Spider-Man: Hero Within

this edit for me is both rewarding and frustrating, it's a great idea in combing both spider-man films and for the most part is executed really well. the removal of the goblin as the villain is done brilliantly not once does it effect the edit especially when we get to spider-man 2 and harrys vendetta against spider-man.

i liked the way doc ock isn't introduced until an hour into the film, it gives us the chance to focus more on peter parker and his transformation rather than skipping back and forth from hero to villain. the flow between spider-man 1 to 2 is done well it wasn't obvious that one film had finished and another had began.

however they are many problems i had with the edit one being when doc ock returns to the train. when doc ock announces to mary jane that spider-man is dead my first reaction was when did this happen. given the encounters they've had with one another during the film spider-man wouldn't have been killed by doc ock by hitting him on the head. it would have played out better if doc ock just per-summed spider-man had died when he fled from the train as it was about to crash.

it's one of the main problems i had with the edit as i feel a few scenes weren't warranted, at just over 2hours it felt a little leggy at times. as overs have said the relationship between peter and mary just seems a little off and this is one of the important parts of the edit.

peter making-up with aunt may would have been better if moved to the end, i felt not enough time had lapsed from aunt may being heart broken by peters confession. it would have been a nice way of wrapping up the film

as others have said the inclusion of the spider-man 3 clip didn't work, not because it introduces us to gwen stacy but because it wasn't to long ago that peter parker was struggling to control his web slinging but now he's making a big entrance (almost showing off) i feel it would be best showing spider-man taking out street criminals and build-up to a more confident spider-man.

overall i felt that they was too much plot going on what with him becoming spider-man, having to face off against doc ock and being in love with mary jane. it would have been more challenging to remove the story in which peter loses his powers, for me it over complicates the edit. the first 30mins they are a few transitions that didn't work and i really agree that the film needed humor.

this is an entertaining fanedit but for me the negatives out wayed the positives but given the general favourable reviews and it's fanedit of the month status i know i'm in the minority here.

G1's fanedit of Spiderman Hero Within has all of the promisings of a great endeavor, and all of the faults that come with lackluster source material.

Speaking first to technical side, G1's Hero Within is exceptionally well done. With rare exception, all cuts, fades and transitions are done seemlessly with the original. Unless one is already familiar with the Spiderman movies, I doubt more than two or three cuts would be discovered. Considering the dozens and dozens of edits and splicing between the three movies, this is quite an accomplishment.

Unfortunately, as a stand alone movie, Hero Within carries with it some heavy problems. The primary being that, throughout the three movies made for Spidey, none have a really compelling villian. G1 chooses to focus the story's second act against Doc Oct. While he is the most interesting of the lot, it isn't saying much. Doc Oct is a character that stretches credulity beyond reproach. This is easier to swallow in the original as Doc Oct is featured in a movie outside of the already near-proposterous origins narrative.

Specifically what G1 has done here is taken the Spidey origins story from the first movie and used the second and third act of the second film to finish it up. However, while the story takes off at a pretty good pace leading up to the donning of the costume, when the film then starts heavily using footage from the second movie, a lot of jarring predicaments occur. For example, Spiderman goes from being a typical highschool student to a peerless collegiate-level physicist after a short span of fighting crime.

Although I could be misrembering, I thought that the primary reason Parker doesn't act on MJ's advances is that he's worried that, as Spiderman, those closest to him could be endangered. However, since that isn't established here, his denying of her flirtatious behavior makes him look weak and pathetic, not noble.

Also, G1 makes the decision here to follow Spiderman's arc in which he gives up being Spiderman. This is much more effective in the second movie as there's more time to establish for Parker that living a normal life and being Spiderman are incompatible. Here, though, after a long succesful string of fighting crime, Peter gives up the costume almost inexplicably. It's not very convincing.

There was one moment of this edit that really got my attention. After the first act is complete, G1 then has a series of "Spiderman helps NYC" scenes. He first cuts to the amazing sequence in the third Spiderman movie where an uncontrollable crane demolishes a section of a skyscraper. This is the first time G1 uses footage from the third and I was anxiously excited in the hopes that he would introduce Gwen Stacy into the mix. There was a moment in which I thought this edit would really develop the relationship foils between MJ/Spidey/Parker/Gwen/Harry. However, this is never idealized as Gwen is only used here as a set peice.

I'm not sure what would make this approach to retooling Spiderman better. Adding more scenes could make the film more "epic" specifically in following Spiderman's character arc. However, more scenes means needing more conflict, which means adding Goblin, Venom and/or Sandman which is sure to hurt more than it would help.

I think G1 did a marvelous job towards his main objective. However, I'm left feeling that this edit doesn't necessarily improve upon the lackluster source material from which it derives.