Spider-man comparison

I think that even Stan (the man) Lee didn’t realise what he had created when he put pen to paper and came up with the idea of Spider-man. Lee and Steve Ditko introduced Spider-man within the pages of Amazing fantasy issue number 15 in 1962. As a fictional superhero, Peter Parker was shown as a mild mannered teenager who had all the normal teenage problems. This was a bold step for the two writers as in the early 60s. Teenagers in superhero comics were relegated to the roles of sidekicks rather than the main protagonist. Their decision, as time would tell, would be a start of a most beloved and successful icon in the years to come. Enough with the history lesson and on with the comparison. Disregarding the CBS made for TV 1977 movies and various other media franchises and moving straight to 2002 when the first new age Spider-man movie by director Sam Raimi was released starring Toby Maguire as nerdy Parker and Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson. I really enjoyed this movie as it kept the tongue in cheek humour of the comics but none of the cheesiness of the 1977 TV movies. The sequels Spider-man 2 (2004) and Spider-man 3 (2007) were also immensely enjoyable especially the antics of on JJ Jonah Jameson (ol’ prune face) although I do wish they had made Venom a bit more musclebound as in the comics. Anyway the first two films  received positive reviews but the third film received mixed reviews. There was a rumour of a fourth film being under development but for some unknown (boneheaded) reason Sony pictures decided on doing a Spider-man re-boot handing the directors reins to Marc Webb (no pun intended). This time around it was Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy...Gwen???!!  “Oh what the hell” I thought “it’s still ol’ Spidey” So I bought a ticket to go see it. Now it is important for you guys to know that I only sat through this move because it had “AMAZING” and “SPIDER-MAN” in the tittle. I cannot fault the actors as they did a very good job on their roles but I will fault the script writer and director for trying to re-invent the Spider-man comics. For one thing; they've turned aunt May into a bloody reject/escapee of a modelling agency and second there is no HINT of JJ Jonah Jameson WTF??? Yes I was disappointed coming out of the cinema but come on now, it possibly couldn’t get any worse or could it?
After going home and watching the original trilogy and calming down I thought about why the sudden change? The best conclusion I could come up with is that film-makers nowadays rely on using more and more expensive special effects at cost of story: that and maybe to reflect the darker times we live in. Two years went by and in 2014 “the amazing spider-man 2“ was released and what's more...electro was in it. Electro was one of Spidey’s earlier villains and if I remember correctly a down on his luck Caucasian electrician. I felt like walking out of the cinema midpoint. They got everything wrong, from Harry Osborn all the way through to the Rhino. Four MAJOR flaws; 1.Electro is black (did he have a pigment change?), 2. Harry Osborne looks like a demented boyz band reject, 3.still no sign of ol’ JJ and 4. the Rhino is a guy in a laughable tin suit. I honestly felt like asking for my money back for this reason alone. One thing that was done right was that true to the comics Gwen is killed off and as any comic fan knows Mary Jane was preferred over Gwen in the polls (issues 121-122). Lets hope that the third film stays true, brings on Mary Jane and introduces a comedic element in the guise of Jameson. In closing I’d like to add that I am saddened to see that most modern films are more of a case of style over substance unless you head over to the foreign market (Japan in particular).