Our thanks to guest blogger Cory Milles (not pictured above) for this web(site)-slinging breakdown.
I love the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy, and so I was skeptical when I discovered that the studio was doing a reboot of the franchise. Deep down, part of me wanted to remember the story that had already been told, but a friend prompted me to see the new movie, telling me that it was a well-plotted journey with heart.
I love the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy, and so I was skeptical when I discovered that the studio was doing a reboot of the franchise. Deep down, part of me wanted to remember the story that had already been told, but a friend prompted me to see the new movie, telling me that it was a well-plotted journey with heart.
After seeing it, I agree. The film follows the Blake Snyder Beat Sheet perfectly, giving us a wonderful hybrid of what I feel is a Superhero/Dude With a Problem/Rite of Passage story. The Peter Parker in this film, played by Andrew Garfield, is an angrier, darker character, one who struggles with his identity in the wake of his parents’ abandonment. As a result, the story infuses emotion with every scene. I believe Blake would have liked this movie, and not just because Alvin Sargent was one of his favorite screenwriters. The story seems to imbue all of the principles that Blake teaches in his books, and I think that’s why it resonates with audiences. We want Peter to find what he’s looking for, and as he goes through The Transformation Machine, he will definitely come closer than he ever has before.
Written by: James Vanderbilt and Alvin Sargent and Steve Kloves
Story by James Vanderbilt
Based on the original comic book characters created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Story by James Vanderbilt
Based on the original comic book characters created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Directed by: Marc Webb
1. Opening Image: A young Peter Parker plays hide and seek with his father. Searching through the house, he finds his father’s glasses and picks them up with curiosity, a beat we will also see later. Peter’s search for his father foreshadows much of the rest of the film, which follows Peter’s quest for answers about his parents. Peter’s father discovers that his study has been broken into, and they rush him over to his Uncle Ben’s and Aunt May’s, leaving him there without answers.
2. Theme Stated: Now a teenager, Peter is an outcast from the rest of his peers. Reclusive and quiet, he is an easy target for those who would take advantage of him, especially Flash Thompson. While seeing Flash picking on another student, Peter intervenes and gets into a fight in a clear Save the Cat! moment. Afterwards in class, Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) notices that he is hurt and suggests that he see the nurse. She asks him, “Who are you?” He’s surprised at this statement, but Gwen clarifies, saying that she knows who he is, but does Peter know? She’s checking to see if he has a concussion, but this is also the theme of the story, Peter’s search for his own identity in light of his parents leaving him behind. It will be echoed and explored throughout the film.
3. Set-Up: During the Set-Up, we meet most of the principal characters necessary to carry the story forward. We know that Peter lives with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben, that he is somewhat of a loner at Midtown Science High School, where his crush Gwen Stacy is. We know Peter wants to stand up for others, but that he is also a typical teenager struggling with his identity. We also get a glimpse into Peter’s brilliance when he arrives home and helps Uncle Ben examine something broken and leaking in the basement. During the Set-Up we can see the “Things that Need Fixing” in his life, and we also know that it is a clear “stasis=death” situation for Peter. We can feel it ourselves.
4. Catalyst: As Peter cleans up in the basement, trying to salvage old items from the leaking water, he stumbles upon a briefcase with his father’s initials on it and takes it upstairs. Aunt May and Uncle Ben freeze when they see it, with Uncle Ben saying that Peter’s dad asked him to keep it safe. This is Peter’s catalyst that begins his journey; his life will never be the same.
5. Debate: Peter searches through the contents of the briefcase, finding his father’s glasses. He puts them on, a way to remember and to identify with his father. He finds a hidden file folder in the bag and begins reading it, searching for answers. Who was his father? What did he do? Can this information help Peter understand himself better? He finds out that his father had a lab partner, Dr. Curtis Connors (Rhys Ifans), and searches for information about him on the Internet. He discovers that Connors works at Oscorp, and he sneaks in to try and find answers. At Oscorp, the receptionist sees him looking at the nametags, none of which are his, and asks Peter if he’s forgotten who he is—another echo of the theme. Peter meets Dr. Connors during the tour and learns that Gwen Stacy is his assistant. He also learns that one of the main fields of study Dr. Connors is working on, and that his dad was possibly a part of, is cross-species genetics.
While searching for answers to what a notation in his father’s files meant, he enters a room where Oscorp is using genetically-modified spiders to create powerfully strong “biocable.” He is bitten by one of the spiders and takes the subway home, where some of his new abilities begin to manifest themselves. At this point, Peter is even further away from knowing who he is, wondering what is happening to him and why. He takes his father’s files to Dr. Connors’s house and learns a bit more about what his father and Dr. Connors were trying to accomplish. At school, Peter stands up to Flash Thompson on the basketball court and breaks the backboard in a display of his new skills. As a result, Uncle Ben has to leave work early and come to the school to speak to the principal. Ben tells Peter that it’s now his responsibility to pick up Aunt May. When Peter forgets, Uncle Ben yells at him, telling him that he was just like his father, but that his father also believed if someone had a chance to do what was right, it was also their responsibility. Peter storms off, with Ben following after him. After watching a convenience store get robbed, Peter watches as the thief shoots Uncle Ben.
6. Break Into Two: With his only father figure dead, Peter decides to hunt down Uncle Ben’s killer using the police sketch. He has completely stepped into the “upside-down world,” the antithesis of his life as he knew it.
7. B Story: After Uncle Ben’s death, Gwen Stacy confronts Peter at school, telling him she’s concerned for him. Their relationship is the B Story. Through Gwen, Peter will discover who he is.
8. Fun & Games: Peter is now fully into his journey of self-discovery. He uses his abilities to fight thugs as he tries to find his Uncle Ben’s killer. This is where we see the “Promise of the Premise.” To protect his identity, Peter wears a mask and eventually uses a spandex costume to increase mobility. As time passes, Peter uses materials he obtains from Oscorp to develop his own web shooters. Peter begins to take on the identity of the crime-fighting, wise-cracking Spider-Man. He also becomes known as a masked vigilante, someone that police Captain George Stacy wants to stop and apprehend. At the same time, Dr. Connors is being pressured by his own boss to use the limb-regeneration formula in human trials, something Connors isn’t ready for. His boss takes some of the formula to test at the Veteran’s Administration hospital and Connors is fired. Desperate, he tests the formula on himself.
9. Midpoint: The A Story and the B Story cross paths when Peter is invited to Gwen’s house for dinner. Peter is intimidated by Captain Stacy, who declares that Spider-Man is a vigilante who simply assaults citizens. Peter defends Spider-Man, believing that his alter-ego is doing good things for the city. Captain Stacy takes offense at Peter’s statements, and it is clear that he is not liked. He’s defeated internally, knowing that no matter what part of himself he shows, he will not be accepted by Gwen’s father. Yet this is a false defeat, as we will see later. Peter knows that the one person he can trust is Gwen, and he tells her his secret. Just then, sirens ring out throughout the city—a time clock indicating that something will have to be done, and soon.
10. Bad Guys Close In: While Peter was facing his false defeat at the Midpoint, Dr. Connors was undergoing a false victory. His arm had regenerated thanks to the formula, but it had also transformed him into a human-lizard hybrid. In his new form, Dr. Connors goes on a rampage, throwing cars off a bridge. Spider-Man saves them, but is still hated by the police. The next day, he visits Dr. Connors, who is an expert on reptiles, to ask him for advice on catching one. Peter has suspicions that Dr. Connors is the one who is changing, and he tries to tell Captain Stacy, who obviously thinks Peter is crazy.
Peter tracks Dr. Connors into the sewers, hoping to get photographic evidence, and engages in a fight with him, barely escaping alive. Unfortunately, Peter’s camera is left behind with his name on it, so Dr. Connors knows Spider-Man’s identity. He shows up at Midtown Science High School, and the two of them fight. Peter saves Gwen, and he sends her to Dr. Connors’s lab at Oscorp to create an antidote. Peter goes back into the sewer where he sees Dr. Connors’s plans to use the Ganali device to turn people into human-lizard hybrids like himself, believing that humanity is weak and cannot be improved. Peter realizes that he has just sent Gwen right to Connors, and he races to save her.
11. All Is Lost: The Lizard emerges, using some of the formula to infect police officers who encounter him. The police mobilize to stop him, and in doing so, they want to catch Spider-Man as well. Taking aim, they shoot Peter with a device that shocks and stuns him, bringing him down. They have him on the ground and unmask him, and while he tries to fight his way out, he is unsuccessful. Captain Stacy points a gun at him. The A Story and the B Story fully meet: Peter’s search for his identity as a hero and the rejection by the father of his love interest. Here, he is at his lowest point in the journey, the furthest from his goal. The whiff of death is in the air… he could be killed, but even if he is simply detained, Gwen might die at the hands of The Lizard.
12. Dark Night of the Soul: Peter reaches deep down, knowing what he must do to become the hero he is meant to be and to save Gwen. He turns, his face fully illuminated, and reveals his identity to Captain Stacy. Peter tells him that Gwen is in danger, and he needs to help her. Captain Stacy lets him go, but an officer fires, wounding Peter in the leg.
13. Break Into Three: Wounded, Peter presses on to save Gwen and to stop Dr. Connors at Oscorp Tower.
14. Finale:
Gathering the Team: Peter is alone, and he is wounded. He might not make it in time; many of the buildings are far apart and difficult to reach with his web shooters.
Storming the Castle: Peter races toward Oscorp Tower, struggling. The father of a boy Peter saved earlier sees this on the news, and he rallies his friends who are crane operators, having them all position the cranes so that Spider-Man can use them to swing from. Peter sees them align, and he realizes that the city has accepted him. He arrives at the tower and tries to stop Connors. Captain Stacy also arrives as Gwen comes out and gives him the antidote she formulated. Meanwhile, Spider-Man and The Lizard fight…
High-Tower Surprise: … but Connors has grown too powerful for him. He crushes Peter’s web shooters, the one advantage that he could use to slow Connors down. Connors is about to crush him, taunting him for being alone in the world and without parents.
“Dig, Deep Down”: But Peter isn’t alone. Captain Stacy arrives with the antidote and saves Peter, another father figure to fill the void in Peter’s life. Peter shows his trust, and he teams up with Stacy.
Executing the New Plan: Captain Stacy holds off The Lizard while Peter tries to stop the Ganali Device from turning everyone into hybrids. He uses the antidote, and The Lizard is defeated. Unfortunately, Captain Stacy is also killed. He makes Peter promise to stay away from Gwen to keep her safe.
Gathering the Team: Peter is alone, and he is wounded. He might not make it in time; many of the buildings are far apart and difficult to reach with his web shooters.
Storming the Castle: Peter races toward Oscorp Tower, struggling. The father of a boy Peter saved earlier sees this on the news, and he rallies his friends who are crane operators, having them all position the cranes so that Spider-Man can use them to swing from. Peter sees them align, and he realizes that the city has accepted him. He arrives at the tower and tries to stop Connors. Captain Stacy also arrives as Gwen comes out and gives him the antidote she formulated. Meanwhile, Spider-Man and The Lizard fight…
High-Tower Surprise: … but Connors has grown too powerful for him. He crushes Peter’s web shooters, the one advantage that he could use to slow Connors down. Connors is about to crush him, taunting him for being alone in the world and without parents.
“Dig, Deep Down”: But Peter isn’t alone. Captain Stacy arrives with the antidote and saves Peter, another father figure to fill the void in Peter’s life. Peter shows his trust, and he teams up with Stacy.
Executing the New Plan: Captain Stacy holds off The Lizard while Peter tries to stop the Ganali Device from turning everyone into hybrids. He uses the antidote, and The Lizard is defeated. Unfortunately, Captain Stacy is also killed. He makes Peter promise to stay away from Gwen to keep her safe.
15. Final Image: After the ordeal, Peter listens to the final voicemail his Uncle Ben left him, one in which Uncle Ben declares how proud he is of who Peter has become. As he stumbles into a class late, the teacher says that in literature, there is truly only one story: “Who am I?” This is the theme of the film, and as he takes to the city streets in the Final Image, it is now clear to Peter who he is. He’s Spider-Man.
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Very nice, amazing how each beat is there and makes the story tight and well crafted. I must admit after all the variations of this tale I found it hard to discover something we don’t already know about the main characters. I also questioned how the audience can relate to any of the characters as they all have such vast super powers and are not really human at all. The great moment was when the 4 year-old behind me jumped up, grabbed my seat and yelled in my ear, “Get him Spidey, get him!” He had identified with and was cheering efforts of the protagonist.
I teach middle school, and one of the things I liked about the film was how Peter Parker’s big struggle was dealing with the abandonment of his father and mother. I think that this makes it so that many in the young adult age group can relate to him, moreso than in the excellent Sam Raimi films where Peter graduates from high school in the early parts of the movie. With this movie, I could see how many of my students could identify with this Peter Parker. All in all, I love both the Raimi films and this one. But as you said, making a character with super powers “human” is a difficult feat.
Nice analysis. I liked the movie, especially Captain Stacy and Gwen. Garfield’s Parker is quirky, to say the least. I’ll have to see him again to decide if I like him over Tobey.
I liked the movie too. But, a few things remain unanswered for me:
1. The villian, Dr. Connors/ the lizard gets introduced only after midpoint. Isn’t that an unusual trend. In fact, the guy seated next to me at the theatre exclaimed during the first half “who is the villian, what is spidey trying to achive?”.
2. As for genre, I think it also has shades of “Monster in the house” attached to it, with the whole episode of getting rid of the lizard from NYC.
3. Was there a character arc for Peter’s aunt or did she remain unchanged till the end?
I really don´t understand how people over the age of 10 can like this film.
It is mediocre in any aspect. I really have to write from my soul here, cause I actually really adore Snyder and his writing tips. Read all 3 books. Great stuff.
Maybe I am “to old for this “? Maybe. I say: Weak story telling is weak story telling, besides some rather obvious directing mistakes like: Garfield get´s punched in the face and lands in the dirt. In the next scene right afterwards in class there is no trace of blood or dirt in his face. He is clean like in a face creme commercial. Still Gwen asks him, if he´s alright and if he needs a doctor. Ridicilous.
There is not even one scene between Garfield and his aunt after the uncle died. Not one relevant exchange of solice. Not one. And the loss of the uncle is almost “unfeelable” — this is just weak. Or is it for the kids? Don´t make it tooo sad – they could need a psychiatrist after watching the film…. Modern cinema makes cynics out of grown up men…
Story: It is pure plot. The so called character moments in this film are weak and just narrative alibis for getting to the action stuff – which, amazingly, takes tooo much time to finally happen. How you can have such a long film and still no deep routing and really touching development of character – that´s the real phenomenon of this picture. “Waste of Time” – that´s the genre I place it to.
The transformation machine is not even remotely ignited. One of the reasons, of course, is – we are to expect sequels, so – the character must not develop too much.
There is a strange thing going on for a few years now: Movies turn more and more into TV-fare, and TV-stuff gets more and more cinematic. A total switch. The good stories now are told on TV. Like “Hatfields and McCoys” or “Sherlock” or “Breaking Bad” of late. —
I even admit: there are some parts that make you identify with Parker… who wouldn´t, when it´s about “being treated unfair”. That always works. No big deal.
And just because there is a classical “save-the-cat-scene” on the school yard, we “Snyderians” are not obliged to like this film.
The casting is strange: Garfield and Stone don´t match at all. Their relationship feels cold and just script-demanded. No real chemistry in sight. How Sally Field and Martin Sheen got themselves into this cinematic mess, I will never understand. And Rys Ifans is probably #4 on a list of “possible bad guys for any summer blockbuster occasion”. Good actor´s talent wasted. Well, I am sure he got paid for it.
Once the lizzard is loose, that film completely drifts into sheer 3D-overkill – farewell and adieu to story and character. You cannot tell a story once all hell breaks loose, the laws of physics are ignored completely and the camera swirls like a bee. It is just impossible.
Pseudyphilosophical jabbering about “Who I am”, which the filmmakers were so obviously not really interested in… – Don´t waste your time by looking for a theme in that picture. The theme is: get Garfield into the bloody suit and have some nice 3D-shots.
To me, the film is over once Garfield “out-balls” the sporty guy in the gym. That is, when Spidey got his revenge. Great. No VFX required. No big deal. Not even 3D-worthy. Still: good scene to watch. I still don´t understand why Martin Sheen was so upset by the fact, that Parker got his fair share of satisfaction. But once again the writer had to implant his psyeudo-important meaningfulness.
The action stuff is ok, but hey: we´ve seen it ad nauseam – flying and punching and crashing and swinging and climbing and jumping and swirling and boombanging without any concern about the laws of physics. – I am serious: this makes action week. You lose orientation and you get the feeling of: whatever crazed and unbelievable stuff happens, the good guy will win anyhow. Cause nothing really hurts. —And don´t tell me: that´s what modern audiences want to see. You only insult your own intelligence by believing something like that.
I just wonder: have action films always been that bad, that empty minded, that seriously uninspired and awfully non-narrational??? As if films like “Terminator II”, “Alien”, “Speed”, “Jurassic Park”, “Die Hard” never existed.
To all you kids I just can say: Watch your “Jaws” and your “Raiders” – and then we talk about exciting films. This modern 3D-bullshittery is just naive and stupefying. I am 35 years old and my feeling is: the good years of film are over.
The next big nothing will be, of course: “The Dark Knight Rising”.
Once again: pseudy-important no-brainer for infantile people who seem to demand no quality in movies any more.
One more word: I really enjoyed the Raimi-Spideys. They were great in every aspect. There was some heart involved in the telling. Not just “cool stuff”.
Oliver – I’m really curious if scenes between “Garfield and his aunt after the uncle died” and other “character moments” were written but not shot, or shot but cut. Anyone reading this have the inside scoop?
Oliver, I’m guessing you went into this movie with your mind already made up to hate it. My “evidence” (and I admit I’m just guessing) is your assertion that Stone and Garfield had no chemistry as Gwen Stacy and Peter Parker. The one thing almost all viewers seem unanimous on is that they had terrific chemistry and imbued the movie with far more heart than the Raimi trilogy had.
I love “Raiders,” too, but what character arc can you point to for Indy that was deeper and more significant than Peter Parker’s journey from resenting his dad, to embracing his dad’s values?
Rather than dismiss all future movies as crap, you may be better served to say not all movies are to your taste. I enjoyed Spiderman, whereas I was bored to tears by the pointless Hatfields & McCoys, which you call out as a milestone of quality television. Doesn’t mean I’m right and you’re wrong. It just means sometimes we should smile and say “That project was Not For Me.”
Just got back from seeing this with my wife and daughters. We thoroughly enjoyed it for what it is – a movie.
Cory: great job once again. Didn’t spoil it for me. I hate missing things because I don’t know where to look. Thanks for pointing.
this movie failed in regards to creating emotional resonance with the protagonist and villain in the last half of act 2 and act 3. Peter comes to Connors concerned about his transformation. when he encounters the lizard and realizes it is Connors being overcome by his transformation, Peter is concerned about if it will happen to him… but this gets dropped for a rather forced climax. two characters faced with the same scenario, one chooses the righteous path the other the shadow path. I’ve felt that if the Lizard started to truly indulge himself, perhaps Peter and the police hunt for the lizard who is snatching and feeding on pedestrians and dragging them to the sewer, culminating in Peter battling a creature that represents selfishness, mirroring the mindset that led to bens death, but his better attributes endured by his hero persona wins. instead of getting a visual representation of his emotional journey, the last act and a half were a visual representation of the beatsheet.
>Based on the original comic book characters created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Steve Ditko deserves credit here for the creation of Spider-Man, more than Kirby and arguably more than Stan Lee himself. Please do a simple google search next time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Man#Creation_and_development