there is also 9/11 like destruction in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. This destruction comes in the form of three Hellicarriers – similar to flying versions of aircraft landing ships – that crash over Washington, two into each other before falling into the sea, and one straight into a building. Unlike Man of Steel, this destruction has purpose; it’s the only way that Captain America and his allies can stop a lot more people being killed. It is also a representation of the downfall of a terrorist ideology that has infiltrated American security company S.H.IE.L.D. The Hellicarrier that crashes into the building, crashes into the main headquarters of S.H.I.E.L.D, the organisation that has been hijacked, that was the main defence in global security. As with 9/11, this event shakes the world, without this security who will protect the world from threats beyond the Earth’s arsenal? Man of Steel uses destruction as a spectacle and even though in The Winter Soldier it is also something which looks great on the big screen, the special effects are on a smaller scale and characters relationships are the moving force of the action rather than big explosions, they are used as a means to an end. The people involved have been explored, from the S.H.I.E.L.D workers who have had their friends and colleagues turn on them, to the Winter Soldier himself, an old friend of Steve’s brainwashed into carrying out Hydra’s demands, to main villain, Alexander Pierce the conductor of the event, so convinced by his own ideologies that he sees no other way to save the world. The film shows random workers stand up for their country, they are not merely cannon fodder but innocents trapped by Hydra. Most get out, but for those who don’t, the audience is moved by their situation, there are real perils at stake when it comes to watching the destruction play out on screen.

            As discussed in the first chapter, Captain America has always been a piece of propaganda, from his first issue to his latest; he has always worn the flag as his costume in one form or another. It can be argued that, in The Winter Soldier, he is not as blatant a piece of propaganda. His costume is less bright, no longer wearing the colours of the flag, this could represent how America has lost its way and doesn’t stand for what it should anymore. He is faced with many obstacles throughout the film, but none of them deter him from being any different a person by the end of the film. He has no character arc and other than he cannot be changed, and that is what makes Captain America special. Even though his views are old fashioned, and this gets in the way of him dealing with 21^st century life, this also means he offers a historical perspective on the war on terror, one that sees his country’s freedom being sacrificed, and this is not okay with him. The directors discuss how they made a conscious decision to make this an integral part of the film:

We were all reading the articles that were coming out questioning drone strikes, pre-emptive strikes, civil liberties—Obama talking about who they would kill, y'know? We wanted to put all of that into the film because it would be a contrast to Cap's greatest-generation [way of thinking]. (RUSSO, 2014)

The Winter Soldier is not your standard superhero film; in fact it is more a political thriller than anything else. It is about change and what is the right and moral thing to do during that change. Many things changed whilst Captain America was frozen, but he still sees a society of good people who have been through a lot. He symbolises a time when his countries values were considered at their best and America truly was fighting the good fight against evil, his character being in the present day and struggling to deal with fact that this has changed represents that America is no longer good and walks the line between good and bad. This is what he stands up for, to keep society level headed like it was 1940’s. This may mean that he stands for a Western society that makes him a form of propaganda, but that does not mean that he is necessarily a negative piece of propaganda. Because he stands for good and what is right, he is a good character that we should all aspire to be like, he wears the American flag as his costume because that’s what he wore in the 1940’s, his change from a dark blue and then back to his classic costume by the end of The Winter Soldier shows that he is not happy with the change in society during his time away and that things should revert back to his generations way of thinking.

Bibliography

ADORNO, Theodor W. and HORKHEIMER, Max. 1944. Dialectic of Enlightenment. New York: Social Studies Association Inc.

BALL, James and ACKERMAN, Spencer. 2013. ‘NSA loophole allows warrantless search for US citizens’ emails and phone calls’ The Guardian. [online] Available at <http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/09/nsa-loophole-warrantless-searches-email-calls> [accessed 15^th April 2015].

BOX OFFICE MOJO. 2015. Marvel Cinematic Universe. Box Office Mojo [online]. Available at: <http://www.boxofficemojo.com/franchises/chart/?id=avengers.htm > [accessed 11^th May 2015].

BROOKER, Will. 2012. Hunting the Dark Knight: Twenty-First Century Batman.  London: I.B Tauris & Co.

DITTMER, Jason. 2005.  ‘Captain America's Empire: Reflections on Identity, Popular Culture, and Post-9/11 Geopolitics’ in Annals of the Association of American Geographers. [online] 95(3). Available through: Falmouth University Library Website <http://library.fxplus.ac.uk/ > [accessed on 10^th March 2015].

HASSLER-FOREST, Dan. 2012. Capitalist Superheroes: Caped Crusaders in the Neoliberal Age. Croydon: Zero Books.

RUSSO, Anthony. 2014. ‘Soldier showdown: Joe and Anthony Russo take the helm of Captain America franchise’ in Film Journal. [online] Available at: <http://www.filmjournal.com/content/soldier-showdown-joe-and-anthony-russo-take-helm-%E2%80%98captain-america%E2%80%99-franchise> [accessed on 2^nd May 2015].

Filmography

JOHNSTON, Joe. 2011. Captain America: The First Avenger [Film].

NOLAN, Christopher. 2005. Batman Begins [Film].

NOLAN, Christopher. 2008. The Dark Knight [Film].

PYUN, Albert. 1990. Captain America [Film].

RUSSO, Joe and Anthony. 2014. Captain America: The Winter Soldier [Film].

SNYDER, Zack. 2013. Man of Steel [Film].

If you made it this far then well done! I hope you enjoyed this post and if you did let me know in the comments below!

Thanks for reading!

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

I have been dreading seeing this film for a while, being a huge fan of Spider-Man as a character, I was let down by the 2012 reboot of the franchise that I had a lot of high hopes for. For the sequel I made sure I wasn’t going to be disappointed and I didn’t get too excited when Sony spewed out a dozen trailers or so for the film. However it still didn’t stop me from watching the sequel on day release to find out if they had dug an even bigger hole for my favourite superhero to climb out of. Thankfully with my expectations being quite low I left the cinema happy knowing that Spider-Man was on the right track once more in his surprisingly decent sequel. Read on to find out my whole verdict on the film that will be as usual SPOILER FREE.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 follows a now more experienced Spider-Man then what we saw in the first film. Like his new (excellent) suit this film has stripped away all the darkness and gloom from the first film to make this film more on tone with The Avengers rather than trying to be the next Batman Begins. We find Peter Parker as his busiest, mixing his superhero lifestyle with graduating and being in two minds as to whether to get together again with Gwen Stacy after he promised her dying father to keep away from her. Whilst this is all going on Max Dillon is on his way to becoming the villainous Electro whilst Harry Osborne is back in town facing a tough moment in his life. Thankfully Sony has learnt from their mistakes in Spider-Man 3 and this time juggle the many storylines well throughout the film.

One of the redeeming qualities of The Amazing Spider-Man was the casting and it has continued to get better in the sequel. Jamie Foxx as Electro is brilliant, he plays the character really well and truly looks and sounds awesome when in full blue mode, the visual effects crew did a lot better job with him then they did with The Lizard. Dane DeHann is one of the best new actors out there and the chemistry between him and Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker is great, I would have loved to have seen a lot more scenes with the two of them together. It was great to see Paul Giamatti take on role of Aleksei Sytsevich as he has wanted to play him for quite some while even if he was very stereotyped, but with him only playing a small part in the film it would be great to see him improve on that in the next one. Also the character of Dr Kafka from the comics has been awfully turned into stereotypical male German scientist, thankfully one of only a few stupid decisions in the film. As with the first film Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone steal the show with their brilliant performances and amazing on screen chemistry. They look and sound the parts even if this Spider-Man is taking more of his roots from the Ultimate Comics rather than the 616 Universe. Garfield gets Spidey perfectly with the way he moves and quips constantly during the action. Added with the perfect suit, this is definitely one of the best Spider-Man performances we have seen, though having no explanation for the change of suit does grind my gears a bit.

Visually this film looks great, when Spider-Man is swinging around New York it is exactly how I imagined he would and many of the scenes were pretty breath taking and gave me goose bumps throughout. Along with the great new score from Hans Zimmer who puts a new unique take on the generic superhero soundtrack, this Spider-Man feels like a breath of fresh air in a crowded market for comic book films. There is the odd scene where the music choice feels out of place but overall the film sounds great, especially the main themes for both Spider-Man and Electro.

Tonally every now and then a scene feels disjointed but not as much as some critics are saying. The film isn’t just a random bunch of scenes thrown together, there is a lot more care put into the editing of this film. The design of the characters may not be to every fans liking but I only had a problem with the look of The Rhino. In terms of faithfulness to the comic books there are certain aspects that are great but a lot of it is being rehashed into new scenarios but with a great sense of familiarity especially with some iconic scenes. I don’t mind this as much as I did in the first film but I am annoyed that character of Uncle Ben is more of an afterthought in this film rather than being strong icon in Peter’s life that ultimately makes him the person he is. Overall the script works pretty well even though there is the odd bad line throughout, Electo's 'It's my birthday, time to light some candles' springs to mind.

My favourite thing about this film though, that is a huge improvement on the first, is the fact that you get a sense of what Spider-Man means to people. He is just a good guy who thinks about other before himself, there is many a scene of him saving bystanders before taking on the main threat, he has a sense of responsibility even though the famous line has yet to be said. Spider-Man is a true hero and this is shown throughout the film, he saves lives in more ways then one. There are scenes involving kids that could easily come across as cheesy but in the end they are some of the best scenes that signify why Spider-Man means so much to so many people in and out of the film universe. People like myself, who is now happy that the Spider-Man I wanted to see on screen is back and stepping in the right direction. With the world building and foreshadowing to a Sinister Six showdown, bring on The Amazing Spider-Man 3!

Finally a step in the right direction for the web head, I am rating The Amazing Spider-Man 2 a 3/5.

What are your thoughts on the Spider-Man sequel? Are you as happy with it as I am? Let me know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading!

Arising The Dark Knight

Most of the world is anticipating the release of The Dark Knight Rises this coming week and hopefully all expectations will be met! Those expectations are high though, especially after the masterpiece which was The Dark Knight, argued to be one of the best superhero movies ever made! The universe Christopher Nolan has created for Batman is a million miles away from other incredible films in the genre such as The Avengers. Batman deserves a decent send off and if anybody is going to do this threequel justice it is the same man that brought him into this new world. The man who hasn't made a bad film yet! In this post I am going back to the first two films and finding out what made them great and what will make the third greater. In Nolan we trust.

Batman Begins
I remember enjoying this film when I first watched it but because of the other colourful and campy superhero films out at the time it never stuck in my mind the way it does now. Maybe it was because I was younger and now that I am a bigger film fan I realise how awesome this movie is! Rewatching this makes me realise how special this version of the Batman is. Nolan takes the character who's previous incarnations had a wide range of being hit or miss. Best we forget nipple suited George Clooney, no matter how much I love that man!

Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne was brilliant choice as he really throws himself into the role, as is expected from the method actor who bulked up to play the role. Other great casting includes Michael Caine, Liam Neeson and Cillian Murphy.

The great thing about this film was that it took Batman and brought him into a Gotham that was believable, even the Batmobile was created in real life and was originally being designed for the armed forces.

The scarecrow was a great villain and kept with the theme of fear and coming to terms with it. It is not a perfect film but not all origin stories are. It does take ages for Bruce to don the cape and cowl! Action is solid and most of the acting is too. A great film but unlike the next it is not perfect.

The Dark Knight
Now my first viewing of this film was completely different to how I viewed Batman Begins. The Dark Knight blew me away. I didn't know what to expect from this film but after the first viewing I couldn't wait to watch it all over again! The story, acting and film making is just spot on. This is one of my favourite films ever, I cannot describe how much I love it! I may not be as big a fan of the character of Batman as I am of Spider-Man but this film was just full on awesome!

Heath Ledger's performance is just incredible, his version of the Joker is now one of cinemas greatest and one of the best cinematic villains ever. Everything about this film is perfect, the only thing that is a bit off is Batman's voice which seems a bit over the top but will hopefully be toned down for the threequel.

Incredible.

The Dark Knight Rises

Well the wait is almost over. The final instalment in the Dark Knight Trilogy. This could be the highlight of Christopher Nolan's career and hopefully will be his best film yet! I trust Nolan even if I was bit iffy with his decision to include Catwoman in the mix. I'm confident Anne Hathaway will do an excellent job though. This time the villain is Bane played by Tom Hardy who is a brilliant actor and I can't wait to see what he does. A flying vehicle called the Bat has also been included and this promises to bring some exciting new action sequences. Trailers look awesome and the 13 minute featurette just blew me away. I love Nolan's work on using old school techniques in modern day blockbusters.

Unfortunately I won't be seeing this until I get back from my holiday late July. Which means my review may not be up until August. I am sure it will be worth waiting for!

So amped for this, best film of the year/ever? I blooming hope so! I wasn't looking forward to this as much as I am now at the start of the year as I was worried as to whether Nolan could pull it off or not, but... In Nolan we trust.

Although on holiday I do have a post ready to be released whilst I am away which contains reviews of two brilliant comedies, God Bless America and 21 Jump Street. So please keep an eye out for that on the 24th of July!

Thanks for reading!

The Amazing Spider-Man Review

I am a massive fan of Spider-Man, but you probably already knew that. I loved Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films, though Spider-Man 3 did lack in quality compared to the first two. Even though I loved those films I still couldn't wait to see the reboot/remake, even if it was only 5 years after the previous instalment, they do it in the comics all the time! This was my most anticipated film of the year and a couple weeks ago I dedicated a whole blog post to it! So is it as amazing as the title says it is? Thankfully it is! Though it isn't perfect.

I loved the new darker and grounded approach to the character, don't worry it isn't as serious as Christopher Nolan's Batman films but thankfully, it isn't as cheesy as the Raimi trilogy either. The Amazing Spider-Man looks more at the character of Peter Parker, the disappearance of his parents and how these tragedies in his life help shape him into the hero he becomes. It's not an easy path that's for sure. Peter Parker isn't your stereotypical nerd though, now he is a bit more of  a lonely emo type nerd. It's great to see him back at high school even if he does look a tad too old to still be there. It is also great to see Peter standing up for fellow classmates against bullies like Flash Thompson even if he does have to face the consequences. The spider bite that gives him special powers just creates another dilemma in Peter's life that he know must learn to deal with.

This story would not work if it wasn't for Andrew Garfield, who is much more of a Peter Parker to me then Tobey Maguire was. I liked Tobey's version, but he just came across as too whiney. If Tobey was in this film, it wouldn't have been half as good. Andrew plays teenager very well and you can really see what kind of hurt and pain his parents have left on him when they disappeared. This hurt is added too when Uncle Ben dies. The death scene in particular really stands out as being a very powerful and emotional moment in the film. Something that hasn't been touched upon as much before. I definitely felt more emotionally connected to this film then I have on the previous ones. This is mainly due to Andrew Garfield who really is perfect for the role and you can tell how much dedication and heart he has put into the character.

The whole film is cast perfectly, Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy is just brilliant, as is Martin Sheen as Uncle Ben. Aunt May played by Sally Field is a bit of a change from the original comics but that's not a bad thing. Rhys Ifans plays a great Curt Connors and motion capture Lizard as well. Although the Lizard isn't perfect, the CGI is pretty good, his storyline is also handled well. I was happy to see that he was still able to speak when in Lizard form, even if he was a very well spoken Lizard.

The CGI for Spider-Man however was spot on. Not once does he look like obvious CGI and director Marc Webb's decision to make a lot of the stunts practical really payed off in making this the most believable Spider-Man yet.

Another great addition are the web shooters, they show off Peter's academic skills and keep more to the comics. They could have been used more in the film though. There is so much you could use in the storyline with the web shooters such as running out of web during a battle or swinging through New York but this is never touched upon. Even when caught by a surprise attack in school Peter still has his web shooters on for some reason. That would have been a cool moment for him to think on his feet without them.

There is a lot more this film could have used to create scenarios we haven't seen in Spider-Man films before. I don't want to spoil the film so I won't go into them but I felt that the scriptwriters cut short on some elements that could have been used to create incredible set pieces.

My other problem with this film was the amount of action, there just wasn't enough Spider-Man. I really enjoyed the love scenes between Peter and Gwen, they had amazing chemistry, but this meant that there was too little of amazing Spider-Man! The action was great when it was there but I just needed more. When Peter was learning how to use his powers it was great and a highlight of the film but we never got to see him use them to his full ability. When there were action scenes though, he had his mask off way too much! Also like Prometheus, more questions are raised then answered which isn't always a bad thing but Peter's parents sub-plot kind of got forgotten after the first half, as did the search for Uncle Ben's killer.

The suit however looks so much better! I really liked the new design and it looked very cool on screen. I doubt it will stay this way for the sequel though, I can see Peter upgrading the suit like in the Batman films. If this was to happen it would be very awesome, maybe he could even have a utility belt like the tie in game has.

I saw this film in 3D and it was pretty good. It wasn't always apparent but looked good when it was. I'm not sure if I would recommend seeing it in 3D, I may actually watch it in 2D in the coming months to see if 3D was better or not. I had heard great things about the 3D though, so the lack of it in my showing may have been down to the screen. I would love to go see this in IMAX!

Some fans may be annoyed at a few of the origin tweaks but I for one thoroughly enjoyed the take on the web slinger. Apart from a few picky bits this film was enjoyable throughout and had some incredible Oscar winning acting that made it live up to its name. It feels as if this is the Batman Begins of the Spider-Man universe and that the sequel to this film has the potential to be more amazing now that we have the origin out of the way. That makes me very excited! Like all Marvel films remember to stay until the end! I am rating the film as a 3/5. P.S - Best Stan Lee cameo yet!

The short film Spider-Man Eclipse, which I talked about in my special Spidey post is now out so please go check that out here: www.spidermaneclipse.com

My review of the short will be online in the next few days.

Thanks for reading!